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Manly Sea Eagles 16
Parramatta Eels 20
In miserable weather at Brookvale Oval, the Manly Sea Eagles have more than likely had their season ended by the Parramatta Eels in a four point loss, albeit in some crazy circumstances during the second half that left everyone scratching their heads and asking why?
>>MATCH REPORT: Semi stops Manly’s charge
The Eels throughout the second half held the lead and at various times should have put the Sea Eagles away but every time made baffling decisions giving away the ball.
Manly however, had plenty of opportunities themselves and whilst they made their fair share of mistakes, full credit has to be given to the Eels defence who were brilliant in holding Manly out for a number of sets in the middle of the second half right on the line when they couldn’t work it out of their own end.
Daly Cherry Evans however along with Feleti Mateo have played pretty well and Kieran Foran was also good. Brett Stewart couldn’t find any fluency to his game and it really hurt the Sea Eagles, whilst the injury to Matt Ballin made life hard. The forward pack also struggled to outclass and motor the Eels.
For the Eels Semi Radradra was brilliant both finishing and getting his team out of his own end whilst Corey Norman and Luke Kelly have controlled the game well on the back of their second rowers Manu Ma’u and Tepai Moeroa playing brilliant games of football against the Eagles.
The scoring began fairly early in the piece with Semi Radradra crossing in the 11th minute.
The Sea Eagles still looked to be in the sheds as the Eels flew out of the blocks taking all the possession and controlling the field territory. On the back of a Sea Eagles mistake, the Eels had a scrum 30 metres out and a good ball to Ryan Morgan put him through the line before he passed to Radradra who raced away to score.
Steve Matai answered back in the 20th minute for the Sea Eagles with a brilliant play from Kieran Foran who raced through the line and then offloaded to Matai who scored untouched.
The Eels then bounced back with another to Radradra. Norman drifted to the right and then threw a terrific long cut out pass for Radradra to cross in the corner.
The Sea Eagles then bounced back and leveled the game up in the 32nd minute with a try to Peta Hiku in the face of some terrible defence when he shouldn’t have even got close to the try line.
The Eels made sure they would take the half time lead though when Manu Ma’u crossed off the back of a brilliant inside ball from Reece Robinson who had created a gaping hole in the line.
At halftime, the Eels would hold a 4 point lead and 62% of possession making it hard for a Manly side who were displaying a poor attitude to get into the game.
At the start of the second half, looking to keep their season alive everyone would have been expecting the Sea Eagles to come firing out of the sheds, however a penalty given away in the first set of six led to the Eels marching down the field and Bureta Faraiimo being able to dart of dummy half and score the softest of tries.
The conversion game the Eels a 10 point lead before down the other end of the ground the Eels made a sloppy error and some desperation to keep it alive from James Hasson saw him toe the ball through and score a try next to the post.
With the gap back to four points between the two sides, it would turn out to be the last of the scoring as the error counts built up and the frustration of fans and coaches became obvious.
The Eels with the lead decided to play like they were 30 behind whilst the Sea Eagles just couldn’t find a way through despite having a number of sets in a row on the Eels line during the middle stanza.
With about 12 minutes to go Luke Kelly almost had a 40/20 before Brett Stewart produced one of the plays of the season to keep the ball in. You felt it might have turned the game around but it didn’t, the Sea Eagles only getting worse.
With one final chance on the attack the Sea Eagles made one last error effectively ending their season. For them to make the finals it will be all down to the St George Illawarra Dragons losing one or both of their games in a big way now with Manly winning their games.
In the end at Brookvale though, a strange game in miserable conditions sees the Eels pull an upset of massive proportions.
The resurgent Manly Sea Eagles continue their push for the NRL finals when they host the struggling Parramatta Eels at Brookvale Oval. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 3:45pm (AEST).
In Round 1 the Eels managed to spring an upset, winning by 30 in a canter.
Since then the Eels have flopped and the Sea Eagles have come good just in time to have a crack at the finals.
Manly currently sit ninth on the table, and need the win to keep pace with the eighth-placed Dragons, who pulled two points clear of the Eagles with Thursday’s win over Penrith.
The Eels meanwhile are out of finals contention after another season to forget. Coming into Round 24 they are 13th, having won eight games for the season.
With only pride to play for, the Eels gave the Roosters a scare last week, but ultimately went down in the second half.
In team news, the Sea Eagles have Josh Starling and Ligi Sao swapping between the front row and interchange bench, with Brenton Lawrence added as 18th man.
The Eels meanwhile welcome back Will Hopoate into the centres, with Vai Toutai missing out. Nathan Peats is also out, which elevates Isaac De Gois to start at hooker and Daniel Alvaro on the bench.
If the Eels forwards can get over the top of Manly’s pack it will put increased pressure on Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran. The Eels also need to shut down Brett Stewart, who has an incredible try-scoring record at Brookvale, making Corey Norman’s kicking game key.
Manly hold an impressive record against the Eels at this venue, with Parramatta having only won 17 from 60 at Brookvale.
Prediction
The Sea Eagles are on a roll, and will be incredibly hard to stop as they push for a finals berth.
Sea Eagles by 16.
Join The Roar for live coverage of this clash from 3:45pm (AEST), and don’t forget to comment if you’re following along.