Manly insist they can take small wins out of being beaten in a low-scoring arm-wrestle after suffering their first loss of the year to South Sydney.

The Sea Eagles were arguably the better team for the majority of Saturday night's match at Accor Stadium, before being beaten 13-12 in golden point by a Lachlan Ilias field goal.

But after becoming renowned for being one of the best up-tempo teams in the NRL in recent years, Manly can see an upside.

Saturday night's match marked the first time Manly have got into a low-scoring grind against a genuine competition heavyweight since early 2020.

In the time since, the only matches Manly have played which have featured a combined 25 points or less have been scrappy affairs against the Warriors in 2021 and Canterbury last year.

In contrast to those matches, the Sea Eagles completed at 80 per cent against Souths on Saturday night and missed 14 tackles to the Rabbitohs' 26.

Ultimately though, an error early in golden point cost them as well as a failure to turn good ball into points at times in the second half.

"The Bunnies have been a top-four side for the past five years, and they had enough to clinch it at the end. But I am really proud of the boys," coach Anthony Seibold said.

"We're right at the very beginning. Souths, a lot of that team have been together for a few years and Jason Demetriou has coached the last year and a bit.

"For us to get into a high-quality game ... and to get into an arm-wrestle where there was a lot of live ball was something we wanted to experience and come out the other side.

"We just weren't quite good enough. A few times building pressure when we had some opportunities."

The defensive nature of the game meant neither Tom Trbojevic or Latrell Mitchell could break the game open in the battle of the two electric No.1s.

Trbojevic was denied once when a Brad Parker ball was called forward in the lead up, despite appearing to have been back out of the hand on replays.

The call drew criticism from the likes of Phil Gould, but Seibold opted against being critical of the decision.

"The referee and the touchies are closest to it," he said.

"It would have been great if it was awarded, because it was decent footy.

"Some calls you get, some you don't. It was early in the game. We had enough time to get another opportunity."