Roosters hold on to overcome gritty Sea Eagles

A stunning display of heavy hitting from Victor Radley – the smallest forward in the Roosters pack – has spoiled one of the biggest boilovers of the season as a desperate Manly went down 22-20 at Allianz Stadium.

Having lost four on the trot and seemingly lost the plot with myriad off-field issues and a bare-bones 21-man playing contingent to choose from, the Sea Eagles gave the heavily fancied Roosters the fright of their lives by jumping to an 10-0 lead.

With plenty of guts but not a whole lot of luck, the visitors looked set to be rewarded with a deserved upset in what proved a rough and ready contest.

And with an hour gone Radley stole the show, turning his 92-kilo frame into a heat-seeking human missile, twice whacking Kiwi Marty Taupau with thundering shots on one of the Telstra Premiership's most fearsome enforcers.

While the Roosters had by then recovered to lead 20-14, Manly still threatened to reel them in.

Radley promptly threw the kitchen sink and then some into a marginally high shot on Taupau, receiving a penalty and a gobful from the Sea Eagle with 20 kilos on him.

The rarest of Roosters commodities – a local Clovelly junior – then doubled down with a superb try-saver within the minute on Dylan Walker when he looked certain to level up proceedings.

With Radley providing the pyrotechnics, the thrills and spills flowed in a frantic final 20 minutes, Akuila Uate setting up a grand stand finish by spinning his way over the line at the 76th minute, and Daly Cherry-Evans only cranking up the tension with his sideline conversion.

The flying Fijian had earlier been denied by the officials courtesy of a dubious forward pass call, that was matched moments later when Blake Ferguson crossed at the other end, only to be called back also.

For all of Radley's goal-line bravado, Manly's first points had come from an embarrassing Roosters lapse just four minutes in, Api Koroisau steering all 118 kilos of Addin Fonua-Blake into the type of parking spot most can only dream of in the Eastern Suburbs.

The Tricolours' own goal line blushes were matched by Cherry-Evans inexplicably shanking the point-blank conversion attempt from in front – a miss as cruel as it proved costly by full-time.

Those red, white and blue blushes only darkened again when Uate burrowed over from dummy-half for a 10-point lead in as many minutes.

Ferguson kept the scorers busy as the Roosters fired their first shot, James Tedesco drawing extra men with a couple of dummies and his hulking winger turning the overlap into his fifth try of 2018.

When Manly's own goal-line defence was turned to mincemeat by Isaac Liu, carrying three Sea Eagles big men across the stripe with him, the Roosters had wrestled back a 12-10 lead in just 14 minutes.

After trading penalty goals, Walker had only 60 metres open pasture ahead of him after rushing up and forcing a fumble from Luke Keary.