The Manly Sea Eagles and Tom Trbojevic have reminded the NRL that they are not done as they ran out impressive 42-14 winners over the Canberra Raiders in Canberra.
Things started poorly for the visitors with errors putting themselves under pressure and ultimately it cost them dearly when inside the first six minutes, the Manly defence was opened up under little pressure when Jack Wighton put Elliott Whitehead through a massive gap to score.
The Sea Eagles attack looked disjointed and directionless across the first twenty minutes but it was Tommy Turbo who got things steadied for the visitors when he was able to go over in the corner and score despite it initially being sent up no try. A 40/20 from Daly Cherry-Evans put Manly into attacking position and it was resurgent Josh Schuster who put Brad Parker through a gap in the Canberra defence.
Despite being denied a third try, the confidence from the Sea Eagles was high and it was Tom Trbojevic again who was able to go through after a poor defensive effort from the Raiders in the middle of the park.
A penalty goal on the stroke of half-time to the Raiders didn't really slow the Manly momentum down in the second half as Reuben Garrick had some heads up Rugby League after Jordan Rapana took Brad Parker off the ball and Garrick played to the whistle to pick up the ball and keep himself barely in the field of play to score.
It was down the right-hand side that the Sea Eagles had their best success and they went there again as they made easy metres before the ball ended up with Tom Trbojevic for his third try of the game.
Drama ensued after the next Sea Eagles try as tempers that were already high flared up after a push and shove between Hudson Young and Sean Keppie saw the big men both sin binned after referee Gerard Sutton had given multiple warnings.
The Schuster try was quickly followed up by another Manly try this one off the back of controversy where Canberra were not given six more tackles after a kick looked to be clearly played at by Tom Trbojevic at the back only for referee Sutton to call a change over. From that set, the Sea Eagles quickly again shifted right finding space and it was Jason Saab's turn to get over.
The Raiders added a late consolation try with Ata Mariota getting his first career try before for the Sea Eagles, Ben Condon who had only been on the field for the final minute was on the spot to take an offload to score. Reuben Garrick added the conversion for a 42-14 victory for Manly to push them back into the top 8.
Next week, the Manly Sea Eagles return to Brookvale likely missing their origin stars for a clash with Knights whilst the Raiders head up to Sydney for a clash with the South Sydney Rabbitohs.