Manly left needing minor miracle to play NRL finals
George Clarke |
The flame of Manly’s NRL finals hopes is still flickering, but the Sea Eagles will need a minor miracle to make the top eight after claiming a 40-24 win over St George Illawarra.
A lot has to go their way, but Anthony Seibold’s side will head into Friday’s clash against the Warriors at Brookvale Oval – which doubles as Daly Cherry-Evans’ last at the ground as a Manly player – with a very slim mathematical chance to play on in September.
Manly would need to beat the Warriors next week, hope fellow top-eight hopefuls Sydney Roosters lose to South Sydney later on Friday, and have an 82-point for-and-against swing in their favour.
The Sea Eagles, who will also be praying the Dolphins lose their last two regular-season matches, should have done more to give themselves a chance and at least close the points differential gap on Saturday.
They looked to be heading to a convincing win at Jubilee Oval when they led 22-6 at halftime.
But they failed to put their foot on the Dragons’ throat, and when Toff Sipley was sin-binned in the 42nd minute the home side prevented a blowout in the Sea Eagles’ favour.
“To score 40 points after scoring 58 last week is really pleasing,” Seibold said.
“We were sort of troubled a little bit in the second half when we went down to 12 and they scored two tries and got back in the game.
“But I am really proud of the boys that they were able to turn that around.”
There were also concerns for Tolu Koula, who failed to finish the first half, with Seibold revealing the centre had suffered a medial ligament injury and is expected to miss Cherry-Evans’ farewell game.
“If we can finish like that and give the Brookie fans something to cheer on that would be a nice way to play the last game at Brookie in Manly colours, that’s for sure,” Cherry-Evans said.
Cherry-Evans might be leaving, but he remains just as influential to Manly’s attack as he prepares to move on.
He crossed in the first half, as did Koula, Aaron Schoupp and Corey Waddell, who opened the scoring after four minutes.
Except for a breakaway try from Lyhkan King-Togia, the Red V offered little resistance in the opening half as Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic ran riot.
Sipley’s stint on the sidelines helped the Red V stem the tide, with Christian Tuipulotu and Jacob Liddle dragging Shane Flanagan’s side back into the game.
The Dragons were unable to draw level, and once back to 13 players, Manly got back on top.
Waddell claimed a double, Tommy Talau powered over and Caleb Navale touched down for his first NRL try.
The Dragons have now been hit for 40 in each of their past two games and risk a sour end to a season where they once shaped as top-eight contenders.
“We’ve got to go out next week playing Penrith – and who knows what team they put out – but go out with some respect,” Flanagan said.
AAP
