Edwards scores four tries as Penrith flog Manly

Scott Bailey | April 8, 2023

Dylan Edwards has reaffirmed his status as one of the NRL’s best fullbacks, crossing four times to outscore Manly on his own in the Panthers’ 44-12 domination of the Sea Eagles.

Billed as the battle of the No.1s, Edwards left Tom Trbojevic in the dark as the Manly fullback was hampered by back spasms and required pain-killing needles at halftime.

Trbojevic emerged after the match to insist there were no serious concerns over his back, but by that point Edwards had put plenty of pain on the scoreboard for Manly.

Uncapped at State of Origin or Test level, Edwards won last year’s Clive Churchill Medal and must be close to the best player in the game not to have played representative football.

He outgunned Latrell Mitchell in Penrith’s win over South Sydney in round two, and then put on a show against one of the game’s other premier No.1s on Saturday night at Bluebet Stadium.

“I don’t know where Dyl rates, but maybe he has a chip on his shoulder,” Penrith coach coach Ivan Cleary said when asked if Edwards had a point to prove against the big names.

“He stopped flying under the radar a long time ago, Dyl.”

“He is a very competitive guy. He is pretty similar most weeks.”

Edwards finished with 12 tackles busts, three linebreaks and put a teammate through a gap to put the Panthers on the attack.

Nathan Cleary also outpointed his Origin rival Daly Cherry-Evans, putting Edwards over for all three of his first-half tries before kicking for himself late to score.

After questions were asked about the two-time defending premiers’ attack in the opening month of the season, Penrith have scored 97 points in the space of nine days.

Manly didn’t help themselves during a first half in which Penrith had 73 per cent of possession, enjoyed 81 per cent of territory and led 32-0.

Edwards’ first try came when Kelma Tualagi was left clutching at thin air trying to make a regulation tackle, allowing the fullback to skip across.

His next came in the set after Sea Eagles centre Brad Parker inexplicably volleyed a Cleary kick as it fell to the ground, kicking possession back to Penrith.

Only Edwards’ third try came in more traditional fashion off the back of a superb Cleary offload as Manly missed 28 tackles in the first half alone.

For all the Sea Eagles’ woes, Penrith were still sublime.

They moved the ball freely on both edges and showed no sign of missing two of their best forwards in James Fisher-Harris and Liam Martin.

Stephen Crichton was brilliant, putting Brian To’o over with a bullet pass from dummy-half and producing a no-look flick to put the winger into space before Edwards’ fourth.

Another try came when Soni Luke looked to the right and went left out of dummy-half to put Scott Sorenson over.

After winning their first two matches, Manly have serious concerns on and off the field.

Reuben Garrick will miss Friday night’s match against Melbourne after suffering a concussion, while Karl Lawton appeared to dislocate his shoulder.

They have leaked 30 points in three of five matches this season, and they failed to break the line once on Saturday as both second-half tries came from Cherry-Evans kicks.

“Really disappointing first half,” Manly coach Anthony Seibold said.

“From a physical point of view, they beat us to the punch. They won every contest.

“The positive is we could have thrown in the towel in at halftime.The guys put in a fair bit of fight.”