Adam Lucius at ANZ Stadium
Manly has survived another second half fade-out to hold on to beat a fast-finishing South Sydney 30-22 at ANZ Stadium.
Six days after throwing away certain victory against Gold Coast after leading by 10 points late in the game – and with memories of similar collapses in rounds one and two still fresh – the Sea Eagles enjoyed a 30-6 lead after 58 minutes before running out of gas.
The Rabbitohs piled on 16 points in 13 minutes to threaten a great escape but simply left themselves with too much work to do.
A relieved Manly held on to grab a vital victory before a crowd of more than 15,000, making it five wins from its last six outings.
There was no sign of the trouble to come after the Sea Eagles got off to the perfect start.
Shane Rodney, Anthony Watmough and Steve Matai combined to send Michael Robertson in after just five minutes.
Jamie Lyon missed the sideline conversion but Manly would again play from the front at 4-0.
The Sea Eagles went further ahead midway though the half through a smart try to unheralded fullback Ben Farrar.
Perhaps expecting Farrar to shift the ball wide from close to the line, South Sydney held off the No 1, allowing him to grubber past the defence and collect the ball for a terrific solo try.
Lyon found his radar from wide out and the Sea Eagles had cleared out to a 10-0 advantage.
The Rabbitohs were struggling to get out of their own half, visiting the Manly end just twice in the first 28 minutes.
It was during their second foray that the Bunnies managed to breach the Sea Eagles' defence.
Sutton shovelled the ball off to Dave Taylor and the human wrecking ball did the rest, easily brushing aside Lyon's tackle and carrying Hodkinson and Tony Williams over the line.
Issac Luke converted to reduce the margin to 10-6.
But five minutes later Souths conceded for the third time.
Robertson was the first to reach Hodkinson's bomb, scrambling a pass to Matt Cross before the defence could wrap him up.
Cross juggled the ball a couple of times before clutching it to his chest and plunging over for his third try of the season.
Lyon converted and added a penalty on the stroke of half-time as the visitors went to the sheds 18-6 up.
Souths desperately needed to be first to score after the break but instead found themselves down further just two minutes in.
Kieran Foran's bomb was batted back to Tony Williams from Lyon, the big winger cutting back inside before finding Lyon backing up.
The Manly co-captain twisted through three defenders to get across the line and somehow free his hands to plant the ball down amid a tangle of legs and arms.
Watmough appeared to put the game beyond doubt with a try at the 52nd minute mark following a smart flick pass from Steve Matai.
But three Souths tries in 13 minutes - two to centre Beau Champion – brought the game back from the dead.
The Bunnies trailed by eight with as many minutes to go but ran out of time.
South Sydney 22
Tries: Champion 2, Taylor, Luke
Goals: Luke 3
Manly 30
Tries: Robertson, Farrar, Cross, Lyon, Watmough
Goals: Lyon 5
Crowd: 15,459