NRL Las Vegas: Luke Brooks steps up as Manly snap five-year Rabbitohs hoodoo
Maligned, pillared and the poster boy for failure at the Wests Tigers, new Manly half Luke Brooks looked at home under the bright lights of Las Vegas, orchestrating a historic win over South Sydney.
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The job for the NRL was to introduce the entire US to the greatest game of all.
But for Manly fans, the historic season kick-off was only ever about meeting new playmaker Luke Brooks.
On a night that rugby league will never forget, Brooks wasted no time settling into his new colours to help lead Manly to a memorable 36-24 opening round victory over the Rabbitohs at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Maligned, pillared and the poster boy for failure at the Wests Tigers, Brooks showed no sign of hesitation or rust to cleverly combine with champion halfback Daly Cherry-Evans.
In a memory that will live with Brooks forever, the Manly five-eighth skipped past the Rabbitohs clutches in defence to score a try in the final stages of the match.
He was suitably mobbed by his Manly teammates.
“When you’re making your debut for a club to be able to score a try, I was just so proud of him,’’ Manly coach Anthony Seibold said.
“That combination and connection (with Cherry-Evans) will build. But I think we saw signs of it tonight. To able to score 36-points against a real quality team that some predict for the premiership was something that I thought was a big tick.’’
TURBO TREBLE
With the NRL’s US odyssey completed, interested Americans suddenly have a new band of brothers to follow.
The Trbojevic’s.
The Manly siblings produced the ultimate meet and greet in Sin City with a three-pronged performance that inspired the Sea Eagles to victory over South Sydney.
The trio were enormous on a night of history for the NRL.
In his first game since June last year, fullback Tom Trbojevic had a licence to roam and ran for over 170-metres, producing three tackle busts, three offloads and one line-break.
Brother Jake was tireless in the forwards, producing a team-high 43-tackles.
Youngest of them all, Ben Trbojevic looked threatening with the ball in hand and was rewarded for his line-running with a try in the 54th minute.
“He’s a special player,’’ Seibold said of Tom.
“We’re very fortunate to have guys like Chez (Cherry-Evans), Jake (Trbojevic) and Tom in our team, three of the real elite players in the competition.
“So it doesn’t surprise me that he came back the way he did after a long lay-off. His work rate off the footy tonight was outstanding.’’
SMALL FIELD, NO WORRIES
Few players or officials from boths teams were preparing for a match that would end with a total of 60-points scored.
On the smallest field that any rugby league game has ever been played on, the Sea Eagles and Rabbitohs did their best to showcase the game with a high-scoring affair.
“It definitely made a difference, the kicking game and you didn’t want to go too close to the sideline,’’ Cherry-Evans.
“Ultimately the longer it went, the more comfortable we felt.’’
Souths coach Jason Demetriou added: “There was lots of talk about it, some mind games from coaches. In the end it’s round one, it comes down to completing your sets.
“Manly at crucial times were excellent.’’
JD LAMENTS 15-MINUTE LAPSE
Demetriou said the loss wouldn’t take away from the incredible US experience that the club will savour.
However, he was clearly disappointed with a 15-minute window in the second-half when the Rabbitohs went from leading 20-12 to trailing 24-20.
“There’s 18-points there where we have to be better than that,’’ Demetriou said.
“It’s round one and when you’re not holding the ball and they’re getting back-to-back sets, that’s where the fatigue plays a part.
“We let ourselves down in the second-half. There’s a 15-minute period there and for me that’s where the game was won and lost, that’s where our learnings need to come from.
“From a training and planning point of view we did everything we needed to do. If I was asked to come back (to the US) again, no problem, I’d come back.
“I just would’ve loved the two-points.’’
TRIVIA NIGHT RICHIE
Start looking under your beer bottle lids for the answer to the question of who scored the first try in the NRL’s historic first game in Las Vegas?
The most unlikely name of Richie Kennar entered sporting folklore when the Rabbitohs centre crashed over to score in the 7th minute.
Kenner, who has played just 11 NRL games in four years, was the recipient of the lightning vision from dummy-half Damien Cook, whose speed from the ruck left the Sea Eagles back-pedalling on their own line.
HAUMOLE CLAIMS VICTORY IN BLUES BACKROW BATTLE
Rabbitohs backrower Keaon Koloamatangi went public with The Daily Telegraph last week about his aspirations to develop into the best backrower in the game.
Having earned a NSW State of Origin debut last year, the hulking Rabbitohs forward has made it clear he is intent on holding onto the Blues jersey.
With that said, Koloamatangi will be disappointed with his defensive miss on close mate and rival backrower Haumole Olakau’atu.
Olakau’atu powered past the clutches of Koloamatangi to score a try in the 24th minute.
You get the sense this will be a duel that will last all the way until the Origin series, with Olakau’atu invited to Michael Maguire’s possible Blues camp last month, alongside Koloamatangi.
INJURED SAAB
One blemish for the Sea Eagles is a hamstring injury to dangerous winger Jason Saab.
Seibold confirmed he is in doubt for the club’s round two clash with the Roosters.
“Any time you see one of your speed men pull up like that it’s not ideal,’’ Seibold said.
“He’ll get scanned when we get back to Australia. We’ve got a long turnaround, but it’s probably doubtful he’ll play in that Roosters game.
“One thing we feel is that we’ve added some depth (in the outside backs). We’ve got Ray Veaga who was fighting with Jaxson (Paulo) for a spot.
“And the other one that I think was unlucky not to be in the team was Tommy Talau. He can play wing or centre, so we’ve got a couple options there.’’
Souths also finished the match with a hamstring injury to Davvy Moale.
“It’s a twinge and I think he’ll be okay.’’
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