Last time it was Dylan Walker's boot, this time it was Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans that broke Canberra Raiders' hearts — their third golden-point loss of the season.
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Daly Cherry-Evans popped up with a drop goal to ensure Manly beat Canberra for the second time this season after the 80.
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Manly pip Raiders in golden point
Daly Cherry-Evans popped up with a drop goal to ensure Manly beat Canberra for the second time this season after the 80.
His kicking game was on song all day, so it was no surprise when Cherry-Evans slotted the golden-point field goal to give the Sea Eagles a 21-20 victory over a gutsy Raiders at Brookvale Oval on Sunday.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart was left bemoaning his team's first half — when the home side set up a 20-6 lead — but he knew the fightback was on as soon as Raiders winger Jordan Rapana scored the first of his two tries.
It was complete when captain Jarrod Croker nailed a clutch penalty goal from the sideline to level the scores after the final siren.
Unfortunately for the Green Machine, Cherry-Evans stepped up to end it after three minutes of extra-time.
It marked the second time this season the Sea Eagles had shattered the Raiders' hearts in golden point after Walker's penalty goal in a 20-18 win at Canberra Stadium in round eight.
Making the loss even tougher was the suspected season-ending knee injury for Dunamis Lui, plus what Stuart hoped was a minor medial strain for big bopper Shannon Boyd.
The Sea Eagles' win also came at a cost, with winger Jorge Taufua potentially suffering the same injury as Lui — a torn anterior cruciate ligament — while hooker Api Koroisau will be monitored after he failed a head injury assessment.
Stuart demanded a response from his team in the sheds at half-time and they produced, keeping Manly scoreless in the second 40 minutes as Rapana scored two unanswered tries.
It could have been more, but he lost the ball in goal — although Manly five-eighth Blake Green appeared to be offside — adding fuel to the fire teams cheat in the ruck to stifle the Raiders' attack.
"At half-time it was a big job to get them going because they were disappointed in themselves. So we had a choice to make and we took the tough choice," Stuart said.
"I knew they would. They're a very, very courageous bunch, that's why I say I love coaching them. Unfortunately we put ourselves in a very, very difficult position with our first-half performance and we paid for it in the end."
While the Raiders dominated the second stanza, Manly were far too good in the first thanks to Cherry-Evans' kicking game and their forwards, who were able to continually offload the ball and further stretch a tiring Canberra pack.
Walker might not have done the damage with his boot this time, but he scored the opening try for the Sea Eagles off the back of a Cherry-Evans cut-out pass.
They piled on three more tries in their dominant period — Manly prop Martin Taupau barged over to cap off a big game (197 metres and 22 tackles), Taufua gave a great piece of Brian Kelly skill the finish it deserved and then fullback Matthew Wright put a centimetre-perfect kick for Cherry-Evans to run on to.
Raiders five-eighth Blake Austin scored a long-range try, which came off a Joe Tapine offload and, of course, Rapana played a part in.
Rapana made his blindside try at the start of the second half look easy and then burst straight through the ruck for a 70m effort where he showed Wright a clean pair of heels to make it a two-point game.
Then up stepped Croker to level the game — although Cherry-Evans questioned whether the Raiders deserved the shot after his team was penalised for hanging on too long in the tackle.
While he was surprised to be penalised, he wasn't surprised in the Raiders' fightback.
"A bit unlucky but that's rugby league isn't it," Cherry-Evans said.
"I'm not surprised [by Canberra's fightback], but I felt as thought that was the result of us probably letting them back into the game.
"We knew they were a great side, we spoke about it all week. They've got threats across the field ... they've got individual brilliance and they're able to keep fighting.
"They might not be high on the ladder [ninth], but they're certainly a good side."
MANLY SEA EAGLES 21 (Dylan Walker, Martin Taupau, Jorge Taufua, Daly Cherry-Evans tries; Matthew Wright 2 goals; Cherry-Evans field goal) bt CANBERRA RAIDERS 20 (Jordan Rapana 2, Blake Austin tries; Jarrod Croker 4 goals) at Brookvale Oval. Referees: Gerard Sutton, Chris Butler. Crowd: 11,318.