Manly looked to be down and out against South Sydney early in the second half of their historic opener in Vegas with Latrell Mitchell running riot and threatening to send the Sea Eagles home empty-handed.
However, a surge of three tries in 10 minutes flipped the game on its head during an absorbing and often brutal curtain-raiser, as Anthony Seibold's men picked up the first NRL competition points in America with what turned out to be a commanding 36-24 victory.
Manly vs. South Sydney score, result as Sea Eagles get off to winning start in Vegas opener
In a brutal opening, Sean Keppie quickly became reacquainted with his former teammates when he was snapped in half by the defence during his first run for Souths.
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It was one of many bone rattling shots to grace the Allegiant Stadium turf as the physicality of the exchanges left a number of players nursing cuts with Vaseline seemingly applied by the kilo to players' faces at one stage.
It was the Bunnies who struck first on the scoreboard though when Cody Walker and Damien Cook combined to tear through the heart of Manly, before the dummy-half delivered an inch perfect short ball for Richie Kennar to crash over for the first try on US soil.
The pre-game discussion centred on how the narrow dimensions of the pitch would influence the strategy in attack, but this wasn’t evident as both sides gave air to the ball.
"It was definitely a component to think about," Daly Cherry-Evans said post-match.
"But I think ultimately there was so much going on - there was a little bit of energy burnt through the middle because it was so tight and the longer it went, I felt like the more comfortable we got.
"This year we're just going to try and play our football," DCE continued when asked if he was surprised at how attacking his side was.
"Sometimes our football is going to look like that regardless of what the shape of the field is. We didn't just want to completely disregard our entire pre-season of training.
"We have a style that we want to play, and I think we showed glimpses of that tonight."
This was evidenced when Walker misjudged a crash play on the Manly line and Tom Trbojevic turned defence into attack in the blink of an eye when he offloaded to Jason Saab near his own try line.
The winger sprinted down the touchline and seemed a certainty for the next four-pointer only for Lachlan Ilias to ground him by his fingertips with an ankle tap.
But Manly weren’t to be denied when Haumole Olakau'atu powered his way past his opposite number Keaon Koloamatangi off a scrum play to score from close range as Reuben Garrick levelled proceedings from the boot.
Luke Brooks then came within inches of putting his side ahead on his debut for the club, only to be adjudged to have dropped the ball by the Bunker.
Mitchell and Souths immediately made him pay when they raced up the other end with the fullback firing a cut-out pass to send 28-year-old debutant Jacob Gagai over in the corner to spark jubilant scenes.
Souths were unable to hold onto the lead though with Saab picking off an intercept from Mitchell with no one able to reel him in this time around.
The No.1 instantly made amends for his errant pass after the break when he powered his way over from close-range before he sent Alex Johnston over with slick hands following a Brooks error inside his own half.
Mitchell almost single-handedly dragged his team to the win as he finished with one four-pointer, two try assists, eight tackle busts and two offloads. Although he struggled from the tee with just two of five conversions landed during the 11-try stunner.
Luke Brooks and Tom Trbojevic fire Manly to comeback win in Round 1
The Sea Eagles had been blown away in the first 10 minutes of the second stanza with Mitchell on fire.
Yet Lachlan Croker had other ideas when he burrowed over from dummy-half to kickstart an avalanche of points for Manly.
The comeback was complete when Trbojevic sent his younger brother Ben over to score his fifth try of his career.
At this point, the Sea Eagles had well and truly wrestled momentum away from the Bunnies with DCE then threading a grubber into the in-goal for Garrick to touch down and extend the lead to 30-20.
Brooks put the icing on the cake by darting past Cook to get his Manly career off to a perfect start and snap a seven-game losing streak for Manly against the Rabbitohs.
"Any questions about Luke Brooks, they have been answers tonight, what a performance from this man," Braith Anasta said on Fox League.
"Playing in this game he has looked dangerous every time he has touched the footy. He's rejuvenated and refreshed. A new beginning - what a start."
"I was really proud of him," Seibold said.
"I really like how he has integrated into our side after 200-odd games at another club - he took the line on, which is what we want him to do."
It was also a good night for Tom Trbojevic who went close to scoring on two occasions in a brilliant return from injury where he finished with one assist, one linebreak, 171 running metres and three tackle busts.
"I hope the Americans have taken notice and I hope they enjoyed the game," Cherry-Evans stated.
"If we can make an impact and it is a bigger picture thing then it's great for our game.
"It was a tier above a regular season game in Australia, you could tell there was a bit more to it."
