SG Ball results: Manly unleashes track star Tolutau Koula in loss to Canterbury

Manly unleashed a young gun tipped to become one of the NRL’s fastest players ever in the latest round of SG Ball, but it wasn’t enough against a dogged Canterbury.

There’s no stopping Bulldog Paul Alamoti Picture: Julian Andrews.

Blink, and you’ll miss him.

We’re talking about Tolutau Koula — Manly’s young track star, who could one day overtake Josh Addo-Carr and Xavier Coates as the NRL’s fastest player.

Koula, a Sea Eagles’ NRL Development Player, was injected into the club’s SG Ball side for the first time on Saturday and he snatched an exciting hat-trick against the Bulldogs.

Canterbury ultimately edged Manly 26-24, but Koula’s astounding speed was on full display as he bolted 60 metres to cross in the second half.

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Manly's Tolutau Koula storms to the try line. Picture: Julian Andrews.

His pace is hardly surprising, given the outside back broke the AAGPS Athletics 100m record clocking just 10.58 seconds back in 2019.

“For (Tolutau) do half a training session (with SG Ball) and to play the way he did,” Manly coach Brett Fulton said.

“He’s a good player Tolu, and so is Kaeo Weekes, who came back (from NRL squad to SG Ball) as well, it was good to have them because we’re several down,” Manly SG Ball coach Brett

“Losing Jack Gunton in the first two minutes obviously hurt us .... but I thought the boys who filled in did admirably. We were able to hang tough with them.”

The Bulldogs showed real grit in the thrilling clash, clawing back from a 14-point deficit in the second half to steal the win and retain their undefeated status.

“To comeback and win 26-24 and to defend the last five minutes on their line and win the game, it was unbelievable,” Bulldogs SG Ball coach Mitch Lewis said.

“Manly are a good team, they’ll be there come the end of the season.”

Canterbury hooker Danny Ghantous was deadly scooting out of dummy half and punished Manly’s defence on several occasions.

“He’s told me all year how much he loves running out of dummy half. We’ve played teams where that didn’t really suit, but today was his day … he was absolutely phenomenal,” Lewis said.

Bulldog Danny Ghantous looks to offload. Picture: Julian Andrews.

“Our no. 11 Diego Bravo-Graham was great too, he wasn’t supposed to play, but we had an injury overnight … he backed up and played 70 minutes.”

The Bulldogs now sit third on the ladder, behind the Rabbitohs and Raiders.

Around the grounds, South Sydney put 62 points on the Bears. The Bunnies‘ right edge attack was on fire once again, as winger Evan Manning scored his third hat trick of 2021.

The Raiders recorded another big score, downing the Knights 52-32 in Queanbeyan to retain their spot on top of the table. Parramatta and Illawarra also recorded Round 5 wins.

Bulldog Paul Alamoti breaks through the Manly defence. Picture: Julian Andrews.

HAROLD MATTS CUP

Brothers Latu and Samuela Fainu both scored in Manly’s 14-10 victory over the Bulldogs. Centres JoshFeledy and Eli Sagala had strong showings too. The Sea Eagles remain undefeated, sit second on the ladder and have emerged as title contenders. Around the grounds, Illawarra put 7 tries on St George to win the local derby 42-14. Parramatta, Souths, Newcastle and the Chooks were also victorious.

TARSHA GALE CUP

The Knights, Steelers and Tigers remain undefeated after Round 5. Newcastle’s Sophie Clancy bagged a double in her side’s win over Canberra, while Illawarra put six tries on the Dragons. Parramatta recorded their first win of the season against Canterbury, with prop Losalio Sita Payne scoring a hat-trick.