Bulldogs centre Aaron Schoupp levelled the match when he raced 85 metres to snatch an intercept out of Kieran Foran’s hands. It helped the club avoid a fifth straight loss to end a year in which they parted ways with coach Trent Barrett after Magic Round.
Mick Potter might have done a sterling job as the relief teacher,but students always get a little stray with a stand-in. Thankfully for him,they tuned back in at the last minute to end their season on a high.
Matt Burton after kicking a last-gasp field goal for the Bulldogs.Credit:Getty
If clock watching was an Olympic sport,there might have been a few gold medallists on the same land where Cathy Freeman captured the heart of a nation. And who could really blame them?
Foran played his last game for the Sea Eagles and,in keeping with his career,he put his head in places others wouldn’t put their feet – namely Raymond Faitala-Mariner’s chest. Against a club he used to play for,and never seemed to manage to get through a season with,Foran showed Father Time hasn’t got him yet. But his next challenge will be doing it on the holiday strip,away from Hasler.
His old sidekick,Cherry-Evans,shrugged off a stuttering end to the season with the first try after a Toafofoa Sipley break. By the time another departing Sea Eagle,Martin Taupau,scored little more than 10 minutes later,Manly led 16-0.
But it is Manly. It is the last game of the season. So when the Bulldogs clawed the margin back to 16-12 at half-time thanks to tries from Braidon Burns and Zach Dockar-Clay,was it really a surprise?
Loading
Schoupp made it 16 unanswered points for the Bulldogs,before Olakau’atu and Flanagan traded tries to set up a grandstand finish which,for the first time in history,probably had Fox League considering dumping a golden point game to go to its next.
The Sea Eagles were left to rue a decision to award the Bulldogs a scrum when Burton’s short dropout was ruled to have broken the plane and then bounced into touch inside the 10 metres. Manly were leading by four points at the time.
“I’ve seen some,correct me if I’m wrong,indefensible[decisions],but that was one of the best I’ve seen,” Hasler said.
CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 21 (Braidon Burns,Zach Dockar-Clay,Aaron Schoupp,Kyle Flanagan tries;Matt Burton 2 goals,field goal)defeatedMANLY SEA EAGLES 20 (Daly Cherry-Evans,Christian Tuipulotu,Martin Taupau,Haumole Olakau’atu tries;Cherry-Evans 2 goals) at Accor Stadium. Referee:Peter Gough. Crowd:13,648.
Stream the NRL Premiership 2022 live and free on9Now.
Sports news,results and expert commentary.Sign up for our Sport newsletter.