Former Manly halfback Trent Hodkinson kept Canterbury’s roll going and delivered a devastating blow to the Sea Eagles, as his side scored a thrilling 32-30 golden-point NRL win at Brookvale Oval.
Manly came from 30-12 down to force extra time with three converted tries in 13 minutes.
Halfback Daly Cherry-Evans crossed twice and Steve Matai scampered over with less than two minutes left, with Jamie Lyon nervelessly kicking the tough conversion.
The game ended in contentious fashion, when Hodkinson kicked a match-clinching penalty goal in golden point time.
His kick was made easier when the penalty, awarded for the tackled player not being released quickly enough after being called held, was advanced 10 metres when Kieran Foran queried the decision.
Earlier, Manly would not have been pleased with a second-half try awarded to Josh Reynolds when he appeared to be stopped short of the line.
The Bulldogs made it seven wins from their past eight games, while Manly have tasted just two victories in their past seven encounters.
The powerful Bulldogs pack was well led by Englishman James Graham, who made numerous surging runs.
In the backs, Ben Barba, Hodkinson and five-eighth Josh Reynolds were prominent.
Barba made it six tries from four games at Brookvale with a double, while Hodkinson set up the first three tries with two kicks and a pass.
Manly’s representative forward Anthony Watmough left the field in the second half with a cork.
The Sea Eagles turned the ball over immediately after the match kicked off and Josh Morris timed his jump perfectly to claim a Hodkinson bomb for the opening four-pointer after 75 seconds.
Nine minutes later, Barba dotted down for the second try after Foran and Matai failed to defuse a Hodkinson bomb.
Forward Frank Pritchard was the next beneficiary of Hodkinson’s good work, smashing through some flimsy defence off his halfback’s inside pass.
The shellshocked Sea Eagles finally managed to get on the board in the 26th minute through a try to winger Jorge Taufua.
The Bulldogs took less than three minutes of the second half to restore their 18-point advantage.
Krisnan Inu made a break and linked with Reynolds, who sent Barba clear for his second try.
Justin Horo crossed for Manly’s second try, but Reynolds appeared to have put the match out of their reach.
Manly coach Geoff Toovey said Watmough will be fine, meaning he will be available for NSW in the second State of Origin match.
Toovey also said he was perplexed and dumbfounded by some of the refereeing decisions.
“I think you can see it was short,” Toovey said of the Reynolds try.
“I think the last penalty was pretty well obvious as well, but that’s only my decision.
“In my opinion they conned the ref.”
Reynolds was adamant he was in the right in both instances.
“I was looking at the replay and I thought it (the ball) was on the line (for my try),” Reynolds said.
Asked about whether he had milked the decisive penalty Reynolds retorted “I’m trying to get out of the tackle, what do you want me to do, stay there and get smashed?”
Bulldogs coach Des Hasler was happy to win given Manly’s large edge in possession and penalty count advantage, but wasn’t getting excited about winning four in a row.
“Its a win we’re not going to get carried away with it, we had five tries posted against us,” Hasler said.
MM
Guest
Only Hayne can answer that question, but when watching the game live my initial question was control of the ball, not whether he made the try line.
eagleJack
Guest
I find it hard to believe that with all the technology available, and now being a supposed billion dollar game, that we could only show 2 very average camera angles to try and disprove the on-field ref. The sooner the ARLC gets the centralised video ref room up and running the better. Once they have invested in that they will demand cameras to be situated to cover every angle.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
I wasn't sure why he was sending it upstairs given he had the best angle out of anyone on the field. No video was going to improve on that.
Football_illiterate
Guest
Well put mm.. None of the video angles I saw were conclusive and the ref was standing on top of it, u would think he had basis for going try in the first place..
