Sea Eagles chasing four straight wins in Flegg
Four wins a row - that's the aim for the ever improving Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the Jersey Flegg Cup at Blacktown this Sunday.
Following on from strong victories over the Wests Tigers (36-16) and Canberra Raiders (34-32), the Sea Eagles recorded their third straight win under new Coach Leon Latulipe with a commanding 38-24 victory over the Parramatta Eels at New Era Stadium, Cabramatta, last Saturday.
Former half-back turned hooker Jamie Humphreys produced a dominant display in crossing for a hat-trick of tries and kicking five goals for a personal haul of 22 points in a class above this grade performance.
The injection of some exciting young talent from the SG Ball side into the Flegg team has added some much needed spark to the Sea Eagles in recent weeks after a poor start to the season that saw Manly lose their opening four matches.
Their recent good form has seen the Sea Eagles move off the bottom of the ladder into 11th place to be one win clear of the last placed Canberra Raiders, who they have beaten twice this season.
Match: Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs
Round 17 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
8th Position
away Team
Rabbitohs
6th Position
Venue: HE Laybutt Field, Sydney
Latulipe said there was a real sense of true belief now within the playing group.
"The forefront of our focus is development and ensuring, we as a staff, are preparing these players the best we can,'' Latulipe said.
"Through this, we are starting to see some significant buy-in from the playing group in our processes we have in place and we will continue to work on these processes.
"We have plenty of areas in our footy we need to improve on every week and we have done this by narrowing our focus in areas we need to improve on from a development point of view, so as long as we are doing this, we'll continue to see the players' confidence and belief grow."
Latulipe said the Sea Eagles were ready to tackle South Sydney at Blacktown this Sunday. The Rabbitohs are five points clear of Manly on the ladder.
"Souths are a good team with some quality players. I coached them last year in a tough season, so I know what they have to offer,'' he added.
"We are under no illusions that this will be a tough game and certainly one that will help our season.
"The boys will need to work for it and be competitive. We stick to what we know and focus on our individual and team goals, things will work out."
