Mr Cool Hodkinson sinks Sea Eagles

Canterbury skipper Michael Ennis hailed the composure of halfback Trent Hodkinson after the NSW playmaker delivered the Bulldogs a thrilling 18-17 golden-point semi-final win over Manly at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.

Three months after he stepped his way through Queensland’s goal-line defence late in Game II to finally break the Maroons eight-year stranglehold on State of Origin, Hodkinson put resurgent Canterbury through to a preliminary showdown with Penrith at ANZ Stadium next Saturday.

CATCH UP ON THE LATEST NRL HIGHLIGHTS

Four minutes into the extra-time period Hodkinson calmly slotted the matchwinner after he and his Sea Eagles counterpart Daly Cherry-Evans traded field goals late in regulation time to force the game past 80 minutes before 28,186 fans.

“He is a pretty special player ‘Hokko’ in those situations,” Ennis said.

“That is probably why he scored that try and came away (with the win) in Game II of Origin.

“He is just calm and sits back and takes his moments, he is a terrific kid to play with.”

The thrilling climax came after the Dogs had dominated the first half through tries to Mitch Brown, Corey Thompson and Sam Perrett inside the first 18 minutes to lead 16-0.

A dummy-half snipe close to the line from fill-in rake Jayden Hodges right on halftime gave Manly some hope when they went to the sheds down 16-6.

That was the way things stayed until Brett Stewart stepped and dummied his way through the Dogs’ line from 20m out in the 64th minute to inspire a Manly fightback.

Cheyse Blair then crossed out wide seven minutes later, after an in-goal fumble from Ennis, to make it 16-16.

“I thought I had blown it there,” Ennis said.

“(Kieran) Foran has that kick coming in for Stewart and I could see it coming, I did my best, but it just bounced off my chest and it all went pear shaped from there.”

With Manly players, particularly Justin Horo and James Hasson, rushing in to give serial pest Ennis some of his own medicine, the ensuing melee resulted in Reni Maitua becoming the second player sin-binned for punching Hasson.

Manly prop Josh Starling had been given a 10-minute rest in the first half when he punched Josh Jackson after an ugly ‘chicken wing’ tackle, which could keep the Canterbury back-rower out of the preliminary final.

Manly skipper Jamie Lyon missed the conversion to leave the scores tied.

Hodkinson then slotted his first field goal in the 75th minute after a Josh Reynolds kick fortuitously hit referee Gerard Sutton to give the Dogs a scrum feed 20m out from the Manly line.

Cherry-Evans returned the favour when he landed a one-pointer from 25m out in the 79th to send the game into extra time.

Seventh after 26 rounds, Canterbury claimed seven successive wins mid-season, including three by one point, to move temporarily to the top of the ladder and coach Des Hasler said that “finals-like resolve” came through.

“It probably wasn’t the most attractive game of football but all 17 players gave all they had … it was a really tough game,” he said.

“In the first half we had some opportunities where we probably should have capitalised on the attacking raids that we had.

“To Manly’s credit, they are a side that never goes away they are always in it.

“They have learnt that finals mentality over the years, and they got back into the game and we had to show a lot of resolve to stay in there.

“That is one of those games that will be around for a long time.”

Manly coach Geoff Toovey again bemoaned a slow start after they allowed South Sydney to race to a 40-0 lead in last week’s qualifying final before losing 40-24.

“Again I thought our first half was pretty poor like last week,” he said.

“I am very proud of the way we hung in there and fought back, but similar to last week it doesn’t get you the biscuits.”