This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Canberra again shocked minor premiers Melbourne to move to within one game of the NRL grand final after a chaotic qualifying final at AAMI Park on Saturday night.

Second-rower John Bateman scored in the 78th minute to lock up the match at 10-10 before co-captain Jarrod Croker kicked the conversion for the 12-10 victory.

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The Raiders will now have next weekend off before hosting their preliminary final, while the Storm will host the winner of Sunday’s Parramatta-Brisbane elimination final to keep their season alive.

Melbourne looked like they had done enough to take the win but the Raiders never stopped coming.

Winger Josh Addo-Carr spilt the ball in a tackle which then found its way on to Bateman for the match-winner. Storm fans were upset when Suliasi Vunivalu was then dubiously ruled to have gone into touch while taking the ball on the restart which effectively ended their chances.

Regardless, the Raiders deserved the win.

There was drama before kick-off when Canberra centre Joey Leilua suffered an eye injury from pyrotechnics as he ran on to the field. He was unable to take his place in the starting side and had some plastic removed from his eye before coming on in the 20th minute.

But Canberra didn’t skip a beat with his replacement Bailey Simonsson scoring in the fourth minute with the Storm caught short out wide.

Two Raiders were put on report in the first half - winger Jordan Rapana for a lifting tackle on Cameron Munster and lock Joe Tapine for a chicken wing tackle on Brandon Smith. They also lost winger Nick Cotric for the match in the 20th minute after he suffered a bloody head knock.

But the gutsy Raiders, who came from an 18-0 deficit in round 22 to upset Melbourne, still managed to take a 6-2 lead into half-time.

After a slew of errors and penalties in the first half, Melbourne looked more like themselves after the break and hit the front three minutes in. Halfback Jahrome Hughes put up a high ball for Vunivalu to score their first try.

With a penalty either side Melbourne were out to a 10-6 lead which against most teams would be enough but the Raiders weren’t to be denied.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Paul Gallen ends his career on a losing note as Cronulla are bundled out of the NRL finals by Manly. Photograph: Craig Golding/AAP

Manly have pulled off one of the club’s great backs-to-the-wall wins to stay alive in the NRL finals and end Cronulla’s season with a 28-16 victory at Lottoland.

With almost a third of their top-30 roster unavailable, the Sea Eagles blitzed Cronulla to go 18-0 up early and barely let them back into the match. Without the likes of Tom Trbojevic, Martin Taupau, Curtis Sironen and Joel Thompson, both Daly Cherry-Evans and Addin Fonua-Blake stood up to star in the win.

It was the Sea Eagles’ first in the finals since 2013 and books them a date with South Sydney in Friday’s sudden-death semi-final at ANZ Stadium.

The loss, meanwhile, ended Paul Gallen’s 348-game NRL career, with the retiring Cronulla captain spending 43 minutes of the game on the sideline.



Manly’s win was even more remarkable when considering they laid their platform in the middle against a Sharks pack littered with representative stars. Manly’s three bench forwards - including debutant Haumole Olakau’atu - had played just 10 games between them this year before Saturday night.

Sean Keppie also got through 131 metres starting for the Sea Eagles, just a week after making his NRL debut off the bench against Parramatta.

Fonua-Blake was immense in Taupau’s absence, topping 182 metres. He scored a crucial try in the 53rd minute to make it 24-10 just when momentum seemed to be going toward Cronulla, pushing his way through three defenders from 20 metres out.

He also pulled off a vital big hit on Braden Hamlin-Uele moments later, forcing an error from the Sharks prop. Cherry-Evans was typically strong, too.

After Apisai Koroisau got Manly’s first try out of dummy-half following a quick Fonua-Blake play-the-ball, the Sea Eagles half laid on their next two four-pointers. The first came as a result of a double-punch play, after he first put Jack Gosiewski through a hole and then laid on a bullet pass for Moses Suli to cross next play.

Cherry-Evans was in the action again in the 20th minute when he grubbered for a chasing Brad Parker, before the bunker ruled he’d got the ball down with control to make it 18-0.

The Shark barely recovered from their slow start. They missed 11 tackles in the first 15 minutes, while five-eighth Shaun Johnson had a poor first half that included no runs, an error and two kicks that went dead. He recovered briefly with a big five minutes after half-time when he forced a line drop out and laid on a lofted ball for Aaron Gray to score in the next set.

Bronson Xerri also crossed for one before the break while Josh Morris grabbed one late. But it was too few for the Sharks, who promised so much in 2019 with their roster but struggled to find consistency on the park after early and mid-season injury woes.