A disappointing Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffered a 34-4 loss to the Parramatta Eels at CommBank Stadium tonight in round 16 of the Telstra Premiership.
The Sea Eagles trailed 24-4 at half-time after losing full-back Kaeo Weekes for 10 minutes for a professional foul early in the game.
Manly went into the game without Origin players Tom Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans with Jakob Arthur coming in at half-back for his first NRL game against his father in Parramatta Coach Brad Arthur.
The loss saw Manly drop from ninth to 10th place on the ladder and now one point behind the eighth placed Sydney Roosters.
The Eels capitalised on the loss of Weekes early with prop Ofahiki Ogden using the extra space to score the opening try in the 10th minute after wrestling away from Sea Eagles second-rower Haumole Olakau’atu. Fullback Clinton Gutherson converted for a 6-0 scoreline.
Following two Manly errors inside their own ten, the Eels slithered in for their second five minutes later through centre Bailey Simonsson after beating the tackle of Arthur for a 12-0 lead.
With 20 minutes played, Weekes returned to the field with the Eels holding 72% of the possession. The Sea Eagles pushed and won two more repeat sets with hopes to open their account for the night. A strong run from prop Taniela Paseka unfortunately ended with a strip for Gutherson, scuppering the momentum for the time being.
Manly timed their attack perfectly as winger Christian Tuipulotu scored in the 22nd minute to cut the difference to eight points. The ball was shifted well through the hands of Arthur and Weekes, landing in the hands of centre Tolu Koula. The centre dragged in the opposing winger to send Tuipulotu over untouched.
Gutherson scored five minutes later with a sneaky play out of dummy half to extend the lead to 18-4.
Parramatta lock J’maine Hopgood scored minutes before half-time with a strong run through a gap in the defence. Despite Weekes’ best attempts to stop him, Hopgood was just too strong as he slammed the ball down for his side’s fourth try. Gutherson converted for a 24-4 lead at half-time.
Saab did well to deny winger Maika Sivo of a try in the 47th minute, putting his body on the line to force the charging Fijian over the sideline, winning the ball back.
The Eels were denied in the 51st minute after the Bunker ruled that the ball was knocked on in the process. Tuipulotu did well to force an error in the play, denying winger Sean Russell a try.
Parramatta were then denied again after Sivo failed to ground the ball clearly in the 57th minute before the powerful winger was again denied 12 minutes later.
The home side did get across the line again when Simonsson showed his pace to score out wide. Gutherson converted for a 30-4 lead with 16 minutes remaining.
Sivo had a try disallowed after it was ruled he knocked the ball on from a kick in the 71st minute.
Makahesi Makatoa then dived over for a try off a Sivo kick on the last tackle for a 34-4 lead after 76 minutes.
Manly head down to Melbourne to take on the Storm in Round 17 of the NRL Telstra Premiership, at AAMI Park on Saturday June 24., at 7.35pm.
