Manly coach Des Hasler said his side will benefit from the week’s rest and will need to improve their first half effort for the bigger matches to come.
“I think there was a good lesson for all of us there in that first half, because the next game is going to be sudden death so we’ll take that on board and it gives us two weeks to freshen up and we’ll go again,” he said.
“It (first half) was uncharacteristic, certainly wasn’t the way we intended for it to go but this side’s got a lot of character.”
Hasler slammed the NRL’s decision to hold the match away from Brookvale.
“Yeah disappointing, didn’t work from that point of view,” Hasler said.
“If Manly are playing North Queensland it’s not a hard one is it to work out? We would have easy got 20,000 (at Brookvale).
“So 13,000 it’s probably 10,000, there’s probably a bit of fudging there I don’t know, but clearly there’s a lesson there … we all make mistakes.”
However, despite the small crowd, NRL chief executive David Gallop defended the reasons for playing the game at the SFS.
“The decision re the home finals was agreed by all clubs because you couldn’t have a situation where higher drawing Sydney teams were penalised and the lower drawing teams retained the home venue,” Gallop said.
Cowboys coach Neil Henry was offering no excuses for his team’s collapse.
“We were in the game the first 40, we played some very good footy but seven unanswered tries, it’s pretty hard to discuss how it happened,” Henry said.
“It was pretty comprehensive in the end which is disappointing.
“They were able to maintain their focus for 80 minutes and we weren’t.
“That blow out at the end, it’s a nightmare really.
“We expected to win, we didn’t come here hoping to win.”
Cowboys captain Thurston said he was “devastated” and “didn’t see it coming at all.”
Mals
Guest
Oikee - the council do want Manly at Brookvale why do you keep pendling the disinformation? Ahhh that's right it suits your agenda to have Manly kicked out of the comp. Have you even been on the Warringah council website & looked at the redevelopment plans?!?! Suck it up champ, Manly won't be leaving the NRL anytime soon!
Midfielder
Guest
What and leave Gods country ... and besides why not at Brookie...
Adrien2166
Guest
i like manly, they play great football and they are passionated.They need a modern stadium like Newcastle and their crowds will increase! It would definitely be an error to relocate Manly...
Queensland's game is rugby league
Guest
Manly didn't get into the game until they upped their line speedand started holding down in the tackles. The referees allowed them to hold down a little bit too long for my liking. I know the Manly fans will say I'm just an upset Cowboys fan, but fair's fair, I've seen the Cowboys get penalised for holding the tackled player down for shorter periods over the last few weeks. I do believe this helped Manly get into the game, but on the same note the Cowboys failed to respond, so I'm not going to blame the loss for the ref. I give credit to Manly for stepping up and showing some aggression. I hated seeing my team get outplayed in the second half, but I did enjoy seeing the intensity of Manly's linespeed and technically correct tackling. It won them the game. The Cowboys were disgraceful in the second half.. Their tackling was really ineffective, allowing players to push them away with ease and offload the ball in situations where the ball-carrier should have gone to ground. I recall a couple of Manly's earlier tries being scored this way. You cannot win games against quality opposition if you cannot defend. The sixth play kicking game for the Cowboys was poor. They should have tested the wingers out with the high ball. It would have been good if Thurston and Bowen could have chipped for one another when the Manly defence was rushing up out of the line. One chip and regather would have seen them score and made Manly halt their line speed a bit. Oh well, our season's over and we just have U20 left to support. Hopefully they can win us something.
Mals
Guest
Yeah don't talk about the game you bunch of whingers just the crowd! Manly smashed the Cowgirls in the 2nd half & showed them up for the pretenders that they have been this year. Keep crying about Manly & we'll keep winning, suck it up princesses. No surprise that Brisbane got the 6:30pm family friendly game, I have plenty of friends with younger kids that were unable to attend because the game kicked off at 8:30pm. Saturday games this year have kicked off at 5:30 & 7:30pm but for finals we get later times, well done NRL admin you bunch of muppets!
WayneO
Guest
Grubby winning team that is probably about to win the premiership! Oh we love the whinging fans of other clubs. Brooky is our home, not the SFS. Bring it on everyone..... we are waiting..........and yes, we love all the other fans from weaker teams shedding crocodile tears as we power on. Go the mighty Sea Eagles!!!!!!!!!!!
WayneO
Guest
And we will continue to do it!!! Oh, and damn you too!!!
Al from ctown
Guest
There is no way in hell I hand away my hard earned to go sit in the stands with manly fans to watch their grubby team go round... Finals or not. Perth I dare say wouldn't even want them, 13000 is a disgrace and to say that it should have been at brookie to get a larger crowd shows manly fans disrespect for the league.. I spent my cabbage going to see my team at anz and if only half turned up it would have still been over 20 thou..... 45 for the tigers v saints... Nearly as good as oikee's broncs.. But great for a Sydney team.. Manly.. Hang your heads in shame... ( and stop whinging) -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
oikee
Guest
They had a story in the paper yesterday , about Manly this last year. Negative fans, negative sponser support, no one will touch them because of their attitude towards themsleves, (everyone hates us and so what, we dont care), negative players who are always going the bash, last night Matai on Bowen, yes it might have been Bowens fault for giving his dredlock a tug, but it was Matai who again looked like a thug. The council dont want them at Manly, their admin like Peters and the like are all dinosaurs. The fans dont travel, and their is no room for growth. So yes Yewonk, not only can i see this, they are writing about it in the papers. Manly are holding back huge support and massive crowds in Brisbane, a second Brisbane team would attrack 100 thousand fans if they made it this far. And Perth is another area where a team would attrack more away fans than running the gauntlet at Manly and their little mudpatch. 13 thousand is just a funny joke. You cant sugar coat it any other way. Manly played a home semi just down the road and could not attrack 20 thousand Sydney fans from a city of 5 million. Helllooo.
NF
Guest
No excuses from Manly fans I wish the Cowboys beat Manly on that basis alone they had it for 50 mins then it all went to hell. Damn you Manly.
clipper
Guest
yes, a nice fine day, so no excuses. 9 seems too many in Sydney, Brisbane deserves to equal the balance.
yewonk
Guest
no not rugby league fans, manly club officials and those who claim to support them should take responsibilty for this. rugby league fans find manly the most negative and devisive club they are no friend of the average rugby league lover. that roster is all they have stopping them from going into oblivion, when manly next dip below the half way line on the ladder in the season there will be serious pressure to send them to perth. if you lose 1.5 million in a good season how is a bad season going to be? no money will come from the state for brooky. the owners have been losing money for years. zorba is a good club man and deserves a job at the club, but a media manager he is not but poor timing equally from the some of the new guys at the club to sack him.
Rabby
Guest
With a gate like that you should pack your bags and fly to Perth. This is why we cannot continue to have 9 teams in Sydney. This is why the hard decision has to be taken. Uproar as a result yes but in the long run better for everyone..
Andy
Guest
Great game but dissapointing crowd considering these two teams are the best attacking teams in the comp. Sydney rugby league fans in general should be ashamed for not turning up and supporting the game. Sydney fans will probably say but thats a queensland team and i hate manly but they only have themselves to blame for making the game look like a ghost town in the stands.
yewonk
Guest
13 000 only manly football club are a joke. they only had to drive over the bridge. i shudder to think of what a grandfinal crowd would be like.