Craig Bellamy’s side pull a win out of the fire at home.
Melbourne Storm returned to form, scoring two tries in the last eight minutes to grab a 22-19 win over Manly at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
The second-placed Sea Eagles had won four out of their last five matches, while the Storm were languishing in 12th having lost four games in the same period.
Billy Slater had a mixed night, scoring two tries for the Storm either side of half-time, but he also went on report for a high hit on Manly’s David Williams.
Manly led 5-4 at half-time, after a Peter Hiku try and a field goal by Jack Littlejohn against a Slater try which went unconverted.
Slater scored his second try to make it 10-5 in the 45th minute, but Brett Stewart crossed four minutes later for the Sea Eagles.
Jorge Taufua scored the visitors’ third try in the 55th minute, and when Jamie Buhrer touched down five minutes later Manly looked in command at 19-10.
But Cooper Cronk gave the home crowd hope when he scored with eight minutes left, and the fans erupted when Kurt Mann took a cross-field kick and crashed over with three minutes left.
Cameron Smith added the extras to give the Storm a three-point buffer.
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