NRL 2016: Sea Eagles suffer serious injuries in hardfought defeat of Knights

MANLY lost Brett Stewart to injury and Newcastle’s Jarrod Mullen was another high profile casualty as the Sea Eagles won a war of attrition at Hunter Stadium.

NRL KNIGHTS SEA EAGLES

HE has been the centre of a social media vilification campaign from some of his own fans for being a jinx.

But after finally breaking through for his first NRL win in 14 attempts, Brayden Wiliame now looms as the man Eagles coach Trent Barrett may be forced to turn to in his hour of need.

With Brett Stewart’s hamstring woes resurfacing and understudy Tom Trbojevic limping out of Hunter Stadium in a moon boot after suffering another high ankle sprain, Wiliame could find himself in the fullback hot-seat against the Cowboys at Brookvale next Saturday night.

Stewart is given little hope of recovering in time after leaving the field just after halftime in his side’s 26-10 win over the Knights and with the represenative bye the following week, it’s highly unlikely Barrett will risk him.

But the Eagles coach was more worried about the injury to Trbojevic.

“It’s a high ankle sprain again with Tom which is what he’s had problems with before so he’s probably of the most concern,”Barrett said.

Barrett indicated Wiliame, who finished the game at fullback, would be a definite contender.

“Wherever he (Barrett) puts me, I’m going to do my best and we’ll see what happens. I’m fine playing anywhere in the backline,” Wiliame said.

Asked about the jinx taunts from fans, he said:

“I was honestly just sick of hearing it. Even my friends were always putting it on me so it’s good to get the monkey off my back.

“It was just great to get the win. A tough win too but I’m glad that we got it.”

And his advice for the social media key-board warriors?

“They can kick back now,”he said.

“Honestly, I read them once and I’m never reading them again. They need to chill out and get a life.”

In a real war of attrition, it wasn’t just Manly who were hit by injury.

Injuries abounded in the Manly-Newcastle match; Tom Trbojevic (above) and Brett Stewart went down leaving the Sea Eagles short on fullback options. Pic: Phil Hillyard

The Knights lost new recruit Peter Mata’utia in the first half to a likely knee medial ligament tear which could sideline him for six weeks according to coach Nathan Brown while play-maker Jarrod Mullen faces an even longer stint out after tearing his hamstring.

His injury came at a crucial time with the Knights trailing 20-10 with 13 minutes to go.

He had just split the Eagles up the middle and had his halfback Trent Hodkinson in support on the inside with a try the likely outcome when he collapsed in a heap with no defender on him.

Brown was not optimistic about a favourable scan.

“Mullo’s hammy when they do them like that, when they make a break and they pop, she’s long term,” he said.

Hodkinson said his playmaking partner was devastated.

“Yeah, he is feeling pretty down about it,” he said.

Jarrod Mullen suffered a hamstring injury. Pic: Phil Hillyard

“We don’t know at this stage how bad it is but it doesn’t look too good.”

Asked about what his absence will do for the struggling side, Hodkinson said it will be a huge test of character going forward for his young side.

“We just need to keep working hard and keep working hard for one another,” he said.

The Knights had the benefit of a strong first half breeze but it was the Eagles who led 10-6 at halftime.

Newcastle twice got over the line in the opening 40 but were denied tries by the bunker and only had a spectacular try from winger Nathan Ross to show for their field position dominance by halftime.

A crucial controversial try to Manly prop Brenton Lawrence right on halftime gave the visitors the ascendancy which they managed to hold onto in the final 40.

Barrett was just relieved to leave Newcastle with the two points after a fairly sub-standard game.

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“It was a war of attrition in the end. Both teams had multiple injuries which probably threw everything out of whack,” he said.

“But in terms of effort from both sides, it was a contest and two points here at Newcastle, they are always really hard to get so I am very happy that we’ve come away with the win.”

Brown wasn’t making excuses after some near misses with disallowed tries, pointing to his side’s lack of ball control as the chief reason for the defeat.

“There were a few 50/50 calls that didn’t go our way today,” he said.

“But they weren’t the reason why we didn’t do a little better today.”

MANLY 26 (B Lawrence T Trbojevic J Trbojevic B Wiliame tries J Lyon 5 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 10 (T Randell N Ross tries T Hodkinson goal) at Hunter Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Chris Sutton. Crowd: 19,072.

Originally published as NRL 2016: Sea Eagles suffer serious injuries in hardfought defeat of Knights