Manly snap losing streak with 36-18 upset win over rudderless Sydney Roosters
TOM Trbojevic has starred for Manly as they overturned their recent losing streak to beat the high-flying Roosters 36-18.
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THREADBARE Manly had conceded 110 points in 190 minutes of NRL. Nineteen embarrassing tries.
The Sea Eagles fell behind 18-4 after 30 minutes of football against the Sydney Roosters at Brookvale Oval.
Here we go again ...
After two humiliating losses, where they conceded 92 points, Manly’s season’s was dying, their defence in tatters.
What transpired over the next 50 minutes was nothing short of extraordinary.
Against a premiership heavyweight, Manly scored 32 unanswered points to belt the Roosters 36-18.
Tries kept coming. And coming. The Roosters crumbled.
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A loss could have pushed Manly out of the top eight. They are now just one win outside the top four.
Victory takes Manly to 28 competition points — just one win from the 30 points required to play finals footy.
The Sea Eagles have games to come against Wests Tigers, Canterbury, New Zealand Warriors and Penrith. They still sit seventh.
Defeat just about ends the Sydney Roosters hopes or pinching the minor premiership from Melbourne, who are now four points clear on top of the NRL competition table.
The Roosters didn’t score a point for the last 50 minutes. The visitors just stopped playing. They lost their hunger and urgency somewhere in the dressing room at halftime.
The Brookie faithful went into raptures as Manly posted four second half tries.
“This sets us up,” said Manly centre Dylan Walker, who played his 100th NRL game.
Manly coach Trent Barrett was relieved after the heavy losses to St George Illawarra and Melbourne.
It was a win that should see Barrett earn a new contract at Brookvale.
“To come back like we did ... I knew if we got a fair share of possession we’d be okay,” Barrett said
“Probably the most pleasing thing was our defence. We had two awful weeks but showed a fair bit of resolve and character to come back.
“We have put ourselves in a position again. It gives us a springboard into the next four games.
“We’re two points out of the top four. Who knows?
“The last fortnight has been uncharacteristic. To the players credit, they worked real hard and we got rewarded with the result today.
“We had to cop it. They learn from it, I’ll learn from it. But I don’t want to get through it again.”
Manly showed yesterday they can compete with any side.
Their second half was simply awesome.
“Certainly scoring first in the second half gave us an opportunity to get back in the game and, from there, momentum built petty quickly,” said Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans.
“It was a fantastic show of character for us to hang in there. We spoke about our character as a side and facing adversity. Eighteen points in the first half — it could have gone one of two ways.
“It’s fantastic to see the whole team stick together and fight their way through it.”
Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic scored twice yesterday in another man-of-the-match performance.
“We knew if we hung in there we would come back in the second half,” Trbojevic said
“The way we lost those two games was very concerning. But we know we have a football side here and we didn’t live up to the standards we have set ourselves.
“We were back at home and knew we had to put in a performance and if we didn’t we were going to miss out on that top eight. You play this comp to play finals. The job’s not done yet.”
It’s antiquated and rundown but there is something uniquely special about Brookvale.
And Manly needed to their home ground and home fans to rise again.
Roosters winger Blake Ferguson hit Manly centre Brad Parker off the ball, a hit which may attract interest from the NRL match review committee.
Barrett dropped centre Brian Kelly before kick-off with Parker the replacement.
For some reason, Manly felt the need to blare music around the ground with each stoppage in the game. And hopefully the noisy ground announce will be gone too for the next home game.
MANLY 36 (T Trbojevic 2 L Brown D Cherry-Evans B Parker M Wright tries M Wright 4 D Cherry-Evans 2 goals) bt SYDNEY ROOSTERS 18 (L Keary L Mitchell D Tupou tries L Mitchell 3 goals) at Lottoland. Referee: Matt Cecchin, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 14,564
Originally published as Manly snap losing streak with 36-18 upset win over rudderless Sydney Roosters
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