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No Tom Trbojevic, no Daly Cherry-Evans, no Jake Trbojevic and you know the rest. Newcastle, missing just one to Origin, picked up a vital 28-18 win that could well have been a lot more.
The Knights dominated the game, enjoyed the bulk of possession and territory, with Kalyn Ponga back to his best at fullback, laying on two tries.
Bradman Best enjoyed perhaps his best game in first grade, creating havoc on the Manly right edge with constant bullocking runs. Greg Marzhew was the major beneficiary, scoring a hat trick.
This time of year is all about picking up wins with depleted teams, and Newcastle were able to maximise their opportunity. They were only without Tyson Frizell, whereas the Sea Eagles felt the absence of their two Origin reps as well as the injured Jake.
“They’re hard games because everyone looks at who’s missing, including the teams,” said Adam O’Brien. “Credit to the opposition, they would have talked all week about putting in a ton of effort without their Origin players and I thought they did that.
“They scrambled and held us up over the line four times. We could sense opportunity and it led to some frustration. We gave them two intercept tries through frustration because it didn’t feel like it was going to happen.”
Their attack, in particular, never got going. On the rare occasions where they got into good field position, the sets were often meandering and posed little threat.
Tolu Koula was binned for a high shot on Ponga that was borderline, while a late Knights try might have been chalked off for a knock on that the Bunker failed to spot. But had the results been different, it would have been a travesty. Manly were clearly second best.
“I thought it was a harsh call,” said Anthony Seibold. “It’s not why we lost the game, but I’ve had a look at it on replay and I didn’t think it was a sin bin.
“If it was a penalty I’d live with that because potentially there might have been some contact, but sin bin was really tough and we conceded two tries during that period.”
“I was super proud of the guys today. We were brave. I think we had five or six trysaving tackles, they kept turning up for each other. It’s disappointing because with the effort we put in, if we had added some detail to it we could have got the result.
It’s impossible to talk about the Knights at the moment without focussing on Kalyn Ponga. He narrowly avoided being sent for HIAs on three occasions – including the incident that saw Koula binned – but looked a lot more comfortable at fullback than he has in the 6.
Moreover, the move to the back placed him at three man out on attacking plays, closer to the business end, which ignited the left edge of Newcastle.
Best had his finest game in years and Marzhew scored a hat trick, and both might have had more had it not been for some excellent last-ditch defending.
It’s a head-scratcher for Adam O’Brien. He’s bet the farm on Ponga as a five eighth, but clearly the amount of defensive contact doesn’t suit him and the extra touches he gets in attack aren’t worth the risk of him missing bulk footy through head knocks.
Today was a good argument for putting his main man to the back more consistently. Lachie Miller, an unused sub today, looks like a rugby union player playing rugby league too frequently, great on the ball but failing in key defensive areas.
When Ponga is at 1, he forms one of the league’s best back threes. Newcastle can’t claim to be elite in many areas, but the winger duo of Dom Young and Marzhew are among the very best at returning the ball, with plenty of size and speed, and Ponga is undeniably a great fullback.
Throw in Best, in this form at least, and the experience of Dane Gagai and suddenly it all looks like a decent backline. O’Brien has a big call to make.
For plenty of this, Manly looked like a team with their main two attacking weapons missing. Some of their good ball attack was pedestrian to say the least and, realistically, their three tries were two interceptions and a lucky rebound.
What Anthony Seibold can take out of this game is the improvement in their defence, particularly in scramble. Manly’s outside backs have often flattered to deceive and most of their issues have stemmed from that, with the flow of points too difficult to overcome.
But today, they stood up. The weight of possession and field position should have had the game over by half time, but the repeated efforts in desperation were what kept the Sea Eagles in it.
The left edge of Newcastle was fully firing and did get some joy, but not nearly as much as they could have done. Remember, we saw these two draw 32-32 not too long ago.
The outs can explain the issues in attack to some extent. Josh Schuster gave plenty of reminders of his talent, but his style is all tinsel, no tree on days like this.
At this stage, he needs Cherry-Evans inside of him and Turbo outside to find his best, because it all looks like a lot of flashy moves, played too far from the line, with little threat.
The best of Schuster is his passing game, but given that he has such size on his side, the run is always there and allows him to go close to contact. Too often, today, that wasn’t there. Three runs all day tells its own story.
His kicking remains dreadful, with two seven tackle sets given away, and the supporting cast weren’t up to the task.
Lachlan Croker, captain for the day, was excellent but Kaeo Weekes and Cooper Johns failed to involve themselves enough. Jake Arthur on debut was a mild improvement, but had limited opportunity.
“It was difficult for him at times because we didn’t have a lot of possession down their end of the field, which is where he comes alive,” said Seibold of Schuster’s performance.
“There’ll be some things that he can work on. There were times when we looked a little unorganised.”