The Dragons only briefly surrendered top spot on the ladder – by a single point differential – to Penrith three weeks ago, but shot two points clear of the Rabbitohs, Panthers and Warriors with the win.

It means they've finished 14 of the opening 15 rounds of the competition in top spot and is a handy cushion, with at least 10 of the 17 who took to WIN Stadium likely to be in action during the standalone rep round next week.

After a horror injury night on Friday, NSW coach Brad Fittler could rest easy, with his six Blues stars across both sides coming through unscathed.

Tom Trbojevich gave Fittler a scare when he got up clutching at his right shoulder after attempting to score a try late in the second half, but he played out the match and was one of Manly's best.

James Graham bagged his first try in Dragons colours but was only forced to log 44 minutes ahead of a long-haul flight to Denver with the England squad next week.

Widdop will be on the same flight after coming through unscathed and with an additional 12 points to his overall league-leading tally.

It left coach Paul McGregor satisified with the effort post-match.

“We've got a purpose within our squad with what we want to do and that's give ourselves every opportunity at the back-end of the year to finish as high as possible,” McGregor said.

"That's another game on that journey. That's the third game in 11 days for our Origin players, we were on a five-day turn, so to play that type of footy was really good

“[Manly] are a side very capable of scoring points, they'd only scored one less try than us for the season, so to keep them to one try… defensively we were very good. I thought as the game went on we got better.

“We are into that tough [representative] period, we're two games into it now and we've won them both, but it's not over yet.”

Widdop opened the scoring with a seventh-minute penalty goal before Trent Hodkinson kicked one of his own to level up at 2-all after 21 minutes.

Kurt Mann finally posted the first four-pointer 13 minutes before halftime, providing a classy finish to a Matt Dufty long-ball to give his side a four-point buffer.

Tim Lafai did it all himself minutes later, breezing past Brad Parker on a short blindside to cross for his side's second try and a 10-2 lead.

Sea Eagles rookie Tom Wright did the same three minutes later, blazing past Widdop and burning Dufty with a right-foot step on a 30-metre dash to the line.

Hodkinson converted from out wide to cut the margin back to two but it quickly blew back out when Taroq Sims crossed from close range in the shadows of halftime. Widdop converted for a 16-8 lead at the interval.

Widdop latched onto a perfectly placed grubber from Ben Hunt six minutes after the resumption, converting his own try for a 22-8 lead.

James Graham scored his first try in Dragons colours 11 minutes later after a 60-metre dash from Jack de Belin saw the lead balloon to 20.

Nene Macdonald snatched a Ben Hunt kick out of the air eight minutes from time to seal the 32-8 win.