Canterbury coach Des Hasler was put to the sword by his former assistant Geoff Toovey as Manly edged out the Bulldogs 12-10 in an absorbing NRL encounter on Friday night.
Manly’s last visit to the home of the Sydney Olympics ended with them lifting the premiership last October, just a month before Hasler’s acrimonious departure from Brookvale to take the helm at Belmore.
The billing of a grudge match enticed a crowd of 24,743 on Friday night and both sides played their part in a highly-entertaining affair.
Manly, wearing a camouflage strip in Anzac week, started very much like the premiers in disguise, Jorge Taufua knocking on from the kick-off and putting his side under immediate pressure close to their line.
The visitors held firm on that occasion, but found themselves behind after four minutes when Ben Barba skipped past three poor tackle attempts and ran 70 metres to score.
The Sea Eagles butchered a perfect opportunity to hit back after 21 minutes when Jamie Lyon’s grubber-kick was knocked back towards the advancing Brett Stewart who had the line at his mercy.
However, Lyon ran a similar line and the pair collided.
A Lyon penalty on the stroke of halftime left the score in Canterbury’s favour at 4-2.
Manly started the second period in blistering fashion, with Barba knocking the ball dead under a stack of beige jerseys from the opening set.
Three minutes after the break, Brett Stewart, one of the cornerstones of Hasler’s two premiership-winning sides, showed brilliant strength to hold off Dene Halatau and wriggle over the line.
Stewart then went close to adding his second after showing a clean pair of heels to David Stagg, but he was held up just short of the line.
Manly continued to press as the clocked counted down, with Anthony Watmough and Joe Galuvao thwarted by some desperate defending.
However, their resistance was finally broken five minutes from time when George Rose, in his first start of the season, offloaded to Steve Matai, who charged over the line to score.
The Bulldogs refused to go down without a fight and Bryson Goodwin scored two minutes from time after Kris Keating’s kick eluded Lyon, with the winger converting from the touchline to set up a thrilling finish.