The rollercoaster that the 2018 NRL season has been only continued tonight with a bizarre performance between the Manly Sea Eagles and Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Stadium for Thursday night football.

An abundance of errors, 3 tries in 5 minutes, an estimated 70 metre attempted conversion and another win for the Wests Tigers to plant the smallest of hope in the hearts of their fans.

Early on, it appeared that Manly had come to play and redeem themselves from the devastating second half beat down from the week before.

However, after Daly Cherry-Evans put the first 6 points on the board, it seemed there was nothing but errors to follow.

The Tigers’ attack seemed to be struggling to gel and find any composure.

25 minutes later however, they were finally able to put a complete set together to put points on the board.

Kevin Naiqama grabbed a nice offload from Mahe Fonua who pushed the defensive line strong and hard and proving that when it is on, the Tigers’ attack is amazing to watch.

As the half time siren rang, Cherry-Evans pounced on a careless Tigers penalty to put his team up 8-6 leading into the second half.

Both teams displaying incredibly poor first half statistics, particularly the Tigers with only a 67% completion rate and 29 missed tackles.

Ivan Cleary and his boys were obviously not impressed with these statistics too, however as they came out absolutely firing in the second half.

Only 7 minutes into the half, Robbie Farah put a feather touched kick into the in goal for a flying Chris Lawrence to pounce on. Esan Marsters cleared the conversion for a 12-8 lead.

The Sea Eagles kicked off to the Tigers and just 2 minutes after the first try, they were on the board again after an Alex Twal line break which displayed some very worrying defensive signs from the Sea Eagles.

Fighting the desire to score himself, Twal eventually passed off to Mbye who scored between the post for an easy conversion.

Just another 3 minutes on the clock and the Tigers were in again for a Kevin Naiqama double.

The Tigers capitalising on a penalty conceded saw Moses Mbye put the Fijian over in the corner.

Manly fans surely were feeling sick to their stomachs with deja vu as the score board flashed 22-8 with just under half an hour to go in the half.

Keen to avoid a repeat of last week, the Manly players dug deep and fought hard even after a no try from a questionable forward pass call.

Trent Hodkinson spotted a weak spot in a tired Tigers defensive line and found himself converting his own try to even up the difference a little.

Manly fans were left feeling even more unwell when Brian Kelly bombed what could have been a sure try with a fumble over the white line.

However, with the clock quickly ticking and breathing fire down their necks, Tom Trbojevic stepped up.

Jack Gosiewski broke through a weak defensive line to let off a floating pass to Tom Trbojevic who managed to grab the ball one handed, just scraping clear of the ground and then quickly passing back to Cherry-Evans for his double of the night.

Not only a possible contender for try of the year with the amazing hands of Trbojevic, but also a crucial try to keep Manly in the game.

Unfortunately, for the men in maroon and white, it wasn’t enough.

The Tigers defended strong and managed to keep Manly out of the game with that two point margin proving just enough.

Cherry-Evans wasn’t willing to give up with 10 seconds to go however, opting to take the conversion from a penalty practically on the sideline at the half way mark.

The kick was swift, straight and just short proving the Tigers victorious in front of 8,163 fans at home.

After a tumultuous week of rumour and innuendo, Manly coach Trent Barrett was proud of his side’s effort.

“I think everyone knows what I think of the players and I love the blokes I’ve got there,” Barrett said.

“We’ve had our fair share of adversity to deal with this year, and they don’t give up and that’s what makes it hard to take.

“I feel for them because they put themselves in positions to win so many games this year and they haven’t been able to get over the line. I can count probably eight [games] that are just like that.”

Keeping their slim finals hopes alive, the Tigers now have to rely on other results to go their way.

“There’s a certain No.7 over in Auckland who knows what he’s going to do,” Cleary said.

“Hopefully, they can do their job over there.

“I’ll sit there and watch it, what can you do? Just cross your fingers.

“It’s great we’re still alive at this point.”

Man of the Match:

3. Alex Twal

2. Tom Trbojevic

1. David Nofoaluma

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