Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler believes Saturday night's thrilling golden point victory over the Storm will help build confidence that his side can carry into the finals.
Hasler's side came to Melbourne as underdogs, but Daly Cherry-Evans landed a field goal in the final minute of golden-point extra time to help the Sea Eagles outgun the league leaders 11-10 in one of the games of the season.
Manly's fifth win from their past six matches helps keep them in touch with the top four and Hasler thinks his side is starting to build some strong momentum with the finals just six weeks away.
"It was an exciting game and for us it was an important two points given the congestion,” Hasler said.
"It will be a confidence boost for the boys.
"To come here and hang in, they showed a lot of resilience."
Both sides had their chances to win the match in regulation and during the additional periods, with Cameron Munster and Dylan Walker striking consecutive efforts that hit the upright in the first half of extra-time.
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Cherry-Evans also had a chance from close range on his non-preferred left foot during the final moments of regulation play but said that kick was actually harder than the one he slotted from further out.
"Being so close to the tryline is hard to kick a field goal," Cherry-Evans noted.
"The viewers out there say 'look how close you are', but it is actually a really hard spot to kick from.
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"It would have been nice to go over, but everything happens for a reason."
Cherry-Evans was thrilled with the performance of his side and believes the victory over the Storm was a strong dress rehearsal for high-pressure September football.
"It was definitely a feel of finals football to that game," he said.
"You can look at it as a preparation to play finals, but we haven’t booked our spot yet so we have to keep our head down.”
The only negative for the Sea Eagles was Blues Origin star Jake Trbojevic being placed on report for a dangerous tackle on Jahrome Hughes during a frenetic golden point period.
