Sanders stars as Canberra beat Manly in NRL thriller

Alex Mitchell | March 7, 2026

Canberra’s life without Jamal Fogarty has started in astonishing fashion, with new No.7 Ethan Sanders scoring a field goal to win a golden-point thriller against Manly.

After a late Sea Eagles’ flurry forced Saturday’s contest at Brookvale Oval to extra time, 22-year-old Sanders needed just one attempt to seal the 29-28 round-one win.

Fogarty, in his Manly debut against his former team, had forced golden point with the last kick of normal time after Canberra players were ruled offside on his two-point field-goal attempt.

He slotted the penalty after the fulltime siren, before his Canberra replacement got the last laugh with his first chance in the extra period.

“He had more pressure on him tonight than any player on the field,” Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said of Sanders.

“His game tonight was very, very mature, well beyond the amount of games he’s played. That was probably his fifth game in first grade.”

In an extraordinary game, Manly led 14-0 inside 20 minutes before five unanswered tries flipped the script for a Raiders’ 28-14 advantage.

Late tries for Tolutau Koula and Fogarty brought the Sea Eagles within two, before the half’s penalty goal forced extra time.

Two tries each for emerging second-rower Noah Martin and pacey winger Xavier Savage, along with a bursting run from Sanders, had helped Canberra overcome their poor opening 20 minutes where ill-discipline put them into their 14-0 hole.

In the Raiders’ first start without halfback Fogarty, who swapped Canberra green for Manly maroon in the off-season, Sanders and five-eighth Ethan Strange hardly put a foot wrong and created a try each in the comeback win.

A cross-field kick from Fogarty created a try for second-rower Haumole Olakau’atu for Manly’s 14-0 lead.

Martin, in just his second NRL start, got Canberra going after their lamentable start when they did not touch the football for the first 12 minutes.

They gave away three penalties, six set restarts and tries to Tom Trbojevic and Olakau’atu, before Martin beat two tacklers for his side’s first points.

Three tries in seven minutes, including Martin’s second from a delightful Kaeo Weekes ball, put Canberra in the box seat.

“It was always about possession, they had 65 tackles in a row in that first 15 or so minutes, six infringements that we gave away … it was always gonna be hard,” Stuart said.

Savage scored two in four minutes, his second courtesy of a deft kick from second-rower Hudson Young.

Sanders’ try, after a slicing run from close range, looked to have punctuated the victory, before his one-pointer showed Canberra fans the quality he could bring for the next decade.

Manly’s spirited fight was led by centre Koula, who powered his way to 188m to spark his team.

Trbojevic looked poised to tear the game open all night in his first game as Sea Eagles captain, but was well handled by Canberra’s defence after scoring the opening try.

“We showed a ton of fight in the last 10 minutes to get ourselves back in the game, but clearly we just couldn’t adapt when they were rolling us through the middle of the park,” Manly coach Anthony Seibold said.

“They scored three tries in that 10 or 12-minute period after halftime, so that was probably the game. 

“Disappointed in some aspects of our game, but there’s some really good signs as well.”