As Ethan Sanders slotted the match-winning field goal for the Raiders on Saturday night, the Sea Eagles watched on in disbelief.
With Sanders just shy of 40 metres out, no one expected the young halfback to have the skill or nerve to attempt such a bold play.
It made the effort that much more impressive, as the 22-year-old nonchalantly secured a 29-28 victory for the Raiders with his first-ever field goal in the NRL and exposed a complacency in Manly as the Sea Eagles failed to apply any kind of real pressure on Sanders as he attempted the kick.
“I was obviously at the back so I didn’t actually think he was going to kick it, but it’s not my job to put pressure on him, but I’d have to watch it back,” captain Tom Trbojevic said.
“I think someone came from marker. He obviously did a great job to kick it, but we’ll have a look at that.”
The ‘someone’ who made an attempt from marker was brother Jake Trbojevic, whose run from marker was the only pressure applied to Sanders.
The Sea Eagles late-game resurgence to get to golden point was impressive, albeit they’d made it harder on themselves than they needed after holding 100 per cent possession for the opening 10 minutes of the match.
After the Raiders scored five straight tries to leave Manly in the dust after half-time, Tolutau Koula single-handedly carried the Sea Eagles on his back and into golden point with a try and critical linebreak in the final seven minutes of the match.
However, the poor defensive display in the middle of the match, and the nature in which they lost was a reminder of how much Manly has to work on if they want to compete this season.
“I thought we started really well, I thought the first 20 minutes we were very good and we showed a ton of fight in the last 10 minutes to get ourselves back in the game, but clearly we couldn’t adapt when they were rolling us through the middle of the park,” said Manly coach Anthony Seibold.
“We need to be better there. They scored three tries in sort of that 10 or 12-minute period after half-time, so that was probably the game, really. Just didn’t do a good enough job in that 12-15 minute period...we’re disappointed in the result and disappointed with some aspects of our game, but there’s some really good signs.”
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said Sanders had been composed, despite the huge pressure that came with not only replacing Jamal Fogarty, but lining up across from him too.
“He had more pressure on him tonight than any other player on the field,” Stuart said of Sanders.
“We practiced all off season...I thought his game tonight was very mature, well beyond the amount of games he’s played.”
For Fogarty, who was facing his former side and replacing Daly Cherry-Evans in the No.7 jersey, it was overall a promising show night, despite the result not going his way, and his former coach was full of praise for him.
“Jamal played very well too, there was a lot of pressure on Jamal tonight as well,” Stuart said.
“He’s taken over from a very high-profile footballer her at Manly, I thought Jamal was under a lot of pressure too, and I thought he aimed up tonight and played a really good game of football too.”