A strong second half performance tonight has seen the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles move another step closer to securing a coveted NRL finals berth.
In front of their seventh sold out home crowd in nine games at 4 Pines Park this season, the Sea Eagles recorded a 24-10 win over the Warriors in front of 17,333 fans in wet conditions.
The win sees the Sea Eagles move to fifth place subject to how the Bulldogs go over the weekend. A Bulldogs win will see Manly slip back to sixth with three rounds remaining before the finals.
After defending heavily in the opening eight minutes, a 40/20 kick by Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans saw the Sea Eagles capitalise when winger Jason Saab scored in the corner for a 4-0 lead after 10.
The Warriors opened their account in the 22nd minute when prop Addin Fonua-Blake broke the line to offload to half-back Shaun Johnson for a 4-all scoreline after being denied a try minutes earlier to centre Adam Pompey.
A beautiful piece of play by five-eighth Luke Brooks saw him turn the ball back inside for centre Tommy Talau to find open space up the middle to send full-back Tom Trbojevic to the line for a 10-4 lead after 26 minutes.
A sweeping play to their right saw Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak dive over in the corner for a converted try to make it 10-all before the visitors were denied a try after hooker Freddy Lussick knocked the ball on in trying to scoop the ball up from a kick just before half-time.
.The Sea Eagles regained the lead in the 55th minute when centre Reuben Garrick snatched a Cherry-Evans bomb to score a converted try for a 16-10 lead.
With heavy rain falling, the Sea Eagles went to a 22-10 lead when impressive young winger Lehi Hopoate crossed for a fine try with 10 minutes remaining. Garrick then converted a 40 metre penalty goal on full-time for the 24-10 win.
Manly now play the bottom placed Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday, August 22, at 7.50pm.
