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Both teams were desperate, both teams needed a win to keep in touch with the top eight but the Sea Eagles were the ones who walked off Brookvale on Sunday with their playoff hopes getting a timely boost and the Roosters were again regretting another one that got away.
After a week in which his team replaced him for next year with Luke Brooks and he signed his own new contract, Josh Schuster responded to his critics by setting up the match-winning try nine minutes from full-time as Manly hung on to record a crucial 18-16 triumph.
He will return to the forwards next year with Brooks in the halves but if he can keep combine touches of skill like this with surging runs, he could become a ball-playing back-rower in the mould of former Sea Eagles dual premiership winner, Glenn Stewart.
Manly are now just one point off eighth spot after their seventh win from 16 starts, with their draw earlier in the season with Newcastle, elevating them above the Roosters, who have slipped to a 7-9 record.
Schuster came up trumps in the clutch but it was his halves partner, Daly Cherry-Evans, who was the difference, scoring two tries and tormenting the Roosters throughout the match with his relentless kicking game.
James Tedesco. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
“I think Chez has been our best player this year,” Manly coach Anthony Seibold said. “Certainly the leadership he’s given our group and myself in particular has been outstanding.”
There have been calls for James Tedesco to step aside as NSW fullback in the wake of the Blues’ second straight series loss but the Roosters skipper is adamant he’s still the man for the job.
He racked up 274 running metres on Sunday, more than any other player on the field, and his involvement is still high, as it’s been in Origin where he hasn’t been able to translate that into many successful attacking raids.
“My focus is with the Roosters and it’s hard when we’re not winning games. I’ll wait for Origin if it comes and then I’ll get there and do my best,” he said after scoring a try in the Roosters’ narrow loss.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson was naturally unhappy with the result but thinks his team’s form has turned a corner.
“It wasn’t good enough tonight and so be it but we played our style. We were true to that. So there’s the platform,” he said.
The Roosters claimed the first try of the match when Corey Allan, a late inclusion alongside Junior Pauga after Joseph Suaalii and Billy Smith were ruled out due to head knocks at training, touched down out wide.
However, the bunker spotted a knock-on as he contested the high kick.
Pauga was not denied when he plunged over in the corner midway through the first half when Joey Manu drew in two defenders before flicking the ball wide to his unmarked winger.
They missed the conversion but Manly then booted the restart out on the full.
Reuben Garrick put in a much better kick a few minutes later when the Tom Trbojevic fullback replacement backed up a Brad Parker break to chip ahead for Cherry-Evans to score for a 6-4 lead.
Despite losing hooker Jake Turpin to a category-one concussion from a mistimed tackle, the Roosters regained the lead when Nat Butcher served up a meat pie for Tedesco with a classy offload in traffic.
The pendulum swung back to Manly just before the break when DCE plucked a placid Luke Keary pass out of the air to put his side up 12-10.
Manu’s class shone through again five minutes into the second half when he broke free down the right edge and powered through the tackles of Garrick and Schuster.
Rookie playmaker Sandon Smith set up the try and booted the sideline conversion for a 16-12 buffer.
Both teams were below their best and depleted by injuries and they kept sparring throughout the second half, with neither able to make a further dent on the scoreboard until Schuster intervened in the 71st minute.
There has been plenty of debate about whether he’s a five-eighth but the oversized playmaker served up a perfect pass for Ben Trbojevic to crash over down the left edge to square the ledger before Garrick added the extras for a two-point advantage.
The Roosters had one last chance in the final minute to snatch victory but Smith’s cross-kick to a stretched Manly defensive line was batted away to spark equal measures of relief and jubilation in the peninsula.
Roosters forward Victor Radley, who recently served a three-game ban for a late hit, was placed on report and fortunate referee Ben Cummins took no further action in the 54th minute after hitting Taniela Paseka high.
“He’s lucky he didn’t get binned for that one,” said Immortal halfback Andrew Johns on Nine commentary.
Radley has been found guilty of three charges this season so if the match review committee pings him for this one, he could be again spending time on the sidelines.
With Tom Trbojevic nursing his season-ending pectoral tear, it was Jake and Ben’s turn to step into the spotlight at Brookvale.
Jake was making his return from a calf injury and did more than enough to convince NSW coach Brad Fittler that he was up for an Origin III recall with doubts emerging about Broncos prop Payne Haas’ fitness due to an ankle problem.
“I always want the players to be aspirational,” Seibold said.
“Jake has represented the Blues for a long period of time now, so if he gets selected then he goes with our best wishes.
“He did a really good job today. The effort parts of his game are outstanding. He played 80 minutes off the back of playing only one game in eight or nine weeks.”
For Ben, he was also on the comeback trail after missing a month with a hamstring problem, and he took a leaf out of Tom’s book by bringing the Brookvale faithful to their feet with a surging run to the line to score what proved to be the match-winning try in the closing stages.
He then copped a high shot from Drew Hutchison during the frenetic finish but was able to see out the match as the Sea Eagles got home by the skin of their teeth.
with AAP