Manly’s finals hopes have taken a serious hit after they fell short of a late NRL comeback against the Warriors, going down 26-22 at Lottoland on Friday.
In a brutal night for the Sea Eagles, they lost both Martin Taupau and Addin Fonua-Blake mid-match after starting without both second-rowers.
Once among the competition’s front-runners, Manly have now lost five of their past seven since Tom Trbojevic’s hamstring let him down in round six.
The fullback is still two weeks away, with Dylan Walker facing another five rounds on the sidelines.
In Des Hasler’s 400th match, it all went wrong for the Sea Eagles in a horror 18-minute opening where they conceded three tries and lost Fonua-Blake to a lower leg cork.
Daly Cherry-Evans was again strong for Manly alongside Moses Suli, but not even the Kangaroos halfback could engineer a result after trailing 16-0 early.
The Warriors’ win, meanwhile, marked the first time they have won back-to-back matches since last May and they sit just two wins out of the eight.
Kodi Nikorima and Chanel Harris-Tavita both kicked superbly close to the line, with four of their five tries coming off the pair’s boots.
Patrick Herbert bagged a double, with his first a diving effort to latch onto a Nikorima cross-field kick and score in the same motion the try of the night.
But it wasn’t without its dramas.
Prop Jack Hetherington faces a lengthy stint on the sideline for a high shot that left Taupau concussed.
He was sin-binned but lucky not to be sent off, in a moment that threatened to blow the game wide open.
Manly took full advantage of the extra man, when Cade Cust put a charging Haumole Olakau’atu over from close distance with 22 minutes to play.
The margin was then down to four with 12 minutes to play when Tevita Funa put Jorge Taufua over, after Cherry-Evans opted to run it on the last.