Ben Trbojevic steals show - but Madge fires up at referees after crucial Tigers bin

Ben Trbojevic has announced himself in the NRL with a two-try performance as Manly downed the Wests Tigers 36-22 in the early Saturday fixture at Brookvale Oval.

The young Sea Eagles, in just his seventh game, stole the show, but Michael Maguire was very unhappy about the sin binning of Stefano Utoikamanu that saw his side concede two crucial tries late in the first half.

The story before the game had been the return of superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic to the side after a prolonged absence, but it was his brother Ben, making his first start in the NRL, who stole the show with two crucial tries.

Tom struggled to make headway in the game, despite extensive efforts: he took over 20 runs for just shy of 200m and managed two try assists, but was well marshalled by the Tigers defence. The third brother, Jake was also central to the Sea Eagles performance, making over 38 tackles to top the count for the game.

“It was a game Benny will remember for a long time,” said Des Hasler. “It was a late change for him moving from centre into the back row.”

“He’ll get an enormous amount of confidence out of today. I’m very happy and proud of him. It was great to see Tom get through today and he’ll be much better for today’s run.”

Wests Tigers have improved a lot of late, but for all their effort and endeavour, they were far too ill-disciplined to get close to the Sea Eagles. Ten infringements in the first half, culminating in the sin-binning of Stefan Utoikamanu, saw the Sea Eagles go to the sheds 14-0 up.

“They were massive calls, I think it was a really big call,” said Maguire. “We had a period in the second half where we had four six-agains on our own line and nobody else is sent off.”

“When you’re sending someone off for 10 minutes, it’s a big part of what plays out in the game. Last week, we were hammered with hands around the ball and all those sorts of things.

“Teams are lying down all over us to try and slow down our big men. We are being spoiled in that area.”

“You’ve got to make sure that you’re trying to do those things back to the opposition, but it has got to become an even game when you’re in those positions. That’s all that we’re asking for.”

The Tigers also weren’t helped by losing Ken Maumolo and Thomas Mikaele to head knocks in the first half, which left them with a skinny bench late in the second half and saw Manly able to hold off a late charge.

The trend was set early as Cherry-Evans pulled off a smart short move at the kick off to retain the ball for Manly. They had eight sets in ten minutes, but failed to score as manful Tigers defence kept them at bay.

The stats on 20 minutes were incredible: Manly had enjoyed twice the possession and played most of it in the Tigers end – ably assisted by the Tigers themselves, who conceded six infringements – but came away with nothing.

The defence had been strong, but the attack asked far too few questions: the sweep to Tom Trbojevic out of the back was telegraphed and Luke Garner took delight in ending it on several occasions.

Wests took confidence and developed their own game with ball in hand, but threatened even less than Manly had.

Where the Sea Eagles had often slowed themselves by passing into the deck, the Tigers routinely ran behind their own player and had to give up. When Asa Kepaoa did cross at the corner, the bunker spotted a lead runner in the line.

Manly took the hint. The Daly Cherry-Evans to Trbojevic combination is one of the most storied in rugby league, but this time, it was Ben, not Tom, to finish it off. |

Tolutau Koula had poked his nose through to create the momentum, with DCE jumping to dummy half, spotting the short side play and finding Ben for his first NRL try.

Things got worse for the Tigers. Their discipline problems continued and, eventually, Adam Gee lost patience. Stefano Utoikamanu was the one pinged for it, though his was only the most recent infringement of ten in the first half.

Within seconds, Manly had made them pay with Reuben Garrick scoring at the corner, and before half time, they would grab another with Ben Trbojevic feeding the other winger, Christian Tuipulotu, to extend the lead to 14-0 at the break.

Tolutau Koula had threatened late in the first half with a long line break, and exploded into the second half. He danced through several tackles and fed on to Daly Cherry-Evans, who made Starford To’a look silly en route to the line.

The Tigers struck straight back. Luke Garner, close to the best in Tigers colours, raced 60m, and stood Tom Trbojevic up before holding the fullback off to score at the corner.

It got better. Tyrone Peachey thought he had scored, only for the bunker to find fault with the grounding, but he wouldn’t be denied: on the next set, Jake Trbojevic deflected a Luke Brooks kick and the 14 touched down.

Michael Maguire couldn’t have been happier with the way that his side had fought back, but like so often this season, his men then shot themselves in the foot. Asa Kepaoa lost the ball in yardage and Josh Aloiai rolled through horrendous defence to score under the posts.

Wests were really flagging. With Maumolo and Mikaele done for the day, the lack of interchanges was beginning to bite. Ben Trbojevic would grab his second, but the Tigers still couldn’t be put away, with Oliver Gildart scoring his first in the NRL to strike back again.

Just like before, the momentum would be stopped. Manly are so good at controlling possession, and so patient in attack, that they were able to accumulate tackles in the Tigers end and, eventually, Garrick got another after smart Kieran Foran play.

There was time for Joe Ofahengaue to push over from close range and move the score back in Wests’ direction, but it wasn’t enough.

Again, the Tigers had shown their heart to get close, but again, Manly had shown the class to get the points.