The Toyota Forklift Canberra Raiders remain atop the ladder for another week with a dominant 28-12 win in Indigenous round at GIO Stadium.
It was Ethan Strange who was dangerous every time he touched the ball and torched Manly’s defence, scoring three incredible tries to drag the Raiders to an important win at home.
The Sea-Eagles were first on the board with a length of the field run from Tolutau Koula, who kicked it back on the inside to Tom Trobjevic who went under the post to put Manly up 6-0.
With the help of a forced dropout, the Raiders marched through the middle with Ethan Strange stepping past multiple defenders and scored the Raiders’ first to put the score levelled at 6-apiece.
The Green Machine marched down into Manly’s half with the help of a penalty to try to put more points on the board.
A spread to the right-hand side saw Kaeo Weekes burst through a hole and found Matt Timoko, who quickly offloads to Savage to score in the corner and gave the Raiders a 10-6 lead.
Keao Weekes was sent to the bin due to a professional foul, which allowed Manly to attack the Raiders’ line.
Raiders’ defence held strong with Manly making an error to relieve the pressure off Canberra’s defence.
Minutes before halftime, the Sea-Eagles had yet another opportunity to score, but once again the mighty Green Machines’ defence held firm to go into the half at 10-6.
The Sea-Eagles were the first to strike in the second half with Koula splitting the defence and beating a couple of defenders to put Manly up 12-10.
The Raiders marched down into Manly’s half with the help of a penalty and took their opportunity to score with Strange splitting Manly’s defence in half and putting the Raiders back up 16-12.
The Raiders went back-to-back with a spread out to Jed Stuart who ran down the touchline and found Strange with a cheeky flick pass back in-field, who goes in to score his third try and gave the Raiders a 22-12 lead.
A wild pass from Jazz Tevaga saw it bobble along the ground and land into the hands of Sebastian Kris, who runs away to score under the post and further push the lead out to 28-12.
With a couple of minutes before full-time, the Raiders made an error which the Sea-Eagles pounced on, but once again the Mighty Green Machine won’t let Manly pass and hold on to bring home a fantastic 28-12 Indigenous Round win.