After two missed shots at goal in normal time, Manly’s Dylan Walker redeemed himself to become the hero in Friday night’s thrilling 20-18 golden-point NRL victory over Canberra. The 22-year-old broke Raiders’ hearts in the first period of extra time, landing a 40m penalty goal which had first struck the right-hand upright.

Sea Eagles coach Trent Barrett hailed Walker as a special player after his decisive kick in front of 15,976 at GIO Stadium. “He’s born for those sort of moments,” Barrett said. “There wasn’t a question of him not taking that kick.”

When Jordan Rapana scored a contender for try of the season, the Raiders led 18-14 inside the last 10 minutes of regulation time. With the ball in the air but close to the deadball line, from a Blake Austin grubber kick, Rapana dived, somehow retrieved the ball and grounded in the corner with only millimetres to play with.

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But, unlike Walker in extra time, Canberra skipper Jarrod Croker hit the upright and missed the conversion. Minutes later, Manly forward Frank Winterstein burst through a hole before setting up fullback Tom Trbojevic for the try to level at 18-18. But the twists weren’t finished yet.

Walker missed the conversion and a Daly Cherry-Evans field-goal attempt was charged down by Josh Hodgson ensuring the game would go to golden point. After the Raiders gave away a penalty for stripping, Walker stepped up to spark wild celebrations from the Eagles’ players.

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart said his side were fortunate the match went to golden point after Walker sprayed a conversion and penalty goal attempt in the second half. “Walker should have kicked those two goals,” Stuart said. “He’ll kick the next 10 out of 10 from that spot. We just had a leg up in regard to his misses.”

Canberra led 6-2 after a cagey first half, and came out firing in the second stanza. Josh Papalii broke through Cherry-Evans and Walker tackles to drive over the line for a brilliant try. Croker converted to extend the lead to 10 points but, in a sign of things to come, the Sea Eagles refused to be beaten.

A lucky deflection allowed Jake Trbojevic to cross for Manly’s first try and, two minutes later, Walker sliced through the Raiders’ line with a superb run to level the scores, before putting his side in front with a sideline conversion. In a rollercoaster night, he was placed on report in the first half for a head slam on Aidan Sezer, sparking the first of many spotfires during a spirited contest.

Despite the loss, Stuart said he was proud of his team, who have a 4-4 record. “We played extremely well tonight and we’ll learn some stuff out of that,” Stuart said. “The scoreline is a disappointment but not the performance or the effort.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Adam Blair celebrates Brisbane’s victory over South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium. Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

In Friday’s other game, Brisbane scraped to a controversial 25-24 win over South Sydney, thanks to an Anthony Milford field goal on Friday night at ANZ Stadium. Milford slotted the match-winner in the 78th minute, however appeared to bobble the ball as he caught and fired the shot.

It was one of three controversial moments involving the Brisbane five-eighth and the Rabbitohs’ fans in the 11,083-strong crowd were left baying for blood after the fulltime hooter. Souths general manager of football Shane Richardson stormed into the press box after the match and bellowed “write about the bunker now”.

The Broncos scored one of the most-controversial tries of the season when Tautau Moga crossed to even up the ledger with 11 minutes on the clock. Just moments earlier, Milford crossed the line but was held up and the ball came out the back of the ruck for Moga to scoop it up and dive over the line. South Sydney skipper Sam Burgess argued the tackle had been made and the play should have been dead, however the bunker ruled a four-pointer.

The Broncos led 18-6 at the break before Souths came storming back into the contest with three tries in 11 minutes. First, Bryson Goodwin batted back for Robert Jennings and the home side evened it up when Angus Crighton ran a smart line off Robbie Farah. And, when Siosifa Talakai crashed over, Michael Maguire’s team had a 24-18 advantage.

Earlier, The Broncos took the lead in the first half when Corey Oates crossed for almost identical tries in the space of 13 minutes – on both occasions, he took a cut-out pass from Darius Boyd and flew through the air to touch down in the corner.



The Broncos were awarded another controversial try when Korbin Sims scooped up a Milford grubber to score, despite being in an offside position. John Sutton was ruled to have played at the ball, putting Sims onside and making it 16-8 to the visitors.



The game was further shrouded in controversy when Milford was taken from the field at halftime for a head injury assessment just seconds after kicking a penalty conversion. The Broncos earned a penalty when Sam Burgess hit Milford high. The Broncos’ No6 was briefly assessed by the trainer and allowed to take the penalty.

In the intervening moments, Broncos doctor Peter Hackney reviewed the footage of the incident and decided to bring him off for a head-injury assessment but only after he had taken the shot at goal, angering the Souths’ crowd. After being assessed at halftime, Milford returned to the field for the second half.

Souths prop George Burgess could find himself in strife with the match review panel after appearing to shoulder charge Milford in the second half.