Robinson praises Radley

It will be a contender for tackle of the year and a defensive play that saved the Sydney Roosters from an almighty scare at Allianz Stadium.

Local junior Victor Radley wasn't out to make it a personal challenge as he lined up the Manly forward pack on Sunday but pulled off a try-saving tackle for the ages.

Not a player who earns praise from those outside the club on a regular basis like a Cooper Cronk or James Tedesco, Radley was sliding across the defensive line when an elusive Dylan Walker looked certain to go over from close range.

"It was good being in the right spot to save a try, I'm stoked with it," Radley said following the game.

"I always try and do my best to get into a good position. I was just legit moving there and got into the right spot. I was lucky I stopped it there.

"That was one of me better ones."

Roosters coach Trent Robinson was full of praise for the 20-year-old and described the tackle as "game changing" with the Roosters holding on for a two-point win.

Even opposition coach Trent Barrett offered a compliment post-game, describing Radley as a great player and labelling the tackle as incredible.

"The biggest moment in that game," Robinson said.

"They're so split second, I didn't know who it was at that moment. There was nothing else going to happen but scoring a try or Radley making a huge play one on one. He made the play.

"It was [against] Dylan Walker, he's pretty good at getting over the line. It was going to take a big play. I'm sure he thought he would have scored. They're big moments in games."

The Tricolours tinkered with their attack in the lead-up to the clash after struggling noticeably with the ball against the Dragons in the Anzac Day hit-out.

Manly raced out to a 10-0 lead but the Roosters did enough to crawl their way back – an area Robinson put down to the change.

"NRL week-to-week – people like routine so any slight changes they don't like it," Robinson said.

"These guys had to work through change. They had to fight through it. It might have thrown off other areas of our game but it was needed.

"Obviously we didn't start how we wanted, 10-nil down, and got back to 12-10 and kicked out way to 14-all, it was a bit stop-start there.

"I thought we started the second half well. I thought we improved at attacking the line. A decent week of change, there was better fluency there. I would have liked to have finished it off better than what we did."