Bulldogs 30
Sea Eagles 24
Steve Matai's Four Nations hopes are hanging by a thread after the Manly centre was placed on report for a late high hit on Bulldogs hooker Michael Ennis.
Ennis was knocked out cold, with Matai staying on the field only because neither referee had a clear view of the incident.
However, the serious nature of the offence coupled with Matai's poor disciplinary record would make a long suspension likely, something that could threaten Matai's position in the Kiwis squad for the Four Nations.
Manly were beaten by the Bulldogs in a ill-tempered affair, a result that put their finals place in jeopardy.
Manly co-captain Jason King and Chris Bailey were also placed on report for high tackles.
King and Bailey were penalised for high shots on Andrew Ryan and Chris Armit.
Early second-half tries from Ben Barba, who ran 65 metres to score, and Josh Morris stretched the Bulldogs' 18-16 halftime advantage to 28-16 to stun the home crowd of 15,933.
Matai's shot on Ennis infuriated the Bulldogs but swung the momentum towards the hosts, with Matai adding insult to injury with a 53rd-minute try, shortly after Ennis left the field, to cut the deficit. Jamie Lyon then went over in the 65th minute, but missed the conversion, as Des Hasler's Manly side battered the Bulldogs' line only to be let down by some poor passing and handing as Kevin Moore's side hung on.
A penalty from Bryson Goodwin eight minutes from time proved to be the match-winning score, but Manly were denied a try and golden point in the dying seconds when Luke Patten, in his final game for the Bulldogs, crash-tackled Michael Robinson in the corner.
A topsy-turvy opening half saw the lead change hands on no fewer than five occasions.
Matai opened the scoring for Manly in the eighth minute, before the Bulldogs hit back in the 17th minute, when Ennis did well out of dummy-half to hit Ryan Tandy with a sharp pass and the prop dived underneath the posts.
* Last night's final match of the NRL round between the Dragons and the Rabbitohs kicked off too late for this edition.
- AAP
