The Dragons survived the almightiest of scares to down the Sea Eagles 38-34 on Saturday to claim the Jersey Flegg minor premiership in Belrose.
The Dragons strolled out to a 38-6 advantage early in the second – with Oliver Burton playing a starring role with the ball – before the lowly Sea Eagles fought back in a furious way to set up a grandstand finish.
Cornelius Pupualii was called up for his Jersey Flegg for the Red V – the continuation of an impressive 2026 for the 17-year-old who was named an Australian Schoolboy last month.
Match: Sea Eagles v Dragons
Round 26 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
13th Position
away Team
Dragons
1st Position
Venue: Lionel Watts Park, Sydney
Burton broke the game open in the early exchanges with a powerful backfield carry that saw him fall inches short of the stripe.
The Dragons found more success down the left edge soon after with Jarrah Treweek bursting his way into space and crafting an offload for a supporting Dextar Grant to dive over for first points.
Manly’s left edge continued to struggle defensively with Treweek sending a spinning Burton over to score moments later.
Burton’s stellar morning continued with the 17-year-old slicing through again down the left the very next set and finding Pupualii who streaked away for a try on debut. Hammoud knocked over his first conversion of the day to make it 14-0.
Both Hammoud and Toby Rumble succumbed to injuries a quarter of the way into the clash forcing the Dragons into quite the reshuffle.
Manly took advantage of the Dragons’ patchwork right edge to nab their first points through Mitchell Heather.
That same edge produced the Dragons’ next try with Charlie Heidke slicing into the backfield and crafting a kick inside for a chasing Lucas Borg to score.
Burton’s irresistable opening forty continued with the Dapto product steaming through to swallow a Jackson Cahill-Smith bomb and find the ever-present Braith Plecas on the inside to score behind the sticks.
Burton and Heidke threw Heather over the sideline the next set to lay the platform for Daniel Meafou to power his way through some rather meagre Manly defence off the tap and make it 32-6.
A spate of errors saw Manly enjoy the early ascendancy in the second forty but the Dragons held firm. The contest’s next points came through Burton who skied up to reel in a Marley McLaren bomb and score.
A successful short kick-off paved the way for Manly to hit back through Lukas Butler before the hosts scored again their next set with Zaidas Muagututia on the end of a Benjamin Keene-O’Keefe kick.
Manly continued their late fightback with Charlie Boyle winning the race to a well-times grubber kick as the deficit shrunk back to 38-24 entering the final 10 minutes before finding another off a Freddie Benson-Sparkes break to bring them back within just eight.
Manly’s furious comeback continued with Heather scoring off a Boyle kick with less than three minutes on the clock to move back within four points but the clock ultimately won.
