The Sea Eagles have spoiled their push for a top-four finish after going down to an inspired Wests Tigers outfit, 34-26.
Manly jumped out to an early 16-nil lead before inviting the hosts back into the match.
The Wests Tigers then went on a run of 30 unanswered points — a hat-trick to Tom Trbojevic not enough as a trifecta of sin bins hurt the Sea Eagles.
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Young gun Lachlan Galvin was the star, finishing the match with 200 run metres and 11 kicks.
It was the Wests Tigers with the first scoring opportunity of the match, with Galvin putting in a grubber that collided with the upright padding.
Halfback Aidan Sezer scooped up the Steeden and dropped but was ruled to have been held up by Trbojevic with a try-saving tackle.
Manly then moved the ball down the other end and attacked on the right.
Reuben Garrick sidestepped Charlie Staines before setting up Jason Saab in the corner for the first try of the match.
The Sea Eagles then went back to back, only this time down the left-hand side, as the West Tigers’ defence backed away.
With a simple overlap, Lehi Hopoate crossed over on the wing.
Building some momentum, the Wests Tigers bungled a few half-chances on the Sea Eagles’ line.
But their efforts were quashed when Ethan Bullemor cut through the middle before handing off to Trbojevic in support.
Hooker Api Koroisau responded in the 25th minute, ducking and weaving past several Manly defenders out of dummy half before charging over to score.
Four minutes later, Heath Mason slid over in the corner to score his first NRL try and breathe life back into the Wests Tigers.
Adding to Manly’s headache, Bullemor was marched to the bin for ill-discipline following successive penalties.
As the clock ticked down on the first half, the home crowd booed with Manly leading 16-12.
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As Bullemor returned to the field, Haumole Olakau’atu was placed on report and binned for a high tackle on Mason.
With the Sea Eagles reduced to 12 men, a silky no-look pass from Latu Fainu put Alex Seyfarth through a hole — the conversion from Koroisau giving the Wests Tigers a slim lead.
The West Tigers soon boasted consecutive tries after a loose ball near the tryline turned Fainu try-scorer before an odd bounce rewarded Solomona Faataape.
Trbojevic nabbed his second before Corey Waddell was binned for a high shot.
Despite being down a man, Trbojevic cruised through in the 69th minute to complete his hat-trick.
Manly bombed a chance to regain the lead after Jason Saab fumbled a pass with nothing but open air in front of him before Samuela Fainu scored the match-winner.
“When they scored that try, the grandstand here (was pumping), I couldn’t hear myself think, well done to the Tigers,” Johnathan Thurston said on Nine.
With the result, the Wests Tigers move one stop away from the wooden spoon while the Sea Eagles fail to guarantee a finals berth.
With a party breaking out at Leichhardt Oval, the only dampener on the win will be a shoulder injury to Sezer which ruled him out of the match just after half time.
