Manly's NRL premiership defence is spiralling out of control after the Sea Eagles slumped to a third straight loss with a 12-10 defeat by Penrith at Brookvale Oval last night.
The club world champions remain at the foot of the ladder alongside Canberra with no wins from three matches after Penrith scored two tries in the closing 23 minutes to power to its first win of the season.
Manly five-eighth Chris Bailey scored his second try with seven minutes remaining to ensure a tight finish but Matt Orford's conversion attempt from out wide went to the left of the uprights.
Winger Michael Bani was held up over the line before being pushed back into the the field of play with four minutes left, but when Brent Kite was caught with the ball on the last tackle, Manly's hopes were sunk.
Manly's problems don't end there, with concern for Jamie Lyon after the former Test centre limped off with a knee injury early in the second half.
After a try to Bailey midway through a listless first half, the Panthers finally turned field position into points in the 57th minute, when young playmaker Wade Graham, began Penrith's comeback.
He put Frank Pritchard into a gap with a well delivered cut-out pass before Pritchard offloaded for Lachlan Coote to level the scores at 6-all.
Panthers coach Matthew Elliott praised Graham's performance, the 19-year-old responding well after being dumped to the Toyota Cup for the first two rounds of the season.
''The reason Wade didn't start the season was he wasn't playing good footy tonight he played good footy,'' Elliott said.
''When he does play that well he makes a difference to the team.
''Our defence all season has been fantastic ... that's a part of our game that I feel very comfortable with, we've got some areas we can improve on for sure, it's probably the other side of the ball that we need to brush up on.''
Manly coach Des Hasler said his side was, ''exceptionally good'' in the first half but lamented his side's inability to hold on to the ball and the lead after the break.
''We'll get out of it, it's just a frustrating, tough period,'' Hasler said.
''They're a tough side they're campaigned, they're hardened, but we'll get out of it.
''We're well and truly under the radar now, don't worry about that.''
Lyon is believed to have a medial ligament strain, which could sideline him for up to a month.
''I don't know the extent of it but it doesn't look good,'' Hasler said.
Neither side showed any semblance of form over the opening 40 minutes, the two teams living up to their lowly positions on the ladder as they traded dropped ball for poor options.
Bailey's first try in Sea Eagles colours came as something of an anti-climax with the former Newcastle utility squeezing through two defenders close to the Panthers line, the video referee giving Bailey the OK after doubts about the grounding.
Not even six straight sets on the Manly line could deliver Penrith points, but it looked like their luck had changed when Luke Lewis carved his way through four minutes after the restart, only for the video referee to deny the four-pointer for an obstruction in the lead-up. AAP
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllAT A GLANCE PENRITH PANTHERS 12 (L Coote, M Iosefa tries; M Gordon 2 goals) bt MANLY SEA EAGLES 10 (C Bailey 2 tries; M Orford goal) at Brookvale Oval. Referee: B Cummins, Phil Haines. Crowd: 8667.
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