NRL: Sea Eagles see off Storm amid ugly brawl

The Sea Eagles flexed their vast premiership muscle to bring an end to the Storm's 12-game winning run. Photo / Getty Images

Sea Eagles 18 Storm 4

Manly beat Melbourne but the 18-4 top-of-the-table victory took a back seat as wild brawls and injuries enthralled a capacity Brookvale Oval crowd.

In what felt like a trip back to the 1980s with flying fists, send offs and a jam-packed suburban venue, the Sea Eagles flexed their vast premiership muscle to maintain their unbeaten year on home soil and bring an end to the Storm's 12-game winning run.

But the scoreboard only told part of the story, with Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair in danger of missing some part of the finals after both were sent off as a result of an ugly all-in fight which saw the benches cleared and threatened to spill into the stands.

It started as the pair made their way to the sin bin, in front of a crowd of 20,414, after both came in late to join a fight between Ryan Hinchcliffe and Darcy Lussick.

Stewart walked off after being the first to be binned but Blair soon chased after him when he too was given a spell, the pair exchanging words and then fists before they were joined by every one of their teammates - officials and those players on the bench to all come under investigation with the whole brawl put on report.

That may not be the end of the bad news for the Sea Eagles with Brett Stewart not returning after halftime because of a knee injury, while David Williams was rushed to hospital after play was held up for several minutes when he injured his neck diving in for a first-half try.

In a stunning show of sportsmanship - especially considering what was to transpire soon after - the Storm tacklers cradled Williams sensing there was something serious afoot.

While possible suspensions and injuries may hurt, there's no doubt the Sea Eagles would have walked away confident they can give this premiership a shake, the three tries to one ensuring Manly a top-two finish with one round remaining.

The Sea Eagles opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Jamie Lyon's kick fortuitously found Kieran Foran chasing through to score.

The Sea Eagles continued to dominate but were unable to turn their advantage into points, until Lyon added a penalty for the initial Hinchcliffe-Lussick fight, which had originally been a Melbourne penalty for Lussick's retaliatory hit.

It was changed on video review for a Hinchliffe elbow, the home side regaining composure after the brawl with Tony Williams - replacing namesake David on the right wing - crossing four minutes from halftime.

He added another 17 minutes after the restart to seal the win, before Billy Slater added some respectability to the scoreline with a late try for the Storm.

MANLY 18 (T Williams 2 K Foran tries J Lyon 3 goals) bt MELBOURNE 4 (B Slater try) at Brookvale Oval. Referee: Gavin Badger, Shayne Hayne. Crowd: 20,414.

- AAP