A Tom Trbojevic double has inspired the Manly Sea Eagles to a 18-6 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs on Saturday night at McGrath Foundation Stadium.
Both the Sea Eagles and Bulldogs were aiming to take one big step away from the wooden spoon on Saturday night.
There was added motivation for Manly, however, as they looked to avoid their seventh-straight defeat at home and they were able to open the scoring in the sixth minute courtesy of a Daly Cherry-Evans penalty goal following a penalty against the Bulldogs for a slow ruck.
Canterbury however opened the try-scoring in the 20th minute when Reimis Smith barged over off a nice short ball from Michael Lichaa. Manly suffered an additional setback in the 32nd minute when Trent Hodkinson was binned for interfering with a quick tap. However, they held their ground and nabbed another two points in the 35th minute to reduce the deficit to two.
Manly looked lost in attack in the opening half, but it was a different story in the second forty. Tom Trbojevic stormed over in the 45th minute before making it an early double when he steamed onto a lovely offload from Brian Kelly. Not long later, Addin Fonua-Blake was rewarded for a strong effort with a try in the 66th minute which extended their lead to 12.
Daly Cherry-Evans continued to teach Canterbury's rookie halves Matt Frawley and Jeremy Marshall-King a lesson in game management as he closed out the 18-6 victory. The win should ensure Manly avoid the spoon.
The Sea Eagles take on the Titans next week at Lottoland on Friday night. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs host the Warriors on Sunday afternoon.