Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffered a 44-30 loss to Canberra Raiders at Brookvale Oval today in their final home match of the season.
Prior to kick-off, retiring Manly captain Jamie Lyon did a Farewell Lap of Honour with his children as part of a special tribute to ‘Killer’ in recognition of his outstanding service to the Sea Eagles since joining the club in 2007.
Out with a hamstring injury, Lyon has finished his great career on 294 NRL games.
The Raiders opened the scoring in front of a crowd of 11, 137 when prop Paul Vaughan ran over the top of hooker Api Koroisau. Centre and captain Jarrod Croker converted for a 6-0 lead after 10 minutes.
A loose pass saw Canberra take a 10-0 lead when winger Jordan Rapana swooped on the ball to race 90 metres to score untouched. Croker converted for a 12-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The Sea Eagles got on the board when a towering bomb was spilt by Canberra full-back Jack Wighton for Koroisau to pick up the ball to pass to lock Jake Trbojevic to score under the posts. Matthew Wright converted for a 12-6 scoreline after 26 minutes.
A nice pass by Daly Cherry-Evans put full-back Tom Trbojevic over for a 12-10 scoreline after 33 minutes before Rapana scored his second try five minutes later for an 18-10 lead.
Second Half
The Sea Eagles were denied a try in the opening minute of the second half when the referee ruled a forward pass from Brayden Wiliame to Tom Trbojevic.
Canberra took advantage of their good fortune to run in two quick tries to centre Joey Leilua for a 28-10 lead after 48 minutes.
The Raiders were then denied a try to second-rower Josh Papalii after he was held up by winger Brad Parker before Tom Trbojevic scored his second try out wide. Wright converted to leave Manly trailing 28-16 after 54 minutes.
Two minutes later, Canberra took a 32-16 lead when winger Edrick Lee scored before Wighton extended the lead with a try behind the posts for a 38-16 lead.
The Sea Eagles then scored three consecutives tries to Cherry-Evans, a third to Tom Trbojevic, and one to Frank Winterstein to leave the home side trailing 38-30 after 75 minutes.
Rapana then grabbed his third try to give Canberra a 42-30 lead four minutes later. Croker converted off the uprights for the 44-30 scoreline.
Earlier, Manly lost 56-22 to Canberra in the Holden Cup while the Intrust team lost 40-38 to Newtown Jets at Henson Park.
