Two late field goals from Trent Hodkinson has sealed a 26-25 NRL win for a patched-up Manly over South Sydney in an absorbing clash at Brookvale Oval on Saturday.

Trailing 25-24 with three minutes remaining, the Canterbury-bound Hodkinson booted two field goals to give the Sea Eagles a first home win since round nine.

Chris Sandow's field goal on the stroke of halftime looked to be the difference, as Souths clawed back an 11-point second-half deficit to take the lead, only to come up short as the Manly forwards drove their side into good field position.

Both sides scored four tries apiece, with Issac Luke crossing twice for Souths and Rhys Wesser and Sandow also going over for four-pointers.

Steve Matai, who played the entire second half with the use of only one arm after injuring his problematic shoulder, scored twice for Manly with Matt Ballin and Tony Williams also crossing in the second half.

Manly coach Des Hasler was forced to keep Matai, who was making his return to action following a three-game suspension, on the field after fellow centre Jamie Lyon had earlier limped off with an ankle injury in the first half.

The NSW star is now out of next month's third State of Origin clash after re-injuring his right ankle on his return to action after a three-match lay-off, when giant Souths prop David Taylor accidentally stamped on him.

Sandow's kick just before the interval gave his side a one-point advantage at halftime, but Manly came racing out of the blocks after the break and scored from their opening set when Ballin burrowed over from dummy-half after Anthony Watmough brought the ball deep into Souths territory following Shane Rodney's short kick off.

Williams extended the Sea Eagles' lead on 57 minutes with a typically powerful drive towards the line, only for the Rabbitohs to hit back almost immediately when Wesser darted past the injured Matai to score in the right corner two minutes later.

Wesser's try kick-started the visitors' revival and Sandow, who produced a strong performance at halfback, darted past the incapacitated Matai to restore the Rabbitohs' one-point advantage.

Nathan Merritt and Beau Champion both had chances to seal the win for John Lang's side, but with Watmough and Jason King leading the way for the home side, Hodkinson booted his first field goal with three minutes remaining to tie the scores, before sealing the win in the dying seconds with a monster kick from 35 metres.

Hodkinson, who this week signed a three-year deal with the Bulldogs, admitted after the game it was the first time he had kicked a field goal and he'd been struggling with his efforts in training.

"I was missing them from about 20 metres so it was great to see them both go over, I have never kicked one before so it was great way to win a game," Hodkinson said.

Coach Des Hasler praised the efforts of his players but said he was not satisfied with the way they let Souths back into the game in the second half.

"It was a courageous effort as we had quite a few busted players today and lost Killer (Lyon) early," Hasler said.

"Stevie Matai stayed out there with an injury ... but we still put ourselves under pressure in a game we probably had under control a number of times and let it slip.

"The boys know that we need to improve in certain circumstances, we looked ordinary on the ground and gave them too many easy metres with the ball."

Souths coach John Lang failed to hide his frustration at letting the game slip, but said the performance of Sandow was a positive."

"We weren't completing our sets and pushing passes and that just makes it that much more difficult to win," Lang said.

"I thought Chris played very well, his defence was the best it's been and he was very sharp in attack but he has got to do it every week.

"He has got rid of his stupid shoulder charges and he wants to keep doing it too as Adam Reynolds in the under-20s is playing extremely well."

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