Manly have withstood a second-half Canberra comeback one man down to win an NRL thriller in the nation's capital on Friday night 31-18.

Sea Eagles forward Adam Cuthbertson was sent from the field in the 31st minute when his outstretched arm cannoned into the neck of Raiders prop Troy Thompson, but the visitors still proved too strong.

Last year's grand finalists went into halftime with a 12-0 lead thanks to the deft boot of skipper Matt Orford.

Canberra came out firing in the second stanza, hoping to expose Manly's bunched defence. But they pushed too hard and repeatedly dropped the ball with fullback Bronx Goodwin bombing a certain try in the 43rd minute.

Manly eventually broke the Raiders' spirit and ran away 13-point victors via tries to Steve Matai and Steve Menzies after the break.

After the match coach Des Hasler questioned the involvement of video referee Paul Simpkins in the decision to send Cuthbertson off.

Referee Sean Hampstead asked Simpkins "are you thinking what I'm thinking" before sending the forward for an early shower.

"I could be wrong but I thought on the rabbits ears the referee was asking the fellow in the box what he was thinking," Hasler said.

"The man in the middle's got to make the decision, he's got the whistle, leave the video referees out of it because I don't think he was going to send him off."

Apart from his frustration, Hasler heaped praise on his Eagles outfit.

"There's always something special about winning a game with 12 men, it's a tremendous effort and one the players and the club are extremely proud of," Hasler said.

"We were always in control of it.

"We knew we had to play out the possession we had and frustrate them with our defence."

Hasler said the Sea Eagles never thought of trying to defend their halftime lead.

"We weren't going to stop playing football."

For the losing side the struggle to reach the top eight becomes harder.

Coach Neil Henry admitted his side struggled to hold on to the ball all night long, but he refused to criticise the Raiders.

"It's not automatic you win a game when you play against 12 men," Henry said.

"At 18-12 we lost a couple of opportunities to pull back some points.

"I'll take my hat off to Desy and the boys, they didn't make an error in yardage in the whole game."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP