Manly hero Jamie Lyon faces scans which could rule him out for at least two weeks after returning injured to the field to spark a 20-16 NRL victory over Melbourne.

The premiers could have sunk to as low as 10th on the table with a loss, but moved up one place from sixth to fifth position and within sight of a home final on the back of their gutsy first ever win in Melbourne.

No one typified that grit better than Lyon who suffered suspected damage to the AC joint in his shoulder while forward Shane Rodney copped a broken thumb.

Manly trailed by four points and it looked like victory was slipping out of reach with the Storm dominant and a stiff breeze at their backs at Olympic Park.

Lyon had left the field in midway through the first half clutching his shoulder after clashing with Storm winger Joe Tomane and when he didn't appear immediately after the break it looked like his game was over.

However the NSW Origin star ran on in the 50th minute and in the 63rd minute levelled the score when he managed to regather his own kick just short of the tryline and dive across, with Matt Orford successfully converting for the lead.

Lyon will undergo scans on his injury on Monday and said he wouldn't have returned but for the importance of the win.

He drew praise from his coach Des Hasler.

"It was a great effort to come back on," Hasler said.

"He's a class player and we certainly needed him.

"The team showed a ton of skill and good old-fashioned guts to hang in there and come away with an important two points."

Storm coach Craig Bellamy was frustrated, with his team just clinging to fourth spot after a second loss inside a week.

Bellamy described his side's attack as "very limp" and lamented their inconsistency.

"We did a lot of good things in defence but our attack was way off," he said.

"We spoke about it at halftime but I may as well have saved my breath."

Remaining in the top four wasn't enough to appease the taskmaster.

"If we lose the next two games we're not in the semi-finals," Bellamy said.

"I don't know whether some of our players have lost focus of that factor."

The Sea Eagles looked on track early to break their hoodoo of never winning in Melbourne as they took a 12-4 halftime lead despite the home side dominating possession.

However the Storm came out firing after the break.

Winger Will Chambers scored two minutes in the second half and ten minutes later they were in the lead through fellow winger Tomane's second try, before Lyon changed the match.

Manly, who crushed Melbourne 40-0 in last year's grand final, took their opportunities while the home side had plenty of chances but couldn't capitalise.

They missed gun centre Greg Inglis, who is due in court on Wednesday facing assault charges, with no date set for his return to action.

Fullback Billy Slater could have possibly saved the game with just over a minute on the clock but failed to see Steve Turner outside him and threw a wild pass across field.

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