Manly coach Geoff Toovey praised Brett Stewart’s outstanding defensive effort after the fullback was instrumental in getting the Sea Eagles home 18-12 over Canberra at Brookvale Oval on Sunday.
While Toovey was pleased with the result, his Canberra counterpart David Furner risked a $10,000 fine for questioning the referees’ performances after the Raiders finished on the wrong side of an 8-3 penalty count in front of a crowd of just over 15,000.
“What I look at is the overall penalty count – 8-3 – now we’re not nearly a three times worse side in discipline than Manly,” Furner said.
“I don’t think anybody expected us to come here and win … maybe not them (referees).”
Toovey admitted the Raiders had some tough calls go against them but said that was part of playing in the NRL.
“It could have gone either way, I thought, and we got away with the win. I suppose Canberra can feel a little bit unlucky,” he said.
The Manly coach was quick to praise Stewart, who won a points decision over one of his rivals for the NSW No.1 spot Josh Dugan.
“I don’t think there was any great attacking displays today but the defence was very tough. I thought our defence on the line and our last-ditch efforts to save tries was outstanding, particularly from the fullback (Stewart),” he said.
Stewart repelled several attacking raids to deny Canberra with trysaving tackles.
Right on halftime with the scores locked at 6-6, Stewart produced a magnificent covering tackle on a flying Raiders winger Blake Ferguson, who looked set to score until the Manly No.1 put him over the sideline.
Stewart was at it again in the second half when he acted as a speed bump to halt the momentum of giant Raiders forward Tom Learoyd-Lahrs close to the line.
And inside the final 20 minutes, Canberra lock Shaun Fensom looked certain to score only to be hit low by Stewart and assisted over the top by hooker Matt Ballin inches short of the line with the score at 16-12.
The second half came to life with three tries in the opening 16 minutes with Whare adding to his first-half try before Dugan barged over from dummy-half to put the Raiders up 12-10 on 53 minutes.
Jamie Lyon soon scored a long-range try after a bust from centre partner Steve Matai with the tryscorer’s conversion from the sideline hitting the upright and going through to make it 16-12 and then 18-12 with a penalty goal.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Manly coach Anthony Seibold believes his team was hard done by after Brisbane was awarded a controversial penalty for a high shot minutes from…
It rained a lot. People got injured. Important people, the ones who play for NSW, tore hamstrings. Less important people - Starford To'a, for…
Tom Trbojevic limped out with a hamstring injury as Manly again threw away a commanding lead to lose, this time 30-24 to a Dolphins…
How many weeks are left until we stop caring about the NRL again? This is the golden period of the season, with every team…
Canberra have pulled off one of the great comebacks to steal a 26-24 victory over Manly at 4 Pines Park with Hudson Young touching…
The coroner in the inquest into the death of former Manly player Keith Titmuss has declared that the training conditions on the day he…
