Sezer slotted his kick with 20 seconds on the clock to see the Raiders rejoice at GIO Stadium despite being down by 12 points in the first half.

Canberra's performance in their fifth win of the season was error-riddled but they defied their recent late-game form in amazing style on Friday night.

NSW bolter Nick Cotric got the Raiders going, producing a brilliant man-of-the-match effort to give his State of Origin prospects another boost.

The teenage winger scored two tries in almost identical fashion in the first half before assisting fullback Jack Wighton for the Raiders' crucial third try with five minutes to go.

Cotric put up a clever kick with Canberra down 20-14 to set up Wighton before captain Jarrod Croker converted it to level the game.

In a chaotic final few minutes, one of Sezer's field goal attempts was smothered before he went again to send the crowd into raptures.

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart was delighted his side ended their run of losses in close games.

"We've lost a lot of those ones in the last season and it's easy for me to say it now but luck plays a massive, massive part in winning those close ones," Stuart said.

"We weren't going to say it was bad luck (last year) because that's a weak man's way out.

"It could've went the other way but the boys showed courage."

The Sea Eagles stormed out of the gates, running in two of the easiest tries straight through a sleepy Raiders defence.

Tries to captain Daly Cherry-Evans and Joel Thomspon saw Manly jump to a 14-2 lead after 20 minutes before Cotric's brilliance brought the Raiders back into the game.

Manly centre Brian Kelly broke through Canberra's defence when the Sea Eagles were a man down following Trent Hodkinson's sin-binning midway through the second half.

Manly coach Trent Barrett says he wants to get clarification over the call to put Hodkinson in the sin bin but conceded his team should have won regardless.

"We had our chances to win it but it's pretty heartbreaking to lose those ones," Barrett said.

"I thought there were some things we need to tidy up at the end. We had enough ball in the last five minutes to put Canberra away."

Sea Eagles fullback and Origin fancy Tom Trbojevic had another blinder, running for 149m in an outstanding performance.

Australian Associated Press