NRL 2016: Manly coach Trent Barrett angry after Sea Eagles blow 20-point lead against Penrith Panthers

MANLY coach Trent Barrett’s calm, composed nature went out the window after his side blew a 20-point lead to the Penrith Panthers on Sunday at Brookvale Oval.

Manly players look dejected after conceding a try against the Panthers. Pic: Mark Evans

HE had been calm, controlled and composed all season. Until Sunday.

Manly coach Trent Barrett was angry, frustrated and highly agitated after his side somehow blew a 20-point lead to lose 31-24 to Penrith at Brookvale Oval.

The Sea Eagles disintegrated.

He had protected his players all season but Barrett claimed his side “capitulated” and couldn’t “handle adversity.”

“What shits me the most is that we put ourselves in a position to win and threw it away,” said Barrett. “We’ve had a bloody rough trot, nothing is going right.”

He had kept his cool this season amid adversity and off-field drama. Barrett wasn’t ranting and raving after Sunday’s loss but the slick and savvy demeanour had vanished.

And Barrett had every right to be filthy. Manly conceded 27 unanswered points to lose their ninth game of the season. The semi-finals would all but appear gone at Brookvale.

Behind 24-4 in the 45th minute, Penrith scored five tries in 26 minutes to snatch an unlikely and stunning win. This was the biggest comeback win of the season. It was also Manly’s fifth successive loss.

The Brookvale Fortress has now become a sand castle. Manly has won just one of their past eight games at the famous and once-impenetrable venue. It would seem all the controversy is finally catching up with Manly. To be fair, the Sea Eagles were missing Daly Cherry-Evans, Steve Matai and Jamie Lyon on Sunday through injury.

Manly controlled the game for 60 minutes but just couldn’t cope when Penrith applied some heat.

Manly concede a try during the Manly Sea Eagles v Penrith Panthers NRL round 14 game at Brookvale Oval. pic Mark Evans

“We were the better side for an hour but we have a 15, 20 minute period where we just capitulate and can’t handle adversity. That’s what happened again,” Barrett said.

“We have a lot of young players who are still learning to be first graders. To be a first grader and win consistently at this level, you have to be able to play for 80 minutes and we can’t. Until we do, we are going to be on the end of that again.

“The players are sick of it, I know they are, and I know they are trying but until we learn to do it, we’ll be sitting here (in a losing press conference) again.”

Told he looked angry, Barrett said: “I am mate because we were the better side for an hour. And not just by a small margin. It was 24-4.

“That should be enough to put a team away but it wasn’t. That’s the disappointing thing. They worked so hard to put ourselves in that position and we threw it away. That was a massive game in terms of our season. Now it’s going to be real hard.

“We have some young players there that aren’t used to dealing with the kind of adversity we are dealing with at the moment. I feel for the players, I feel for the fans.

“The team is trying their arses off but to win at this level you have to play for 80 minutes. It’s a bit of lack of leadership with the blokes we have out, we’re without $3.5 million worth of players. Let’s not forget that.”

Jamie Buhrer (right) of the Sea Eagles is tackled by Isaah Yeo (left), Nathan Cleary (centre) and Trent Merrin of the Panthers.

Manly, in previous seasons, had the ability to overcome adversity once on the field. That mental edge, that psychological toughness, seems to have vanished.

“But they won’t give up,” Barrett said. “We just have to hang in.”

Manly utility Dylan Walker had a splendid first half, scoring two tries and kicking four goals.

The Sea Eagles were flying five minutes after halftime when winger Jorge Taufua crossed to give his side a 20-point lead. It then unravelled.

Peter Wallace scores for the Panthers during the Manly Sea Eagles v Penrith Panthers NRL round 14 game at Brookvale Oval. Pic Mark Evans

“It really hurts,” said Manly skipper Jake Trbojevic.

Sea Eagles prop Nate Myles will have sans today on a knee injury. He should be cleared though to play for Queensland on Wednesday week.

PENRITH 31 (N Cleary L Latu J Mansour T Peachey P Wallace D Watene-Zelezniak tries P Wallace 3 goals M Moylan field goal) beat MANLY 24 (D Walker 2 J Taufua T Trbojevic tries D Walker 4 goals) at Brookvale Oval. Referee: Gavin Reynolds, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 12,463.