MM
Guest
Absolutely agree. The Reynold's incident is a penalty in any minute of the game. Hats off to Hayne for making the correct decision when many refs barely blow a penalty in extra time. Stewart put his hands between the legs, whenever this occurs you are attracting attention of refs. Toovey should be blasting Stewart and Foran for lack of discipline. I don't see any controversy with the Reynold's try either. The game needs a human element in decision making, but we can't have "shockers". This is the case of the Reynold's try. Hayne had the best view and stated it was a try, video ref could not disprove beyond doubt. In my opinion, the current system of video ref adjudication is working perfectly fine. It is much better than last season.
Symbolsoup
Roar Rookie
Must admit, I haven't heard of him but the fact that it happened in 1978 doesn't support your argument, scrubs have changed a whole lot since then. Pretty sad story though, thanks for sharing.
Liatrevlis
Guest
No I didn't , if he did then its not on but what Reynolds did is not a grub act !! It's an act of a cheat !!
The eye
Guest
Unbelievable ! Only the most dreadful injury in Nrl history came from a scrum,youve never heard of John Farragher of the Panthers ?Idiotic beyond ignorance of the first order.
Symbolsoup
Roar Rookie
Mate, I hate manly more than any other team and even I thought the refs were terrible. The quality of play was so damned high that the woeful reffing didn't even matter -maybe because it was equally terrible for both sides. Absolute cracker of a game. I want dCEA in the origin side, even at cronks expense. It might happen in 2-3 years time unfortunately.
Symbolsoup
Roar Rookie
When was the last time that there was an injury from a scrum? Ignorance is bliss, open that one eye and you my see something.
Meesta Cool
Guest
Hey Scott, I wonder how many teams will have 'Heading practice' after today's farcical try to the Raiders. it would be even easier to play than the kick to the corner, player slowly lobs the ball at head height , player #2 heads it over the oppnent and player 3 runs around defence gathers ball and off he goes!.. Bellamy's boys are booked in to train with Melbourne Victory on Monday. Another rule change coming up!..
Chris
Guest
Liatervlis did you see Steve Matai push Hodkinson in the back to get the ball????? I guess not Matai dose tis every game he is a cheat, a grub and a poor loser. Matai is the Nrl's cheating grub
andrew
Guest
+1
Liatrevlis
Guest
Maybe but that's the refs fault , Reynolds actions were notin the spirit of the game , there's a big difference between a grub player and a cheat, every club has there grub , Reynolds is a cheat , he can be proud of himself , he's the nrls first cheating grub
smashgh
Guest
Is it me or was the manly crowd way down. What's happening only 12,000 for a "rivalry" game? Who knows, may have been a different result if the crowd had gotten more involved.
Dave the Yank
Guest
Sadly I saw nothing wrong with the refs. When it went Manly's way last year in the finals everyone seemed all up in arms about how it didn't matter. A shoe will always hurt when it is on the other foot, maybe Manly fans need to just accept the boot is not always on your side.
AGO74
Guest
What about players that take dives when playing the ball looking at ref looking for a penalty? What about players who drop the ball and look at the ref with a look of exasperation appealing fir a strip penalty? What about players whto stay down on ground looking for a penalty after the lightest tickle across the head? You going to change the rules for all those instances that occur dozens of times across a round of football. Or is it a case of this one sticks out because the refs fell for it at and it decided the game.
James
Guest
Foran needs to learn to treat refs with more respect, looks like he learned the hard way last night, costs his team 2 points. Glad the referees have finally penalised players who give there 2 cents.
Snowmann
Guest
Scott, I normally agree with you but this time, im suprised you followed the rest of the sheep in regards to the "dive"...the penalty was for carrying on with tackle after the ref called held, not for what everybody thinks Josh did, which by the way was fair, check out Stewarts legs and dont tell me he didnt sweep him over..what a crock, everybody loves to just see what they want to see. Have cry but atleast get your facts right about a penalty FFS. Do you really think if Josh had gotten away with the "dive" and fooled the ref, Stewart wouldnt have been put on report?..last I checked, past the horizontal was dangerous. And to say it cost Manly the game is a crock, what? Do you really think Manly were the better team? Dream on, good come back, but only with the help from the refs most of the game.
liatrevlis
Guest
Big difference between dirty and cheat