Manly Sea Eagles shocked NRL leaders Parramatta Eels with a 22-18 victory on Saturday despite the threat of a late comeback.

Brad Arthur's men trailed 22-4 at half-time after a careless start saw them concede three tries in the opening 16 minutes.

Martin Taupau capitalised on a mistake just two minutes in before Daly Cherry-Evans and Daniel Levi made the most of some slack defending.

Michael Jennings got the visitors on the scoreboard 30 minutes in, but Joel Thompson's try a minute before the break put the Sea Eagles firmly in control.

The Eels then got the benefit of a contentious call, Waqa Blake running nearly the length of the field to score after a reprieve from the bunker, which seemed to put the Lottoland crowd on edge.

Michael Jennings burst through to score his side's third and George Jennings dotted down in the corner after an excellent offload, but there was not enough time for the league leaders to prevent just a second loss of the season.

St George-Illawarra Dragons produced an impressive comeback to beat Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 28-22 and deny interim coach Steve Georgallis a winning start.

Georgallis, who replaced Dean Pay this week, saw his side respond to a try from Matt Dufty 58 seconds in to lead 20-10 at half-time.

Euan Aitken finished from a good move involving Adam Clune and Dufty to extend the Dragons' early advantage, but Jason Marshall-King, Nick Meaney and Raymond Faitala-Mariner all went over to give the visitors the lead.

Jason Saab dragged the Dragons back into the contest after fumbling an earlier chance for a try, and Clune set up Dufty for his second to level the scores before Zac Lomax converted.

Corey Norman got the Dragons' fifth try with two minutes remaining and Lomax added the extras, leaving the Bulldogs four points adrift at the foot of the ladder.

Newcastle Knights survived a late fightback from South Sydney Rabbitohs to claim a 20-18 win at Bankwest Stadium.

The away side led 14-0 at the interval thanks to first-half tries from Enari Tuala, Kurt Mann and Kalyn Ponga, who had come in for criticism for his recent form.

Bradman Best touched down after a clever Ponga kick three minutes into the second half, but the full-back's third missed conversion appeared to give the Rabbitohs some hope.

Mark Nicholls and Damien Cook went over in the space of two minutes and Cook got his second from debutant Jaxson Paulo's kick, but the Knights held firm in the closing stages.