Sea Eagles women make statement in historic win

“We wanted to show people that Manly isn’t just a pushover.”

Those are the words of Ana-Sofima Seia Perez, not long after captaining the first ever Manly Warringah Sea Eagles women’s side to an historic victory in their inaugural appearance in the Tarsha Gale Cup (U19s).

Proudly wearing her Manly jersey, Seia Perez was still on a natural high, as were all those around her were, from team-mates, coaching staff, officials, parents, and supporters who all witnessed a very special moment.

For these girls, irrespective of their 16-12 heart-stopping win over the Wests Tigers, are now pioneers. For the record, Wests Tigers made the finals in the Tarsha Gale Cup in 2022.

No one can ever take away from them their rightful place in the proud history of the Manly Warringah club that dates back to 1947. 

And in doing so, they wrote the first exciting chapter in what could well be a wonderful read for many years to come.

From the opening whistle on Saturday where prop Emma Loiuse was upended in a tackle, the Manly girls did not take a backwards step, often taking on the Tigers with some tremendous defence that certainly rocked the foundations of Campbelltown Stadium 

And their attack, whilst good, will only improve in time, too, in a game that saw the Sea Eagles lead 6-4 at half-time through a barnstorming run by prop Tafoa Asaua, or, ‘Big T’, to her team-mates.

If there was any lesson quickly learnt from this match, is that you don’t want to mess with the Manly enforcers.

“Our front-rowers killed it. I wouldn’t want to run at them, that’s for sure,’’ said starting hooker, Ellah Hughes.

“We never dropped our heads at all. It felt so good to get that win.”

Her comments were backed up by Asaua, whose name will now appear in the record books as Manly’s first ever female try scorer.

“We had nothing to lose and everything to gain. We all knew our jobs and I wanted to bring that aggression in defence early,’’ Asaua said.

“To get that opening try of the game meant so much. All credit to the girls. We had such a short time frame to get to know each other and to bond as a team. I’m just glad to be part of it.”

Sea Eagles Coach Nik Wolfgramm was very proud of the girls commitment in defence.

“We focused a lot on our defence over summer, just getting our defensive structures into place,'' he said.

“It just showed towards the end there that the girls were pushing hard in defence.

“That’s Manly, you work for each other, on and off the ball. At the end, we got the result."

Full-back Chelsea Smyth revealed she had never played full-back before until this game.

“It was tough, but it was so much fun though. There was just so much running. Everyone did their job,’’ Smyth said.

“It all worked out well. We have got a couple of little things we now need to work on and fix at training, but we will only get better.

“Pulling on the Manly jersey meant so much to myself, my family, and everyone who has supported me since I started playing rugby league.”

As for Seia Perez, the captain couldn’t have been any more prouder of her team, who regained the lead through an intercept try to five-eighth Aaliyah Haumono with just under three minutes left to take a four point lead. Incredibly, the Sea Eagles had three girls down injured at the time.

However, joy quickly turned to anxiety when Wests found the sideline from the re-start with 35 seconds left to have one last attacking raid inside Manly’s quarter.

“Our mindset in that last 35 seconds was to prove that as Manly girls, we don’t care how close you are to our try line, we will knock you over,’’ Seia Perez said.

They certainly did that, and more.