Manly winger David Williams silenced the home fans when he scored a thrilling last-gasp try to snatch the reigning premiers a 24-22 victory at Suncorp Stadium in Round 10.
Despite missing Peter Wallace and Justin Hodges to injury Brisbane looked to have done enough to secure the two competition points when they led 22-20 with two minutes remaining. However, Manly advanced the length of the field during their final set in possession, with Williams sliding over in the right corner off a Jamie Lyon pass after some great lead-up work from Jamie Buhrer and a long-range line-break by Steve Matai down the left edge.
It was a cruel result for the Broncos, who outscored their opponents five tries to four – with the normally accurate Corey Parker missing all four of his conversion attempts.
Brisbane played an almost perfect first 40 minutes of football – they completed 94 per cent of their sets and missed just six tackles – yet incredibly trudged to the sheds at halftime trailing 14-12!
Jamie Lyon starred for Manly, bagging a try and offering the final pass for Williams’ two four-pointers, while Matai was a threat on the left edge, scoring a try, adding 142 metres and two line-breaks and tallying a game-high six tackle busts.
Broncos forwards Parker, Ben Hannant and Josh McGuire provided a great platform for their backs with gains of 175 metres, 161 metres and 150 metres respectively, while Corey Norman’s pinpoint boot laid on two tries.
