With four rounds remaining before the Telstra Premiership finals, we review some of the key Sea Eagles stats from the 28-18 loss to the Melbourne Storm.
We also compare where Sea Eagles players sit across all areas on the NRL stats lists.
Possession/Completions
The Storm enjoyed a 58% per cent possession rate to the Sea Eagles' 42%.
Melbourne finished with 37/44 completions rate (84%) compared to Manly's 26/39 (67%).
Attack
All Runs: Storm 174, Sea Eagles 150
All Run Metres: Storm 1651, Sea Eagles 1314
Post Contact Metres: Storm 556, Sea Eagles 342
Line Breaks: Sea Eagles 4, Storm 3
Tackle Breaks: Storm 23, Sea Eagles 22
Kick Return Metres: Storm 206, Sea Eagles 113
Tackles
Tackles Made: Sea Eagles 309, Storm 238
Missed Tackles: Sea Eagles 23, Storm 22
Negative Play
Errors: Sea Eagles 12, Storm 7
Penalties conceded: Sea Eagles 7, Storm 4
Ruck Infringements: Sea Eagles 6, Storm 2
Points
A 14-point haul against the Melbourne Storm sees talented goal-kicking winger Reuben Garrick remain on top of the NRL ladder for most points this season.
Garrick has recorded 240 points in 20 games to be 26 points clear of South Sydney half-back Adam Reynolds, who has played 19 games.
It is a two-horse race to the finish line with Penrith half-back Nathan Cleary in third place on 164 points.
Garrick scored two tries and kicked three goals against the Storm.
Tries
Electrifying winger Jason Saab’s 90 metre intercept try saw him edge closer to the top of the NRL list for most tries in 2021.
Saab has been a revelation on the wing in his first season with the Sea Eagles, scoring 19 tries in 20 games. He sits third behind injured South Sydney winger Alex Johnston on 24 tries and the Storm’s Josh Addo-Carr on 21.
Tom Trbojevic is in fourth place with 18 tries in 12 games with Garrick rounding out the top five with 17 tries in 20 games.
Goals
Garrick remains in second place for the most goals kicked in 2021. He sits on 86 goals to be 11 behind Reynolds.
The 86 goals is the most Garrick has kicked since making his NRL debut for Manly in 2019 where he landed 65 goals in a superb debut season.
Most Points in a Season for Manly
Garrick’s 14 points against the Storm saw him move into fourth place overall on Manly’s ‘Most Points Scored in a Season’ list.
He now requires a further 18 points to pass Matthew Ridge’s tally of 257 points in 1995.
Most Runs
Saab ran the most metres for Manly against the Storm with 166 metres from 10 runs to finish just three metres behind Melbourne lock Dale Finucane.
Two other members of the Sea Eagles backline managed to crack more than 100 metres, being Tom Trbojevic (153m from 20 runs) and Garrick (131m from 14 runs).
Although not finding the tryline this time, ‘Turbo’ was still heavily involved. The brilliant full-back had five tackle breaks, four-line break assists, and two try assists to his name.
Line Breaks
Garrick is also second for most line breaks (29) behind the injured Johnston (32).
Addo Carr sits third on 22 with Jarome Hughes (Storm), Matt Burton (Penrith) and Maiko Sivo (Eels) on 19. Tom Trbojevic is in seventh place on 18 line breaks.
Line Break Assists
Tom Trbojevic remains in second place with 29 Line Break assists behind South Sydney’s Cody Walker (37).
Try Assists
The Sea Eagles have two players inside the top five in the NRL for try assists. ‘Turbo’ sits second on 21 behind South Sydney’s Cody Walker with Cherry-Evans in third place on 18.
Trbojevic is averaging 1.8 try assists from his 12 games played.
Kick Metres
The smart kicking game of Cherry-Evans sees him lead the kick metres tally board narrowly from Parramatta half-back Mitchell Moses.
Cherry-Evans has 6,282 kick metres from 18 games with Moses on 6280 kick metres.
The two half-backs go head-to-head this Saturday as the Sea Eagles look to join the fourth-placed Parramatta on 28 competition points as to look to secure a top four position.
40/20 Kicks
Cherry-Evans is equal first with injured Dragons half-back Ben Hunt with three 40/20s kicked.
Reynolds and Dragons hooker Andrew McCullough have recorded two 40/20 kicks each this season.
Defence
Lock Jake Trbojevic led the tackle count against the Storm with a stunning 48 tackles (no missed) ahead of hooker Lachlan Croker on 45 tackles.
Supporting Trbojevic and Croker in the tackle department were second-rower Josh Schuster (320, prop Martin Taupau (27) and Cherry-Evans (26).
Croker sits in sixth place for most tackles made in the NRL this season (777).
