Tom Trbojevic's NRL season is in tatters after the superstar full-back suffered a dislocated shoulder in Manly's 22-20 loss to Parramatta.
On a disastrous night for the Sea Eagles, Des Hasler's men finished with 12 men with Sean Keppie in the sin-bin as they let a 20-10 lead slip late.
Mitch Moses was the hero for Parramatta, going from the bin himself earlier in the match to nailing a late conversion from the sideline to win it for the Eels.
But it came on a bad evening for the Sea Eagles, NSW and the NRL as a whole with the potentially season-ending injury for the game's marquee man in Trbojevic.
The Dally M Medallist was hurt when he dived back to challenge Marata Niukore to get to an Eels grubber, with Manly up 20-16 with 16 minutes to go.
The full-back fell awkwardly on his left arm, dislocating his shoulder and immediately appearing in pain before being seen by three members of the medical staff.
The 25-year-old left the field, with Manly weighing up whether to send him straight to hospital with the blow.
The injury is Trbojevic's second of the year and comes just two-and-a-half-weeks out from the State of Origin series opener.
It shapes as another blow for NSW coach Brad Fittler.
The Blues are already without Latrell Mitchell, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Murray and Victor Radley, but Trbojevic's injury is the most crucial of the lot.
Without him and with Keppie binned for a dangerous throw, Manly fought valiantly to hold on.
They were also furious when winger Christian Tuipulotu was called for a high tackle on Hayze Perham, keeping Parramatta on the attack late.
And when Isaiah Papali'i put Will Penisini over with three minutes to play, it allowed Moses to make the hero play from the sideline.
Trbojevic had earlier played his best game of the season to help Manly to the lead.
He had a role in two of Manly's tries, providing a nice pass for their opener when his quick hands helped Morgan Harper put Reuben Garrick over.
Perham scored a double for Parramatta and Daly Cherry-Evans put Tuipulotu over with a brilliant cut-out ball, before Trbojevic was front and centre again after half-time.
With the Eels down a man after Moses had pulled Trbojevic back on a break, the number one split Parramatta open with some nice footwork from within his own end.
That allowed him to put Harper over, and when Garrick had his second try from a nice Foran grubber, the Sea Eagles were well in control at 20-10.
But Parramatta would not go away, getting back in the game when Tom Opacic capped off some nice expansive play to score with 20 minutes to go.
Trbojevic's injury then opened the door up for the Eels to pull off the win, putting a cloud over Manly's season in the process.
New coach, same Bulldogs as Tigers take the points
The Wests Tigers survived a scare against Canterbury on Friday, inflicting more misery on the bottom-placed Bulldogs by claiming a 36-22 win.
In front of 15,124 fans at Leichhardt Oval, the Tigers nearly threw away an 18-0 lead against a Canterbury side still reeling from coach Trent Barrett's exit from the club on Monday.
Interim Canterbury coach Mick Potter will have been heartened by the second-half fightback to trail 18-16 but when Aaron Schoupp was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous throw in the 62nd minute everything unravelled for the Bulldogs.
Even without Josh Addo-Carr (illness) and Brent Naden, who made a dramatic switch to the Tigers earlier this week, Canterbury scored more points on Friday than they have done in the previous 10 games under Barrett.
Naden's first act as a Tigers player was to get hauled over the sideline and while his old Canterbury teammates smirked with delight, it was the new Tigers man who had the last laugh.
On their first attacking set halfback Jackson Hastings steered the Tigers downfield before Joe Ofahengaue displayed some deft ballplaying to the left to have Luke Garner over the line with five minutes played.
Hastings then set up fullback Starford To'a down the same side, with Ken Maumalo adding a double before the break to push the Tigers out to an 18-0 advantage.
Within the space of five minutes, however, that lead had been cut to just six points.
Matt Burton and Jeremy Marshall-King both crossed to haul the Bulldogs back into the fight after Hastings had been sinbinned for a professional foul.
Winger Jacob Kiraz scored down the Canterbury left moments after Hastings returned to the field to cut the Tigers' lead to just two points and allow the Dogs to dream of an unlikely comeback.
Any hope of that was distinguished when Aaron Schoupp lifted To'a above the horizontal and was sent to the sin bin.
On the next set, Fa'amanu Brown barged his way over from close range in his first NRL game since 2019 and young Tigers half Jock Madden then extended their lead.
Schoupp made amends with a late finish but by then the damage had been done.
Brown added a second in the final minute of the game to ensure the Tigers' third win of the season.
