Manly will be dumped from the top eight if South Sydney beat St George Illawarra by more than four points on Sunday night after the Sea Eagles were beaten 30-24 by Canterbury on a dramatic afternoon at Brookvale Oval.
Manly had three players – Steve Matai, Jason King and Chris Bailey - placed on report for high shots and suffered a raft of injuries as they slumped to a shock defeat before a disbelieving crowd at Brookvale Oval.
Desperate defence from departing Bulldogs full-back Luke Patten prevented winger Michael Robertson from scoring a try with time up that may have taken the game into golden point extra time.
Rabbitohs supporters will now head to WIN Jubilee Oval on Sunday night with their hopes still alive – a win by five points or more enough for them to take the Sea Eagles' place in the top eight.
If the Sea Eagles do survive, they may be without King and Matai.
Matai was extremely lucky to stay on the field after hitting Michael Ennis late and high in the 51st minute.
As a heavily concussed Ennis was escorted from the field, incensed Canterbury halfback Brett Kimmorley approached referee Shayne Hayne to ask why Matai was not sent off.
Hayne replied: "We're not 100 percent sure where the contact was. He's very lucky."
King's hit on Andrew Ryan was not in the same league as Matai's but he could have a case to answer once the match review committee reviews the incident.
Whatever eventuates the Sea Eagles appear to be on borrowed time.
The signs were good for Manly early, with points coming after just seven minutes.
Matai showed great strength and determination to trample over the top of three defenders and slam the ball down.
Lyon's conversion struck the left upright but it was just the start the Sea Eagles wanted.
But Canterbury was quick to respond.
Ennis ducked out of dummy-half and cut back inside to hit Ryan Tandy with a pass that cleared a passage to the line.
Bryson Goodwin landed the simple conversion for the Dogs to hit the front 6-4.
Ben Farrar calmed Manly nerves with a brilliant solo try on 20 minutes.
He caught the Bulldogs defence sliding on their line and hit the gas to ease through the gap presented to him.
This time the upright came to Lyon's aid, his conversion striking the right upright before dropping over the back dot for a 10-6 advantage.
The tit-for-tat scoring continued four minutes later, Kimmorley laying on a beautiful pass for Brad Morrin to charge over.
There were no prizes for guessing the Sea Eagles would be next to cross, Matt Ballin's pass to Bailey opening up the brittle Canterbury defence for the third time.
But when Ennis laid on a try for Ryan in the shadows of half-time, the Dogs were headed for an 18-16 lead and a major upset.
They went further ahead two minutes into the second half as the pro-Manly crowd fell silent.
Ben Barba took a pass from Steve Turner and showed great speed to round the Manly defence and sprint 60m to score.
Five minutes later Ryan's lovely cut-out pass put Goodwin in the clear and the winger had the easy task of linking with Josh Morris on his inside.
Suddenly the realisation they could miss the finals seemed to dawn on the Sea Eagles.
Minutes after he was lucky not to be sent off, Matai sparked