The gallant finals run of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in 2024 has tonight sadly come to an end, losing 40-16 to the Sydney Roosters in the elimination semi-final.
Six days after producing their most grittiest win of the season to knock out the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in week one after finishing the regular season in seventh place, the Sea Eagles were on the back foot from the opening whistle in front of a sold out crowd of 40,818 at Allianz Stadium.
In a terrible blow, Manly lost centre Tolu Koula through concussion in the first tackle on Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. Koula, who scored the match winning try against the Bulldogs, did not return.
To make matters worse, Manly then lost vice-captain Jake Trbojevic on the second tackle through concussion, but the NSW Origin captain returned after being cleared, leaving the Sea Eagles with 15 players to start the opening segment of the match.
The Roosters scored the opening try in the 11th minute through Victor Radley off a short-ball from James Tedesco for a 6-0 lead.
Manly looked to have scored in the 19th minute through Ben Trbojevic but the bunker unfortunately ruled on a knock-on moments before the grounding, resulting in a No Try decision.
The home side capitalised on a mountain of momentum and chose to take the shot at an extra two points after being awarded a penalty deep in the Sea Eagles’ half. Centre Joseph Sua’ali’i converted from in front to take the score to 8-0.
The Roosters continued to take their chances with tries in the 31st and 36th minute through Tedesco and half-back Sandon Smith for a 20-0 lead.
Manly conjured up a magical play through the duo of Daly Cherry-Evans and Olakau’atu to get their first points on the board on the stroke of half-time.
‘DCE’ turned back towards the shortside on the fourth tackle and placed a perfect chip kick over the defenders, which bounced up nicely for Olakau’atu who grounded the ball to cut the deficit to 20-4 at the break.
An unsuccessful captain’s challenge from the Sea Eagles led to a Roosters try in the 41st minute through Tupou for a 26-4 scoreline.
The Roosters added an extra two points in the 52nd minute off the back of a penalty in Manly’s half to push their lead to 28-4 before Tedesco scored his second try to take the score to 34-4 three minutes later.
Manly hit back to score four minutes later through winger Tommy Talau for his 18th try of the season. A crossfield kick from Cherry-Evans was allowed to bounce, freeing up space for Talau to bat the ball back momentarily before reaching out to ground the ball for a try in his third straight game. Garrick converted to cut the deficit to 34-10.
A penalty goal in the 66th minute off the back of a big break in play from the Roosters extended their lead to 36-10.
The Sea Eagles grabbed a consolation try in the 72nd minute through Ben Trbojevic. The second-rower, playing centre, ran strongly off a short ball at the line from five-eighth Luke Brooks to break through and score to cut the deficit to 36-16.
The Roosters bounced back to score in the corner three minutes later through winger Dominic Young off the back of a good pass from Joseph Manu for the 40-16 scoreline.
