Manly fullback Brett Stewart literally snatched victory from the Wests Tigers with a brilliant late try to steal a 16-12 NRL win at Brookvale Oval.

With the Sea Eagles trailing by two points with as many minutes remaining, Matt Orford put up a pinpoint banana kick from 35 metres out from the Tigers line.

The ball bounced straight up after landing on its point in open space, with try-scoring machine Stewart leaping over Benji Marshall, batting the ball forward with his right hand, and then regaining control to score the match winner under the posts.

"With two minutes to go, he put it in the centre," Stewart said of Orford's kick.

"Running through, luckily for me it bounced up above Benji's head and I seemed to get the hand between me and the ball and it stuck in my palm."

Asked where it ranked amongst the other 51 tries he has scored in his career, Stewart said it was "up there".

"It was a pretty important game for us ... it's a very important try, so it was probably one of the better one's I've scored."

Inspirational skipper Ben Kennedy labelled the play a piece of "brilliance" and said it was inevitable Stewart would play representative football.

"I love playing with him and he's certainly grown into a very fine footballer," Kennedy said.

"He deserves that type of stuff.

"Just the skill and his brilliance, he can come up with things like that to win you games."

Not only was Stewart's try a brilliant piece of athleticism which decided the game, it also marked his 25th try in as many games at Brookvale Oval.

He has now scored 41 tries from 52 matches, giving him the best tryscoring strike rate of any player in the NRL (30 tries or more), ahead of Parramatta's Timana Tahu and Melbourne's Billy Slater.

While Manly was ecstatic to escape with a win in a match the Tigers dominated for long periods, the result was not without its controversy.

Tigers back rower Anthony Laffranchi, his side's best forward, claimed he should have been awarded a 52nd minute try when he burrowed over from dummy half. Referee Shayne Hayne ruled he was held up over the line by Stewart after video referee Bill Harrigan referred the decision back downstairs.

"I thought I did (score), I felt I got it down when I first crossed the line," Laffranchi said.

"I thought the footy got to the turf, I was confident, but that's the way things go.

"It's very disappointing, but to their credit they came back strongly."

The other two outstanding contributions came from Kennedy and Wests Tigers halfback Scott Prince. Kennedy completed 29 tackles and made 204 metres from 25 hit-ups, while Prince kept his side in the contest with a superb kicking display which would have caught the attention of Queensland selectors.

"Princey certainly put them where we wanted them, in the corners," Tigers coach Tim Sheens said.

"Realistically, we were the better side but were just beaten by the bounce at the end of the day and a freakish bit of handling.

"We just have to be gracious but we were hard done by in a couple of instances."

Kennedy said he was desperate for a win after deciding to retire from representative football.

"I came out with the mindset I was going to do everything possible to win this game because that's why I'm playing, I'm not playing for NSW," he said.

"Last year we list three straight (during Origin) and now we have won two straight with one to go."

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