A vicious brawl that erupted after Manly's thrilling finals win over the Bulldogs on Sunday has been captured on camera as one man was left hospitalised and police were forced to herd fans to safety.
The alleged fight broke out after Canterbury's upset loss with several men recorded appearing to fight near a lift inside Accor Stadium in Homebush,western Sydney.
Vision of the clash appears to show one man get punched in the head before a woman attempts to defuse the situation by getting in between the men.
One of the men was seen with blood pouring from his mouth and another had blood on his jersey,according to News Corp.
As many as 12 police and security guards were needed to bring the clash to a halt,and officers locked fans behind glass doors for their own safety as they were prevented from leaving the venue until the confrontation had ended.
'About 6.00pm on Sunday 15 September,police at Accor Stadium became aware of a fight at the lift foyer of Level 3,West,Private Suites,' NSW Police said in a statement on Monday.
'Police attended and found a 29-year-old Auburn man had suffered facial injuries,while a second man,a 30-year-old Greenacre man,suffered extensive facial injuries.
'The first man was taken to Concord hospital for further treatment while the second man declined treatment.'
The alleged brawl broke out after Manly star Tom Trbojevic (pictured carrying the ball) defied a painful shoulder injury to play a starring role in his side's comeback win
'It was a real finals football game,the scoreboard was close,the Bulldogs were probably on top for the bulk of the game.
'We just hung in and the longer the game went,the scoreboard didn't get away from us. I was really proud of the guys.'
Viliame Kikau and Stephen Crichton were the architects of a 16-12 halftime lead that did not do justice to the Bulldogs,who rediscovered their physicality and made life hard for Trbojevic.
After a Trbojevic knock-on,Kikau offloaded for Jacob Kiraz to score,before bursting through the Manly fullback for his own four-pointer.
Trbojevic was again caught out of position ahead of the Bulldogs' third,losing the foot-race to the ball as Crichton touched Burton's kick down.
But after the break,Trbojevic began to go looking for the ball.
'He had another needle at halftime,but that was always planned,' Seibold said.
'He did land on it (the shoulder) in the first half ... you probably saw that he got more involved in the second half.'
His side down four points in the final 10 minutes,Trbojevic threw the offload that sparked Manly's raid down the left side,and a crucial try for Koula that caught the Bulldogs napping on the last play.
Canterbury-Bankstown BulldogsSydney
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