The Toyota Forklift Raiders went down to the Manly Sea Eagles 42-14 in a hard-fought loss at GIO Stadium Canberra in the annual NRL Indigenous Round.
The hosts set the tone early, threatening the Sea Eagles goal line in just the second minute thanks to a dropped bomb by Tom Trbojevic.
The Raiders continued to pile on the pressure, with skipper Elliott Whitehead being first to cross over the line with a Jack Wighton short ball putting him through a hole in the Manly defence.
Jarrod Croker successfully converted the try to give the Green Machine a 6-0 lead in the sixth minute.
The away side were quick to reply as Tom Trbojevic scored down the left edge in the 19th minute. Reuben Garrick missed the conversion, allowing the Raiders to stay in front as the score sat at 6-4.
Manly kept the ball rolling with Daly Cherry-Evans kicking a 40/20 in the 21st minute which saw Sea Eagles centre Brad Parker score his first of the night. Garrick converted to further Manly’s lead to 10-6 in the 24th minute.
After a knock-on, the Raiders were forced to defend back-to-back sets which saw Tom Trbojevic score his second try of the evening. Garrick converted to make it 16-6 in the 32nd minute.
Momentum shifted as Sebastian Kris began to take advantage of the tired Manly forward pack with his strong runs through the middle of the field gaining the Raiders some valuable field position.
The Green Machine looked to score just before half-time through Croker, but Manly’s second rower Hauloe Olakau’atu put a stop to the attack with a head-high tackle.
The Raiders were awarded a penalty, where Croker opted to take the two, successfully converting the penalty kick to reduce Manly’s lead to 16-8 at the break.
Both sides started the second half with great intent and the tension began to grow as Olakau’atu made another dangerous tackle in the 45th minute.
The Raiders attempted to capitalise on this as they kicked for touch and looked to keep the Sea Eagles on the backfoot.
Elliott Whitehead was unlucky to miss out on scoring a double, losing possession over the line in the 46th minute.
Garrick and Tom Trbojevic ran in two unanswered tries to advance Manly’s lead to 24-8 by the 51st minute.
The two Raiders halves combined in the 53rd minute, with Wighton putting up a bomb to force another knock-on by Tom Trbojevic thanks to a strong kick chase and hard tackle by Fogarty.
Raiders centre Matthew Timoko seemed to have scored for the Raiders in the 55th minute, but it was later disallowed due to obstruction.
Manly’s Josh Shuster later scored in the 57th minute, with tensions boiling over resulting in both Hudson Young and Sean Keppie being sent to the sin bin.
Once again it was Fogarty and Wighton who combined in a smart last tackle play, where it appeared the Raiders would regain possession 20 metres out from the Manly goal line due to a set restart.
However, it was ruled not played at and Manly regained possession, with Saab scoring in the 63rd minute.
The Raiders showed true heart as they continued to battle it out in front of their home crowd, with Raiders' prop Ata Mariota scoring his first NRL try of his career in the 68th minute.
Croker made it two-from-two behind the tee to make the score 36-14 in the 69th minute.
Ben Condon later ran in a last minute try to see Manly win the game 42-14.
