Rd 15 Flegg Preview: Sea Eagles vs Souths

It was a case of letting another two vital competition points get away once again for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the Jersey Flegg Cup.

Leading 14-6 against the Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Stadium last Sunday, the Sea Eagles got out to a 20-12 lead before being run down 22-20 in another frustrating loss for Coach Adam McEwen’s talented team.

“Unfortunately, it’s the tale of our season…we have some great periods, some not too good periods and some bad decision making at crucial times,’’ McEwen said.

“We need to learn how to win games. We have some bad habits when we are leading games and don’t respect ball possession. It’s really hurting us.”

The Sea Eagles completed at just 68 per cent (20/29) but missed a whopping 31 tackles to allow the Tigers to finish strongly on the back of plenty of errors.

The shining point in the loss for the Sea Eagles was the powerful performance of second-rower Samuela Fainu in his first game back from injury, scoring two tries and making some strong runs.

The loss leaves Manly in 11th place on 10 points, just four points behind eighth place with nine matches and a bye remaining.

The Sea Eagles take on the bottom placed South Sydney Rabbitohs (two points behind Manly) at 4 Pines Park on Sunday, June 19. Kick-off 12pm.

Manly beat South Sydney 20-12 at Redfern in round eight.