DCE and Turbo star as Manly fight back to beat Brisbane

When Brodie Croft sent the first kick of the game out on the full in the first minute, it seemed Brisbane could be in for another long night but a few uncharacteristic Manly mistakes kept the visitors in the hunt for points early.

Recalled winger Xavier Coates was frequently the spark and a huge aerial threat against his opposite man on debut, the smaller Tevita Funa, and a sixth-minute bat-back to Kotoni Staggs allowed the latter to kick ahead for himself and bag first points.

With Marty Taupau rubbed out for the match in just the eighth minute with a dislocated thumb, joining pre-game scratchings Jorge Taufua (quad) and Curtis Sironen (bone bruise), Manly struggled to turn the momentum.

Brisbane went further ahead in the 16th minute when Coates again outleapt Funa to latch onto an Anthony Milford bomb.

The Broncos soaked up four back-to-back sets on their own line, and it became 18-0 when they got down the other end and Darius Boyd cashed in on some poor defence from Daly Cherry-Evans and Corey Waddell.

The veteran almost had a four-minute double but a would-be try was called back for obstruction from Corey Oates.

That penalty allowed Manly a morale-boosting chance before half-time, with Tom Trbojevic firing a lovely cut-out ball to send Funa over for a try on debut and an 18-4 half-time score.

Manly had two tries in seven minutes when Daly Cherry-Evans sliced over shortly after the resumption, with help from an awful defensive read from Croft.

With the momentum completely turned around, Manly made it three tries on the bounce when Boyd rushed in trying to shut down a play and gave Trbojevic a simple overlap to send Moses Suli over.

A silly penalty from Coates to take out a kick-chaser – one that was bizarrely challenged, with the challenge swiftly dismissed – allowed Reuben Garrick a simple two points to level up with 15 minutes to play.

Cherry-Evans sent a field goal wide that was ruled to come off Pat Carrigan, and in the next set Carrigan was penalised for a strip right as the held call came allowing Manly an easy shot at two. Neither ruling looked clear cut and either could have been challenged by Brisbane had they not frivolously wasted their only challenge earlier in the half.

They had one last shot with back-to-back sets on the Manly line in the final two minutes but a huge try-saver from Trbojevic on Coates in the corner sealed Brisbane's fate.

Manly coach Des Hasler expected Taupau to miss two weeks with a dislocation of his left thumb while Suli could also face time off with a likely compound fracture of the finger.

"We've got a couple of knocks there, Marty is possibly two weeks and Moses Suli will have an X-ray on a finger," Hasler said.

"He might be a little bit of trouble as well, we'll know after scans confirm that."

Hasler praised the side's character to come from behind for the second week in a row and ensure they got the result this time.

"We had a build-up to this game, both sides were coming in [after a loss], it was going to be an important two points to both sides," he said.

"I'm pleased that we put up our hand and took those two points and they were pretty valuable ones, it was always going to be a difficult game.

"They probably just out-competed us a bit in a few areas in the first half … this side has some character, I said that last week and that's going to serve them well in the months ahead."