Two field goals in the final three minutes by Bulldogs-bound half-back Trent Hodkinson has given the Manly Sea Eagles a stunning 26-25 victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs in a gripping Brookvale Oval contest on Saturday night.

The Sea Eagles have struggled all season at the back-end of games and it appeared this match would be no different after they surrendered a 24-13 lead midway through the second-half to allow the Bunnies to sneak in front 25-24 with 14 minutes to go.

The Rabbitohs had a couple of opportunities to put the match to bed in the final stages but failed to execute the fatal blow.

Hodkinson, who was recently announced as the Bulldogs latest signing, stepped up to the plate in the 77th and 79th minutes to calmly pot field goals, giving Manly a win that lifts it back into the top-four for the time being.

Manly's victory came at a cost though, losing co-skipper Jamie Lyon midway through the first half with a re-occurrence of his troublesome right ankle injury.

Early reports have Lyon out for several weeks, meaning his hopes of a re-appearance in the Blues Origin side for the third game in the series are all but dashed.

It didn't take long for Manly centre Steve Matai to make an impact in his 10oth first grade game, with the fiery Kiwi bursting onto a slick one-arm ball from full-back Ben Farrar to crash over and open the scoring in just the fourth minute of play.

Second-rower Shane Rodney retained the goal-kicking duties from last week to sneak the wide-range conversion over, giving the hosts a 6-0 lead.

Souths hit back in rather soft circumstances, hooker Issac Luke wrong-footing a host of Manly sliding defenders to cruise over under the sticks in the 17th minute.

The brilliant Luke was over again just after the re-start, half-back Chris Sandow slicing through some flimsy Manly defence out of dummy-half to link with big second-rower Sam Burgess, who sent Luke racing away for his second try in as many minutes.

Big Manly interchange forward George Rose produced a superb hit and spin to bust through the line and send Matai over for his second try of the evening in the 27th minute.

Matai appeared to hyper-extend his right shoulder in the process of scoring and was visibly discomforted for the remainder of the match.

Rodney added the sideline conversion to level the scores at 12-all, but Sandow ensured the Rabbitohs would go to the break in the lead when he calmly potted a 40th minute field goal to edge his side in front.

The Sea Eagles were fully rewarded for a sneaky short kick-off to begin the second-half which saw winger Michael Robertson tap the ball back for interchange player Chris Bailey to gain possession.

Hooker Matt Ballin fought his way over from dummy-half a couple of plays later and the hosts found themselves 18-13 in front following the Rodney conversion.

The Rabbitohs had to do a mountain of defence in their own half during the next period of the game and it finally took its toll in the 57th minute when 114kg Manly winger Tony Williams crashed over near the right corner after storming onto neat inside ball from pivot Kieran Foran.

Another wide-range Rodney conversion pushed the locals out to a handy 24-13 lead.

An error from the kick-off allowed the Rabbitohs back into the contest, full-back Rhys Wesser taking advantage of a clearly handicapped Matai to waltz over for a converted right-edge try.

Sandow also took the Matai route to the try-line in the 65th minute, drifting across field then clapping on the pace to score a try that Luke duly converted to put the Rabbitohs back in the lead at 25-24 up.

But Hodkinson's right boot came into play on two occasions late in the piece to prevent a third-straight loss at home by the Sea Eagles.

Manly Sea Eagles 26
Tries: Matai 2, Ballin, Williams
Conversions: Rodney 4
Field goals: Hodkinson 2

South Sydney Rabbitohs 25
Tries: Luke 2, Wesser, Sandow
Conversions: Luke 4
Field goals: Sandow