Wyong Roos held off a late Manly Sea Eagles surge to win 38-26 in a highly-entertaining affair.
The Roos were in cruise control as they got out to a 22-4 lead, but the Sea Eagles fought their way back to make the score 26-all with 10 minutes remaining before the visitors went on with the job with two late tries.
Samisoni Langi and Tyler Cornish controlled the game well for the Roos, while an Abraham Papalii shift to the wing proved to be a powerful success.
The Roos kicked the opening kickoff out on the full and were punished by Sea Eagles winger Delroy Berryman, who scored in the right corner just two minutes into the contest.
Their lead was short lived as the Roos responded within five minutes through Cornish, who shaped to kick on the last tackle but instead stepped through the defence and scored next to the right post. He converted his own try to take the lead to 6-4.
Roos prop Jake Lewis unfortunately collapsed with no defenders near him while clutching at his leg, and had to be taken off the field.
Lagi Setu then increased the Roos lead to 10-4 by running through some lazy Sea Eagles defence who would have been frustrated with such an effort just 11 minutes into the match.
A beautiful string of passes found its way to Kieren Gallagher in the 22nd minute while the Roos were on the attack, and he planted the ball down before Cornish slotted the conversion to make the score 16-4.
Papalii took advantage of the Sea Eagles giving away back-to-back penalties off the kickoff by destroying defenders on his path to the try line to score an incredibly-powerful try.
At 22-4, it looked like the Roos were heading for a heavy victory, but a Jayden Hodges grubber inspired a comeback.
Hodges put in a little grubber from dummy half close to the line and Michael Chee Kam pounced on the ball to make the score 22-10.
The Sea Eagles then dropped the ball off the kickoff set, and gave away a penalty, immediately inviting the Roos onto the attack.
They shifted the ball left, but Berryman took an intercept and ran 100 metres to score and close the gap to 22-16 going into halftime.
The Roos were the first to score on the other side of the halftime break when Chris Centrone was able to score in the right corner after Papalii made an explosive linebreak down the left sideline just a few tackles earlier. Cornish was unsuccessful with his conversion and the score remained 26-16.
With 17 minutes remaining, Tony Satini made an outstanding run on the left edge, bumped off defenders in the process and threw an amazing offload for Ben Fritz to score an incredible try. Kurt Aldridge cut the deficit to 26-22 when he slotted the conversion from the sideline.
Hodges was in the action again when he dummied right and went left, which fooled the defenders as the ball found its way to Fritz who scored in the left corner to level the scores.
It was set for a grandstand finish, but the Roos ran away with the match after a simple penalty goal, and two late tries to Matthew Mcilwrick and Gallagher.
It was an inspirational fight back from the Sea Eagles, but costly errors including not finding touch with penalty kicks on two occasions did not help their cause.
The Sea Eagles will take on the Newtown Jets at Henson Park next week, while Roos will host the Penrith Panthers at Central Coast Stadium.
Wyong Roos 38 (K Gallagher 2, C Centrone, A Papalii, T Cornish, L Setu, M Mcilwrick tries; Cornish 5 goals) bt Manly Sea Eagles 26 (B Fritz 2, D Berryman 2, M Chee Kam tries; K Aldridge 3 goals)
