Despite challenging early, the Gold Coast Titans have fallen to a disappointing 30-12 loss against Manly who are now on a three-game winning streak.
With each side having a player celebrating a key milestone, there was a keen-ness about the opening sets, with the Titans getting some early field position off the back of penalties. The second of these saw Tyrone Roberts bang over a penalty goal in his 150th NRL match.
The two-pointer was enough for Manly to flick the switch and take control of the game, and on the back of a Titans error and a penalty, the visitors crossed for the afternoon's first try through 100-gamer Curtis Sironen.
The Sea Eagles held a four-point lead until the 26th minute, finally cracking the Titans' line after a period of fairly lacklustre attack - and it was again Sironen who climbed over Roberts to grab Manly's second four-pointer.
It opened the floodgates somewhat for the boys from Brookie, with Reuben Garrick scoring soon after and Jorge Taufua not long after that. Suddenly the Sea Eagles had a 20-2 lead and the halftime siren was looming - but not before Sironen capped an eventful opening half of footy by trotting off to the sin bin, having tackled Brian Kelly off the ball as the Titans' centre looked likely to score.
Sironen's professional foul didn't seem to harm Manly, who conceded no points either side of halftime and even added two with a 45th-minute penalty goal to stretch their lead to 20 points.
Beyond the 50-minute mark, Moses Suli scored to ensure the Eagles were comfortably ahead - but in the minutes following the Titans finally managed to breach the Manly line, with Phillip Sami crossing for the first of two tries he'd score.
Shortly after an hour of game time the Titans looked like they'd cross again but the Bunker called the play back 70 metres after Jarrod Wallace was ruled to have obstructed Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans, which created a yawning gap for a teammate to steam through.
The Gold Coast eventually got their second through Sami with twelve minutes left but by then they'd left their run too late - a Reuben Garrick penalty goal eight minutes from fulltime the last scoring play from either side and the contest finished 30-12 in Manly's favour at Cbus Super Stadium.