Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans has led his side to a 32-18 victory over Parramatta at a sold-out Brookvale Oval tonight.
The Eagles raced in four second half tries after being down 14-6 at halftime, with Cherry-Evans setting up a try with a sublime pass and then scoring a try under the posts all in a five minute period to spark the second half fight back.
With the match was in the balance with 11 minutes remaining, Eels winger Maika Sivo went from hat-trick hero to villain, when the blockbusting winger was sent to the Sin Bin for an undisciplined forearm to the head of Rueben Garrick. The Sin Bin proved costly with Garrick then racing in two second half tries down Sivo's wing to seal an impressive second half revival for the home side.
While the Eels were markedly improved from last week's efforts, Brad Arthur's men will rue their ill-discipline with centre Will Penisini also spending 10 minutes in the Bin for taking out Tom Trbojevic without the ball. It saw the Eels effectively down to 12 men for the final quarter of the match.
The match was built up as a throwback to the old days and it was a wild start. Sea Eagles backrower Haumole Olakau'atu flipped his opposite number Shaun Lane heavily on his back, which was deemed dangerous and the NSW Origin hopeful was sent to the Sin Bin. The Eels then took the penalty to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.
Parramatta looked a completely different side to their lethargic selves from the week before and they were rewarded when skipper Clint Gutherson was heavily involved in finding his winger Maika Sivo who crashed over in the corner for the first try of the night.
Manly then returned serve when a quick interchange of passes on the last found Luke Brooks who produced a perfectly timed grubber that bounced up for Tommy Talau to score and get the vocal home crowd back in the match.
The Sea Eagles faithful was silenced minutes later, when Gutherson again got involved as the skipper produced a nice cut out pass for Sivo to score his second try and give his side a shock 10-6 lead.
Parramatta then scored a crucial third try just before the break, when strike centre Will Penisini broke the line and found his winger Bailey Simonsson who raced away to score in the corner and give the Eels a deserved 14-6 at halftime.
Manly needed a spark and it came through their skipper, when Daly Cherry-Evans produced a superb cut out pass to put Jason Saab down the sideline. The lanky winger then found Tom Trbojevic who was on the spot to race away to score and narrow the Eels to two points.
The home crowd were in raptures minutes later when interchange prop Nathan Brown put Jake Trbojevic through a huge hole mid field. The NSW forward then found Daly Cherry-Evans in support who raced away to give his side the lead for the first time in the match.
Manly continued to pile on the pressure on Parramatta when Luke Brooks kicked early for a looming Tom Trbojevic who was tackled without the ball by Will Penisini. The visitors then rightfully found themselves down to 12 men with 22 minutes remaining in the match after the Eels centre was sent to the Sin Bin for 10 minutes.
Despite being down a man, Parramatta managed to score with Maika Sivo claiming a hat-trick following some quick hands off rookie half Ethan Sanders and Junior Paulo to narrow the lead to two points following Dylan Brown's missed conversion from the sideline.
Maika Sivo then went from hat-trick hero to villain with unnecessary high contact on Reuben Garrick and the Fijian international found himself in the Sin Bin with just 11 minutes remaining.
The ill-discipline proved critical when the Sea Eagles then sealed the deal, when Haumole Olakau'atu produced a terrific offload down Sivo's wing for Reuben Garrick to score and give Manly a late 26-18 lead.
Garrick then collected his second try after picking up a bounce pass from Daly Cherry-Evans to seal a great second half comeback for the Sea Eagles to run out 32-18 winners.