The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have given their slim top 8 chances a boost on Sunday, racing out to a 30-0 lead before surviving a second half comeback to hold on for a 30-26 victory over Cronulla at Pointsbet Stadium on Sunday.
If ever there was evidence that Rugby League is a game of two halves, this fixture was exhibit A. The Sharks were disappointing in a big loss to the Warriors last week and many expected they'd be much improved against their less fancied opposition this time around.
It was an arm wrestle for the opening 20 minutes or so, with Manly scoring the only try in that period in the 7th minute when Josh Aloiai took the space that was on offer down the Sharks left edge, crashing over to make it 4-0 to the visitors.
After that 20 minute mark, the floodgates opened and were washing away what was left of Cronulla's premiership credentials. Daly Cherry-Evans ran on the last, stepping inside Blayke Brailey before chipping over the top for Lachlan Croker, who scored.
Manly scored another try through a chip over the top 5 minutes later, when Schuster's early kick took a dream bounce for Olakau'atu, the big man unable to be stopped that close to the line.
The ambush continued when 3 minutes later Manly again found themselves in attacking position, with Daly Cherry-Evans throwing a superb cutout pass to Jason Saab, who was going out of play but miraculously flicked a pass around his back that found Tolu Koula, the centre making it 20-0.
The Sharks had a chance to peg things back a bit before the break, but instead came up with an error that was compounded when they allowed Manly to go the length on the ensuing set, Jason Saab finding space and then passing to Reuben Garrick on his inside, the stand in fullback getting on the board and making it 24-0 at the break.
It looked to be more of the same in the second half, with Cronulla getting the ball in good position but unable to turn it into points. Lachlan Croker kicked a 40/20 with Manly's first use of the ball, and when Cherry-Evans put Koula through a hole for his second the scoreline looked like it could've been anything.
The Sharks had something to say about that.
On the next kickoff, the Sharks went short and regathered possession, Will Kennedy eventually spreading it wide to Mulitalo, who scored the first of many Sharks second half tries.
For a period of 10 minutes or so, neither side scored, and it looked as though Manly were going to grind out a deserved big win. Katoa would score in the 60th minute, but the try was again unconverted, making it 30-8 Manly's way, and it remained that way until the 70th minute.
The Sharks then scored three tries in four minutes. The first one came when Hynes found a hard running McInnes on his inside, narrowing the deficit to 16, while the second one involved some controversy when the ref let a clear knock on go unchecked for the Sharks, who eventually spread it to Jesse Ramien on the right two plays later to score.
At 30-20, the Sharks faithful were starting to believe, and when Ronaldo Mulitalo found some space in the very next set before putting an inside kick in for Will Kennedy to score, the biggest comeback of all time seemed not only possible, but likely.
Cronulla were given a penalty on play 1 of the next set, but somehow Manly were able to hang on and come up with the ball at the end. Oregon Kaufusi was then miles offside and the ref had no choice but to give a penalty to Manly, effectively ending the game.
Both sides would've felt pretty ordinary coming off the field, but it was Manly who emerged 30-26 victors. They face the Dragons away next week, while it gets much tougher for Cronulla who face a Saturday night trip to Penrith to take on the Panthers.