An unbelievable 38 points in 35 minutes saw the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles destroy the St George Dragons in the SG Ball Cup at Lottoland on Saturday.
The Sea Eagles led 20-14 at half-time before a scintillating second half saw the home side pile on 38 unanswered points to win 58-14 to move to the top of the U18s ladder with three wins and a draw after four rounds.
Eight of Manly’s 12 tries were scored in the second half alone as the Sea Eagles ran riot against the Dragons.
The second half performance showed what this very talented Manly side can do when it controls the football and the crowd in attendance was certainly entertained.
It was a Manly affair through and through with NRL Head Coach Des Hasler, Recruitment Manager Noel Cleal, NRL Immortal Bob Fulton, Manly Board Directors Kerry and Julie Sibraa, and Sea Eagles players Jake Trbojevic, Tom Trbojevic, Lachlan Croker, Manase Fainu and Haumole Olakau’atu watching on from the stands.
Leading the charge on the field for the Sea Eagles was their captain and five-eighth in Joshua Schuster (below).
One of the most exciting players coming through the club’s junior ranks, Schuster had a hand in several tries, scored one himself, and terrorised the Dragons with his skills and strength.
Centre Simon Tito had several strong runs and scored a hat-trick of tries. He also provided good service to his winger in Tapu Tuipulotu (below), who also crossed for three tries.
Like Tito, fellow centre Ben Trbojevic ran strongly and crossed for two tries in just his second game back from injury.
Siua Fotu, Angus O’Donnell and Kaeo Weekes also scored a try each. The winning margin could have been a lot higher with the Sea Eagles only managing five goals from 12 attempts.
Sea Eagles Coach Brett Fulton was naturally a happy man after the dominant performance.
“Our ability to maintain focus in the second half was very pleasing as the scoreboard kept ticking over,’’ Fulton said.
“The boys kept playing disciplined football.
“There is still a lot of work to be done if we want to continually improve but we are getting there.”
Manly now play Canterbury Bulldogs at Belmore Sports Ground on Saturday, March 9, at 1.30pm.
