A youthful and depleted Canberra showed skill and composure to upset Manly 27-14 in their opening round NRL match at Brookvale Oval.

Playing with three debutants and without a number of more senior injured players, the Raiders scored four tries to three and led for virtually the entire game.

Canberra hit the front after just four minutes through a try to centre Phil Graham and never relinquished their advantage.

The Raiders led 14-8 at halftime and 20-8 early in the second half.

Manly got it back to 20-14 and missed a golden opportunity when fullback Brett Stewart knocked on with the Canberra line open 15 minutes from fulltime.

A cheeky solo try to Raiders hooker Simon Woolford, which was converted by fullback Clinton Schifcofske, and a Todd Carney field goal put the seal on a strong Canberra showing.

One of the few positives for Manly was the enterprising form of new recruit Steve Bell, with the centre crossing for two of his side's three tries.

The Sea Eagles' other four pointer was scored two minutes before the break by Stewart, who won the chase to a well-judged kick by Manly's other big-name recruit from Melbourne, halfback Matt Orford.

However it was a mixed night for Orford who missed two of his three shots at goal and made some mistakes and errors of judgment.

Schifcofske was sound at the back and plenty of metres going forward for Canberra, with halves Jason Smith and Lincoln Withers controlling play well for the visitors.

Schifcofske landed all five of his shots at goal while Canberra's other tries were scored by Carney and winger Adam Mogg.

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