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Manly Sea Eagles 38
Gold Coast Titans 6
The Manly Sea Eagles have recorded a dominating win against a sloppy Gold Coast Titans this evening on Monday Night Football at Cbus Super Stadium in Round 18 by 32 points. The Sea Eagles were dominant on the back of great performances by Brett Stewart who put in a man of the match performance and Daly Cherry – Evans who was able to silence the crowd with a stellar performance.
The Titans were never really in the game dropping far to much ball coming out of their own end and giving away penalty after penalty which allowed the Sea Eagles to run riot.
There wasnt much, if anything to like about the Titans performance as they failed to find their outside backs or contain the Sea Eagles in the middle. Their only shingin light was Josh Hoffman who seemed to be involved in everything. Dave Taylor also came to life in the last 20 minutes.
The scoring was dominated by the Sea Eagles and the first try came with Tom Trbojevic crossing off a series of Titans errors in their own 10. The Sea Eagles ruined their first few opportunities but didn’t dissapoint in the 11th minute when a long ball enabled Tom Trbojevic to cross in the corner.
Following a 15 minute break in the scoring, the Sea Eagles would run three tries on in an eight minute period essentially sinking the Titans before half time. The first of those was in the 26th minute to Jorge Taufua after some expansive play marched the Sea Eagles down the field with ease.
Brett Stewart was the next to cross in the 32nd minute after a wonderful inside ball from Jamie Lyon. He still had to burrow his way through three defenders but he managed and it was some soft defence from the Titans.
Off the kick off the Sea Eagles marched up to half way before Brett Stewart was able to break through and a long range effort saw Taufua score his second try in the corner.
At halftime the Sea Eagles lead the Titans 20 – 0.
After halftime the Sea Eagles picked up where they left off, Kieran Foran scoring off a fantastic long range effort at the start of the second half. Feleti Mateo who had some incredible passes throughout the game puts Steve Matai through and an offload that seemed to go a long way forward was ruled a try in a slightly controversial decision.
A long break in the scoring followed however the Sea Eagles were still dominating the game, the Titans struggling to gain any traction. The next try was to Willie Mason with a classic front rower barge over try.
Tom Trbojevic then crossed for a double with another long range effort from the Sea Eagles.
The Titans grabbed one try in the last 2 minutes with Nathaniel Peteru crossing off a long range effort from Dave Taylor.
In the end a dominating performance against the Sea Eagles as they continue their run at the finals. A touch game next week though against the North Queensland Cowboys will thoroughly test them out.
The Manly Sea Eagles will travel north to take on the Gold Coast Titans in what is classified as a must win match for both teams. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 6:45pm (AEST).
A contest of two teams who sit in the bottom four and with finals hopes beginning to slip away will be played on Monday Night Football in round 18.
Both teams have struggled and been inconsistent throughout the 2015 season. Both teams have won games with good performances and looked to be turning a corner in their respective seasons, however have never kicked on losing games left right and centre.
The Titans currently sit in 13th place on the NRL ladder, with six wins for the season from their 15 games currently played. They are out to snap a two game losing streak when they come out against the Sea Eagles, however since a win against the Bulldogs where they played a very good game, they have looked ordinary in losses to the New Zealand Warriors and the Sydney Roosters.
The Sea Eagles meanwhile will travel to the Gold Coast on the back of a 12 point win against the Cronulla Sharks last Sunday. However before that it was an ordinary sort of loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs and it has really summed up their season so far.
Inconsistent and performing well below their best, however it must be noted injuries haven’t helped their cause, nor has club infighting and the contract situations of their halves, Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry – Evans.
Looking at the team changes for the Titans and they will welcome back speedster James Roberts into the centres with Josh Hoffman pushing back into the halves.
Ryan James is also welcomed back into the second row, with Chad Redman to start at hooker and David Taylor moved to the bench. Matt Robinson drops back to the bench with Mark Ioane out, following his mid-season move to the St George-Illawarra Dragons.
The only change the Sea Eagles have made is bringing Justin Horo onto a five man bench.
The key here will be the halves. Manly have an experience duo of Cherry Evans and Foran, whilst the Titans are relying on Josh Hoffman and Mortimer. Their kicking game will be pivotal to keeping the more experienced Manly halves out of the contest.
Tom Symonds for mine is the X-Factor player in this game. He has had an awesome season and been a shining light, playing heaps of positions in an ordinary Manly outfit.
Prediction: This is building as a massively important game, however the Titans lack of first choice halves will hinder them, against a Manly team that have been gradually improving.
Manly by 12.
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