A Jarrod Mullen field goal with just five minutes remaining secured Newcastle a heart-stopping 25-18 win over Manly in a dramatic and fiery opening to this year's NRL finals series at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

Down 12-0 at the break, the home side stormed back into the contest on the back of maestro Andrew Johns before a late try to winger Brian Carney sealed the seven point win.

Victory, though, may have come at a price with Knights hooker Danny Buderus put on report for a lifting tackle on Manly winger Michael Robertson.

Johns scored one try after the break and set up a double for teammate Kurt Gidley to lock the game at 18-18 with 10 minutes left.

Mullen then potting the one pointer after Johns had missed with an earlier attempt.

"They charged down Joey's (Johns') first attempt... he said `you take this one and do your best," Mullen told Channel Nine.

"It's a bit overwhelming. They were always going to put pressure on him (Johns) believing that he was going to take it, so it gave me the opportunity to put it over."

Inspirational Manly skipper Ben Kennedy missed the final four minutes of the game after being sin binned for retaliating after Buderus' lifting tackle.

Manly halfback Matt Orford missed an opportunity to snatch the game for the visitors when a penalty goal on an acute angle from 30 metres out sailed wide of the posts.

Mullen ran the ball back from inside to his own in-goal to within millimetres of the line, before Carney put the icing on the cake with his try with 14 seconds remaining.

It spoiled what was a terrific first half defensive display fro the Sea Eagles, who withstood countless raids by the Newcastle attack which had set up camp in the opposition's half.

The Sea Eagles, meanwhile, took their chances.

They opened the scoring after only 11 minutes when Knights winger Anthony Quinn was controversially ruled to have knocked on 40 metres out from his own line, Matt Orford sending Brett Stewart over for his 20th try of the season.

The Knights were in the wars in the first half with David Seage off the field with a damaged knee, which will require a reconstruction, and Steve Simpson forced into the sheds for with a jarred shoulder.

It got worse for the home side with Robertson intercepting a loose Buderus pass to race 85 metres to score, Orford's conversion making it 12-0 at the break.

Sensing the home side needed to be the first to score after halftime, the crowd lifted the noise level, and it served to spur on both sides with plenty of feeling going into every tackle.

Their excitement failed to die down as the home side earned three consecutive penalties, the last of which came after George Carmont and Travis Burns were sent to the sin bin for fighting.

With the Manly defensive line down a man Johns finally found an opening in what had appeared a fortress to go over under the posts, but Manly hit back almost immediately thanks to some magical work from Robertson.

Chasing down an Orford grubber which appeared headed over the sideline, Robertson acrobatically flicked the ball back in mid-air to a jubilant Steve Matai who planted the ball down to restore the visitors advantage to two converted tries.

But Johns refused to let the game get out of reach, supplying a delicate inside ball for Kurt Gidley to score twice in the space of eight minutes before the frantic finish.

Manly will now have a nervous wait this weekend. If two of either St George Illawarra, Canberra or Parramatta win, the Sea Eagles will be eliminated from the finals race.

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