Brett Stewart has once again inspired Manly to victory with his two try tries helping the NRL premiers to brush aside the challenge of South Sydney 24-8 at ANZ Stadium on Saturday.

Stewart, who missed the first four rounds through suspension, made it five tries in two games as Manly sealed their second straight victory to halt their wretched start to the season.

The fullback's brace took his tally to his 13 tries in his last eight matches against the Rabbitohs who suffered successive defeats for the first time this season.

Stewart and centre Jamie Lyon provided all the scoring for Sea Eagles with the centre crossing the line twice as well as kicking his four successful conversions.

Souths beat Manly when the sides met last season, but Jason Taylor's side never looked like repeating that feat.

Trailing 18-0 at half time, Souths briefly hinted at a revival with a 49th-minute Craig Wing try, but Manly quickly hit back when Stewart grabbed his second four-pointer.

As expected, Manly's big forwards targeted Souths halfback Chris Sandow and the Sea Eagles pack dominated the exchanges up front.

Lyon crossed in the 12th and 18th minutes after Manly stretched Souths out wide.

Stewart set up an 18-0 half-time lead by rounding off a break from Anthony Watmough.

Although Stewart scored his second try after the break he also appeared to be carrying a slight limp although he remained on the field.

He was on the receiving end of a knee from Souths Jamie Simpson who was put on report by referee Jared Maxwell.

In the closing seconds Souths winger Nathan Merritt sprinted almost the full length of the field to score his fifth try in as many games this season.

Manly coach Des Hasler said Stewart got a knock on the knee but was okay.

Orford and Hasler felt the Sea Eagles were building momentum but both stressed they were not getting carried away by the last two victories.

"I think we're building nicely, we've got a long way to go," Orford said.

Hasler said Saturday's performance was better than last week's effort but felt Manly were guilty of not piling on the points in the second half.

"The first half, I thought we played some real good footy, the second half we were probably guilty of not putting them away," Hasler said.

"I thought there were more points in us and probably our execution was down a little bit, but we can work on that."

Hasler was most pleased by Manly's improved completion rate and said he thought they were pretty thorough in the way they built up pressure.

Souths coach Jason Taylor said Manly played well and the Rabbitohs contributed to their own downfall.

"We just made it too hard for ourselves and the opposition made it hard for us, we just had to make too many tackles," Taylor said.

"We were a little bit off our game defensively, particularly in the first half.

"A couple of the tries they scored were probably a bit softer than tries we've had scored against us so far this year."

Taylor bemoaned a couple of missed opportunities with Jaiman Lowe running into a goal post and Beau Champion being held up just before half time.

Five eighth John Sutton, who left the field briefly in the second half, suffered a corked calf while Shannan McPherson also picked up a cork.

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