Manildra Rhinos secure victory over Cargo to nail down Woodbridge Cup top three spot

But none of those hold a candle to watching Sam Sweeting play footy.

The enigmatic Cargo halfback produced the good, bad and ugly in his side's 32-20 loss to Manildra on Sunday, Sweeting spending time in the sin bin before setting up the Blue Heelers two second-half tries to breathe life into the round 11 Woodbridge Cup contest at Cargo Oval.

Sweeting finished the game with three try assists but his work in the second half was key.

With Cargo down 22-8 Sweeting put both Terawhiti Cooper and Jake Davis over for four-pointers to drag the Heelers back to within two points of the Rhinos inside the final 10 minutes.

An upset loomed but Manildra steeled themselves in the final exchanges and a ripping off-load from Simon Osborne gifted Brock Campbell his second try of the game before Mitch Hutchings sealed the vital two points with a slicing run to the try-line to cap a Rhinos victory, their ninth of the season and one that all but secures Manildra's place in the top three.

Osborne's side set up the win with three telling tries either side of half-time, the first two coming during Sweeting's time in the sin bin.

With the Rhinos trailing 8-6 but with the man advantage, Osborne barged his way over from close range before Gersbach did the same two minutes out from the break to turn a two-point deficit into an 18-8 lead.

While Campbell's first try three minutes after oranges - on the back of a Benji Marshall-like flick pass from Grant Williams - kicked the Rhinos up 22-8 before the Cargo fightback began.

The Manildra mentor said the Rhinos made a point of converting opportunity into points while it was 13-versus-12 and in the end two tries proved telling.

"Sweeto is a good player and him going off took their kicking game away. They didn't know what to do then," Osborne said, adding his side was lucky to scrape through against the determined Heelers.

"We got out of jail there a bit. They got off to a good start but we knew they were capable of that, they've got a great side.

"We regrouped and came back and we had to dig in during those last five minutes."

Osborne praised Mitch Gallagher's work through the middle of the field while the Rhinos' ability to get Hutchings into space late worked a treat - the try-scoring whiz even saluting as he crossed for the final four-pointer.

Heelers skipper Jake Davis said his side's opening 40 minutes was near its best all season, Cargo's start particularly hot after tries Will Smith and Trey Lucas shot the hosts out to an 8-0 lead after 12 minutes.

And although the Blue Heelers didn't bag the competition points, leaving them in a three-way log-jam for fifth spot with Canowindra and the in-form Peak Hill, Davis firmly believes the two blues take a stack of confidence out of the result.

"We just had to stick it to them and muscle up in the forwards. We came back but the last 10 minutes fatigue got us. We were there for 75 minutes of that game," Davis said.

"Even though we lost we'll build off this. Manildra is one of those sides setting the pace, and we were in it against (competition leaders) Trundle as well.

"There's a lot of teams jostling for that fifth spot. I think we can roll on in to it but we need a few wins to get that spot. Canowindra and Peak Hill will be thinking the same."

Earlier in the day, the Rhinos upset premiers Cargo 16-8 in the league tag while the youth league game was another bottler, the Blue Heelers and Manildra spliting the points after a 20-all draw.