'One of the great tries' ends Dogs' dream as Manly pinch elimination ...

The Sea Eagles have stunned the Bulldogs 24-22 in a thrilling elimination final, using “one of the great tries” to end the season for Cameron Ciraldo’s outfit.

Anthony Seibold’s side will now face the Roosters in the second semi final next weekend, with the winner of that game then coming up against the Storm in the preliminary final.

The Bulldogs flew out of the gate at Accor Stadium, with Jacob Kiraz scoring in the corner in the sixth minute, flying on to a Viliame Kikau pass.

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However, Manly hit back through Tommy Talau with a smart backline play that saw the winger find space one the left side of the field.

Kikau was the next man to get on the scoresheet, bursting through the Sea Eagles’ defensive line before beating Tom Trbojevic to score.

Stephen Crichton, then delivered an unbelievable moment, scoring a try that looked to be an almost impossible task.

Matt Burton spotted space in behind the line, putting in a kick for Crichton who was in a foot race with Trbojevic and Talau.

Crichton burnt past Trbojevic, and then reached through Talau’s arms at the very last moment, grounding the kick with his fingertips.

To close out the first half, Ethan Bullemor scored in controversial fashion with Lehi Hopoate reeling in a bomb that bobbled in his arms, before delivering a questionable pass to his forward to cross.

That saw the Dogs hold a 16-12 lead at the break, and the second 40 minutes was a very tight affair with only three tries scored.

Jeral Skelton got the first four-pointer, once again masterminded by a moment of Stephen Crichton magic, tipping on a Toby Sexton kick to his winger.

Then the Sea Eagles responded with an impressive try, with a Luke Brooks no-look pass creating a clear passage for his skipper to steam through the line and score from a scrum.

That left 24 minutes for either team to stamp their mark on the clash which saw at 22-18, sparking an arm wrestle to save their respective seasons.

Tolu Koula was the man to stand tall, scoring a staggering four-pointer and burning several defenders after the Sea Eagles found their speedster in space.

League legend Steve Roach labelled the try “a gutsy play” while Andrew Voss said “that’s one of the great tries”.

Cherry-Evans then stepped up with a conversion to take a lead for the first time in the clash, and he kicked it straight over the black dot.

From there, Manly were able to close out the match and end the Bulldogs’ season in front of a sea of Canterbury-Bankstown faithful, despite a two-point field goal attempt from Matt Burton that came desperately close to sailing over the posts.