The Sea Eagles have been handed their biggest defeat of the season after suffering a 34-18 loss to the Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.
In a match the Sea Eagles would rather forget, the Sea Eagles leaked in 26-answered points inside 35 minutes to end any hope of victory.
Out muscled and out enthused, the Sea Eagles struggled to contain the Tigers big men as they ran riot in a horrid first half for the away side.
It was the half from hell. The Sea Eagles’ defensive line was breached four times in a 40-minute display rarely seen from a Manly side in recent years.
Captain Robbie Farah began the first half romp, kicking in behind the Manly defensive line and winning the race to the ball inches from the dead ball line.
Awarded a penalty within striking distance of the posts, Pat Richards made no mistake as he slotted the penalty goal to extend his side’s lead beyond a converted try.
David Nofoaluma then took his side out to a commanding 14-0 lead after the Tigers shifted the ball wide to find the flying winger in the corner.
Despite the slippery conditions in Leichhardt, the Tigers chanced their arm to great success. It wasn’t long until the home-crowd were up on their feet again as Chris Lawrence pierced a gap in the Manly defence to score almost untouched.
Front rower Aaron Woods then joined in on the try-scoring action as he crashed over the line to hand his side an unexpected 26-0 lead against last year’s grand finalists.
It took the Sea Eagles 35 minutes to earn a tackle inside the opposition’s 20-metre line, but it only took five minutes for the away side to convert that possession into points.
Jamie Lyon giving his side a sniff right on half time as he latched onto a Kieran Foran cross-field kick to reduce the margin to 20 points.
However, the Tigers all but secured victory 13 minutes into the second half as Nofoaluma pounced on a loose ball to sink the boot in.
Centre Steve Matai managed to step his way through the Tigers right edge defence on the hour mark to peg the margin back, although poor ball control cost the Sea Eagles in their bid for a comeback.
Matai crossed for a consolation double three minutes out from full time as the Tigers claimed a 34-18 victory.
