Ricky Stuart was disappointed his side was made to make 60-odd tackles before touching the ball, but praised young halfback Ethan Sanders for slotting the match winner in the Raiders’ 29-28 golden point win.
The Raiders came back from 14-0 down to lead 28-14, before a late Manly fightback led by former Raiders No.7 Jamal Fogarty forced golden point.
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But Sanders stepped up to ice a 30-metre field goal to secure a thrilling win for last year’s minor premiers.
“I don’t care how close it is as long as we win,” Stuart said.
“It was always about possession and I think they had 65 tackles in a row in the first 15 minutes with six infringements, that we gave away apparently.
“It was always going to be hard. We made it hard on our game there, but we fought our way back into it.
“We lost the last eight minutes in the game, but to be winning 32 minutes of the second half after the fatigue and the duress that we started under it was a good win.”
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Stuart reserved special praise for Sanders, who stepped out of his apprenticeship to announce himself as a star of the future for the Raiders in 2026, but was unhappy his side didn’t get the rub of the green early with the referees.
“He had more pressure on him tonight than any other player on the field,” Stuart said.
“What happened in that first part of the game tonight we practised all off-season about those type of scenarios where we just don’t get anything.”
Stuart was then pressed if momentum swings would be a regular thing under the new rules in 2026.
“I don’t know. Happens to us a lot,” Stuart said.
Jake Duke pressed Stuart further: “Are you worried at all?”
“That’s not a question to me,” Stuart said.
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However, Stuart was pleased with his players for showing real fight to not let the game get away from them and coming back twice to clinch victory.
“In respect to your question, that’s what I talked to the boys about,” Stuart said.
“I talked to them about that at half time. I talked to them about that at the end of the game.
“I don’t mind the interpretations. If we’re doing the wrong thing at the ruck, I’m fine with giving a six-again or a penalty or whatnot. As long as that happens for 80 minutes.
“The composure they showed was mature. And looking back to what you’re talking about with Ethan Sanders, I thought his game tonight was very, very mature.
“Well be on the amount of games he’s played. I think that was probably the fifth or sixth game in first grade, so hat’s nice to see for him.”
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Stuart also had praise for former Raiders halfback Fogarty, who played his first game since taking over from club legend Daly Cherry-Evans.
“I had a good chat to Jamal after the game and I thought Jamal played very well too,” Stuart said.
“There’s a lot of pressure on Jamal tonight as well taking over from a very high profile footballer here at Manly. I thought Jamal was under a lot of pressure too. And I thought he aimed up tonight and played a really good game of football too.”
Another star performer for the Raiders was Noah Martin who grabbed a double in an eye-catching display.
“I didn’t see any stats, I saw from him why I picked him,” Stuart said.
“No young bloke likes to sit back and have to wait to play the start of their NRL career, but he’s been patient like Ethan last season.
“Noah is as a competitive kid he just wants to play in the NRL, but he sat back behind some experienced back-rowers last year.
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“An injury to Matty Nicholson with his shoulder opened up a pathway for him, but in saying that, his off-season has just been superior.
“So he deserved his position and he repaid the players in regards to his performance tonight.”
Raiders sipper Joe Tapine praised his side’s character and the calmness of the young players led by Sanders and Martin.
“What we did in the off season really helped,” Tapine said.
“If we didn’t get those reps and what’s Sticky and the conditioning team did we would have got blown off the park, so credit to them.
“Some of those young boys really stepped up like Ethan Sanders. To take that field goal and make it look effortless was unreal.
“Same thing on Noah, I remember talking to Sticky the first day back. I said who’s standing out and he said Noah’s training the house down. So for him to get his crack it’s unreal.”
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