Jersey Flegg: Heidke triple lifts Dragons over Manly

Manly earnt an early crack at the Dragons line and it paid dividends with winger Aymn Hamilton taking in a fifth-tackle cut-out to somersault his way over in the right corner.

A penalty the following set saw the Sea Eagles roll back onto the attack, but a one-on-one strip courtesy of Heidke wrestled possession back the way of the Red V.

The Dragons went down the other end in search of an answer and almost did off an attacking scrum only for a Heidke flick pass to go to ground late.

Lyric Craft-Te Moananui also went close for the hosts but had his burrowing effort out of dummy half denied.

Things got fiery a half-hour in with a small-scale melee prompting the official to have a word with the captains soon after.

Kade Reed was binned for a professional foul moments later after a broken sequence in which Brendan Couzens toed the loose ball forward on multiple occasions but was ruled to have been illegally taken out in the chase by Reed.

Despite being a man down, the Dragons were the next to cross with Wes Pring poking his nose through and finding Heidke with a brilliant flick pass to bring it back to 6-4 headed into the intermission.

The second forty started in ideal fashion for the visitors who went nearly the length of the field off an attacking Dragons kick to score in the left corner through Hugo Hart and extend the lead beyond a converted try.

The hosts hit straight back however with Reed making up for lost time laying on a perfect grubber for Heidke who won the race to the ball for his second to bring it back to 12-10 with a little over a half-hour to play.

Despite being forced to defend their line for an extended period, the Dragons found the next try of the match to hit the front with Heidke scooping up a Manly grubber and streaking away the length of the field to dive over in the right corner.

The Sea Eagles tied it at 14-apiece with 15 minutes to play thanks to a gift penalty goal from next to the sticks.

The Dragons were able to wrestle the lead right back with Pring slicing through on a left-hand corridor sweep play to dive over for a decisive four-pointer.

Reed nailed the conversion to make it 20-14 entering the final stages.

The Dragons were able to hold on for the win despite a late Manly push and secure an invaluable pair of competition points.