Manly end Canterbury’s fairytale NRL season with finals win | NRL

Manly have progressed to the second week of the NRL finals, ending Canterbury’s Cinderella season with a thrilling 24-22 win in the elimination final at Accor Stadium.

The Bulldogs controlled large stretches of Sunday’s game, but a 45-metre try from left midfielder Tolu Koula gave the Sea Eagles the lead in the final 10 minutes. Bulldogs five-eighth Matt Burton had two chances to level the score in the final two minutes, but his efforts on two-point field goals fell short.

Manly next face the Sydney Roosters in the semi-final at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night, as the Bulldogs look to bounce back from a disappointing first finals run since 2016.

Tom Trbojevic played the full match after returning from a shoulder injury, but the Manly star struggled as the Bulldogs struggled with physical issues for the first 40 minutes.

Premiership winners Viliame Kikau and Stephen Crichton were the architects of a 16-12 half-time score that belied Canterbury’s dominance of the game. After a knock-on from Trobjevic, Kikau fed the ball to Jacob Kiraz to score before breaking through the Manly fullback for his own four-pointer.

Trbojevic was again caught out of position for the Bulldogs’ third, and lost the foot race for the ball when Crichton touched Burton’s kick down. But when Lehi Hopoate outpaced Connor Tracey to send Ethan Bullemor over in the shadow of half-time, the Sea Eagles were well in the game.

Male five-eighth Luke Brooks played superbly to break his 229-game drought in the finals, bursting onto the pitch to put the Sea Eagles in position for Tommy Talau to score their opening goal in the first half.

Brooks then flat-balled Daly Cherry-Evans to score from a scrum set play midway through the second and cut the Bulldogs’ lead to four points. Manly ran with the ball on the final play and caught the Bulldogs’ right edge who were catching a tear that was starting at the other end of the half.

Ben Trbojevic found Koula, who burned Toby Sexton and rounded Connor Tracey on his way to a classic final try. Reuben Garrick’s conversion put the Sea Eagles ahead, with the visitors never relinquishing their lead.

The loss ends a resurgent season for the Bulldogs, who endured a week in the headlines when Josh Addo-Carr tested positive for cocaine in a roadside drugs test last Friday. His replacement Jeral Skelton had a mostly solid afternoon, catching Stephen Crichton’s tap-on to restore the Bulldogs’ lead.

But the team will be wondering what would have happened if Addo-Carr had been on the right side when Manly scored their crucial try.