Manly-Warringah 30–20 South Sydney Rabbitohs — Preliminary Final, 2013 NRL Finals Series
27 Sep 2013 · ANZ Stadium, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 44,546
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2013 NRL finals series: Manly-Warringah 30–20 South Sydney Rabbitohs, at ANZ Stadium, Sydney, NSW on 27 Sep 2013.
Sourcing caveat: Try-scoring minutes are not fully confirmed for all tries — only Sutton's and Merritt's are timed (within the first 11 minutes). No official player-of-the-match award was located for this fixture.
Scorers
| Manly-Warringah | Tries: Ballin; Lyon; Stewart; Symonds; Williams Goals: Lyon (5/5 conversions) |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | Tries: Sutton (within 11'); Merritt (within 11'); Walker Goals: Reynolds (3/3 conversions); Luke (1/1 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Manly-Warringah | South Sydney Rabbitohs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brett Stewart | Fullback | Greg Inglis | 1 |
| 2 | Jorge Taufua | Wing | Nathan Merritt | 2 |
| 3 | Jamie Lyon (c) | Centre | Bryson Goodwin | 3 |
| 4 | Steve Matai | Centre | Dylan Walker | 4 |
| 5 | David Williams | Wing | Dylan Farrell | 5 |
| 6 | Kieran Foran | Five-Eighth | John Sutton (c) | 6 |
| 7 | Daly Cherry-Evans | Halfback | Adam Reynolds | 7 |
| 8 | Brenton Lawrence | Prop | Dave Tyrrell | 8 |
| 9 | Matt Ballin | Hooker | Issac Luke | 9 |
| 10 | Brent Kite | Prop | Luke Burgess | 10 |
| 11 | Anthony Watmough | Second-Row | Sam Burgess (c) | 11 |
| 12 | Justin Horo | Second-Row | Ben Te'o | 12 |
| 13 | Glenn Stewart | Lock | Jeff Lima | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Richard Fa'aoso | Jason Clark | 14 | |
| 15 | Jamie Buhrer | Roy Asotasi | 15 | |
| 16 | Tom Symonds | Chris McQueen | 16 | |
| 17 | George Rose | George Burgess | 17 | |
| Geoff Toovey | Coach | Michael Maguire | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Gerard Sutton and Ben Cummins (two-referee system) |
Match report
South Sydney entered this preliminary final chasing a first grand final appearance in 42 years, while Manly were seeking a return to the decider after their 2011 premiership. The match began disastrously for Manly: South Sydney raced to a 14-0 lead inside 11 minutes through tries to John Sutton and Nathan Merritt, and led 14-6 at halftime. Manly regrouped after the break, hooker Matt Ballin crossing to cut the margin, before captain Jamie Lyon's try put the Sea Eagles in front. Fullback Brett Stewart and forward Tom Symonds — from a charged-down kick — extended the lead, and winger David Williams sealed the result with a spectacular one-handed corner-post finish under pressure from Greg Inglis. Manly outscored Souths 30-0 after the early onslaught, advancing to their 20th grand final appearance, where they would ultimately lose to the Sydney Roosters.