Dragons fall to Manly in final Jubilee clash of year

Manly struck first off the back of a late set restart with Corey Waddell surging back against the angle and over to make it 6-0 just five minutes in.

The Dragons crafted a brilliant answer moments later with Lyhkan King-Togia on the end of a frenzied sequence which started from inside his own half.

A late Jaydn Su’A offload saw the football make it way to King-Togia who sent Mathew Feagai barrelling down the left-hand flank and finding his five-eighth again who tipped the ball inside to a supporting Clint Gutherson.

Gutherson looked to have been rounded up but was able to hit King-Togia who slid to the line despite a desperate Manly cover effort to lock things up.

The Sea Eagles lodged a successful Captain’s Challenge 15 minutes in to win back possession in attacking ball.

The hosts went agonisingly close to nabbing their second off a timely Jacob Halangahu offload only for a late knock-on to prevent it.

The Sea Eagles answered their next set with the acceleration of Koula proving too much for the Dragons to handle as they went back in front 12-6.

The visitors went back-to-back the following set with Jason Saab speeding into space down the right touchline and sending the ball back inside to a supporting Daly Cherry-Evans to make it a double-digit game.

Their hot attacking run persisted moments later with Tom Trbojevic looking to have muscled his way over only for a desperate Hayden Buchanan cover tackle to stop him.

Manly fired in a second successful Captain’s Challenge just shy of the half-hour mark to earn another opportunity on the attack.

Koula left the field for Manly soon after with an apparent lower leg issue seeing Aaron Schoupp come into the centres.

The Sea Eagles looked to have extended their lead prior to the half with Saab pouncing on a Trbojevic offload which rebounded off the face of a Dragon and into the in-goal only for video officials to pick up a knock-on in his grounding attempt.

Damien Cook came up with a much-needed one-on-one strip as Manly continued to bang down the door as the opening forty wound down.

In painful fashion, the Dragons conceded a four-pointer on the stroke of the half with Trbojevic slicing through and finding Cherry-Evans who handed the ball off to Schoupp to dive over in the corner and make it 24-6.

Toafofoa Sipley was placed on report and binned for a dangerous tackle in the Dragons opening set of the second forty only for the hosts to fail to find touch off it.

The Dragons managed to snag a needed four-pointer in the period Sipley was off the paddock with Buchanan showing some nice hands to send Tyrell Sloan into some space down the right chalk.

The Dapto junior crafted a wobbly but well-placed kick back on the inside which Jacob Liddle, fresh on the field, did well to scoop up and dive over for his ninth try of 2025.

They found another just several minutes later courtesy of a sideline-to-sideline sequence finished off by Christian Tuipulotu.

Tuipulotu made the initial half-break down the left before manufacturing an offload which made its way out to Buchanan who fashioned a neat grubber in behind to force a Manly drop which Kyle Flanagan dove on.

The Dragons sent it back left the very next play with Gutherson throwing a ball over the top to Tuipulotu who did a great job to reel it in and cross in the southeastern corner.

Flanagan added the extras from inches inside the touchline to cut the deficit back to four for the Red V.

With it back 13-on-13, Manly were able to stop the bleeding with Waddell pouring through a hole on a fifth-tackle raid to push their advantage back out the double figures entering the final quarter of the night.

De Belin was placed on report for a dangerous tackle the next set as Manly marched back onto the attack.

Tommy Talau went over to extend the visitors’ lead with 14 minutes to play as the clash began to get away from Shane Flanagan’s men.

The Dragons lodged a successful Captain’s Challenge entering the final 10 minutes to earn themselves a shot attacking Manly’s line.

Emre Guler went over late for the Red V virtually untouched off the back of a de Belin offload, but Manly sealed the win with a late Caleb Navale penalty try.