Anthony Seibold will give Manly 24 hours to stew on their shock loss to Wests Tigers but remains confident in his side’s NRL finals credentials.
The Sea Eagles could have wrapped up a first finals berth since 2021 with victory against the last-placed Tigers at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday night.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Wests Tigers sink Manly in NRL boilover.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today 
Instead, Seibold’s side conceded six first-half penalties, gave up a 16-0 lead and lost three players to the sin bin during a calamitous 34-26 loss.
“You get what you deserve in the NRL. We’ve deserved some really good results because we’ve played some really good footy but tonight we weren’t there,” Seibold said.
“We’ll go back and prepare well because we’ve got a big game against the Bulldogs next Friday night. We know how well they’ve been playing.”
Manly’s top-eight dream now relies on beating either Canterbury or Cronulla in the final two rounds, or the ninth-placed Dolphins losing one of their final three games.
The Sea Eagles had won five of six games prior to their Round 25 loss but are yet to face either the Bulldogs or Sharks this season — two of the six sides higher than Manly on the ladder to begin the weekend.
Prior to the Tigers loss, Seibold said he was “very confident” the Sea Eagles would play finals football this season and that faith was not shaken on Thursday night.
“I’m confident in our team, of course I am,” he said.
“I’m not sure what the ladder looks like after tonight but we’ve been reasonably consistent over the last little period of time.
“We were well beaten tonight. But I’m confident in the group, we’ve got a really good side there. Our destiny is in our own hands.
“It’s disappointing but it’s not the end of the world, right? We’re fighting in this competition and we’ll go again.
“It’s going to be a disappointing 24 hours but then we need to wash it after that.”
It was Luke Brooks’ first match against the Tigers since ending an 11-year stint at the joint-venture, characterised by poor on-field results.
“Coming up against his old club, it wasn’t the result that he wanted so he’ll be disappointed,” Seibold said.
“It’s one of those nights.”
Tigers coach Benji Marshall was thrilled with the victory.
“My hair’s falling out,” he joked after the game.
“They’re a great side, the strike they have in their team, they’re pushing for the top four, they’re tough to defend, and for us to fight to the death like that in front of our home crowd who have been amazing all year, I told them, ‘I’m so proud’.
“We’re starting to find a little bit of what works for us.
“Last week we found something and don’t forget we’ve got a team of kids who are still learning how to manage games, how to play games and we’ve got some great leaders who, like tonight, led us home at the back end.
“We want to finish the season on a high, we’ve got a bye then Parramatta in the last round so at least we’re giving ourselves a shot at it.
“But I’ll be clear, we’re not happy finishing 16th or 17th. We want to be higher than that but we accept where we are and you’ve got to identify how to move forward and we’ve got a plan and we’re working on it.”
– With Cameron Noakes