Manly defeated South Sydney 36-22 in a thrilling encounter before a packed house at Brookvale Oval in Round 18 last year.
The home team outscored the visitors three tries to two in the first 40 minutes to take a 16-8 lead to the break before Souths stunned the Brookvale faithful into silence with two converted tries and a penalty goal inside the opening nine minutes of the second half for a 22-16 advantage.
Kieran Foran swung the game for the Sea Eagles when he crashed over for identical tries from close range on the left edge in the 58th and 62nd minutes to snatch back a 24-22 lead, before Michael Robertson made it a converted try the difference, crossing in the 71st minute after a break down the left edge from centre Michael Oldfield.
Jamie Lyon booted a penalty goal for an eight-point buffer with three minutes remaining before David Williams scored on the stroke of fulltime following through speculative grubber kicks from first Brett Stewart and then Daly Cherry-Evans.
It was a polished display from the Sea Eagles who kept the pressure up to their opponents with 32 of 37 sets completed and a low seven errors on the afternoon.
Both sides displayed skilful offloads (Manly 15, Souths 12) which contributed to the 12 line-breaks made (Manly eight, Souths four).
Manly second-rower Anthony Watmough and lock Glenn Stewart were damaging contributors, making a combined 44 runs and 328 metres as well as 12 tackle-breaks and 59 tackles.
Souths were best served by hooker Issac Luke who ran 17 times and made nine tackle-breaks.
