Sluggish Sea Eagles blown away as Titans breach Brookvale fortress

At times on Saturday night, it seemed like Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans was the only player on the field for the home team in what was his club’s 700th game on their beloved Brookvale home turf.

He booted a 40/20 early in the second half in a bid to reinvigorate the Manly side and give them some momentum after they had trailed 16-2 at the break. Sean Keppie scored soon after and Reuben Garrick added a penalty to cut the gap to six before the Gold Coast again kicked clear.

Christian Tuipulotu is tackled. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)Credit: Getty

The Queensland halfback’s kicking game wasn’t enough to pull Manly in front and after entering round nine in second position on the ladder, they could tumble down as low as seventh after going down 26-10 to the Titans.

“We were outplayed. Titans deserved to win,” conceded Manly coach Anthony Seibold.

“We were quite patchy in the game, we started pretty well, [but] we gave a lot of penalties away.”

The home side were missing playmaker Josh Schuster and star fullback Tom Trbojevic, and Seibold confirmed that the five-eighth was unlikely to return for the side’s round 10 clash against the Broncos next week.

But the coach was confident Trbojevic could return for Magic Round in Brisbane after they erred on the side of caution by ruling him out this weekend.

“Tommy’s a chance. When we made the decision to rule him out, it was yesterday ... we just thought, you know what, we need to take the conservative route. So seven days from yesterday, so we think he’s a good chance.”

The Sea Eagles entered the round in second spot but could sink as low as seventh if other results go against them, were unable to come up with fresh plays throughout the game.

Perhaps that’s why news came out mid-game that the Sea Eagles are set to sign Bulldogs halfback Kyle Flanagan, with uncertainty hanging around Schuster due to his ongoing fitness woes.

But the speculation of Flanagan’s signing was shot down by Seibold.

“I’m not going to speculate on that. One thing I will say is we’ve got a spot in the field. We have signed 29 players, so we are going to fill it before June 30th, and what we are doing at the moment is having a good look at the position we need to fill,” Seibold said.

“But we certainly haven’t signed Kyle Flanagan if that’s the speculation.”

Manly’s’ right-side defence was also patchy at best, and leaked points all night, with Jason Saab and Morgan Harper unable to hold-back the strength of Titans second-rower David Fifita.

By the end of the game, the Titans’ attack was too innovative for a lacklustre Sea Eagles side.

A try to Phil Sami midway through the second half gave the visitors a 10-point cushion before a line break from Gold Coast young gun Jayden Campbell sealed the Sea Eagles fate, after he showed fancy footwork to set up a try for Klese Haas.

After that, even the fans, who had stuck it out in the rain and the win all night, had lost hope - leaving the stadium with 10 minutes still left on the clock.

Manly’s poor discipline had cost them all night, highlighted no more than when Toafofoa Sipley was put on report and sent to the sin-bin for a crusher tackle on Sami.

But it was Manly who were dominant in the opening stages, and after the first 15 minutes of the game, the result looked like it would only be going one way.

Two ruck infringements, a penalty and a line drop-out all in the first five minutes of the game had the Sea Eagles knocking on the Titans’ door before the visitors barely had a chance to touch the ball.

But for all the possession they had, Manly barely had anything to show for it. They had no luck pushing through the Titans’ left-side defence despite having two chances to score in the corner early on.

After a frustrating few sets for Manly, who after multiple repeat sets came up fruitless, Cherry-Evans opted to put his team on the board with a penalty kick in front of the posts. But that’s where Manly’s luck ended.

After the first try from Alofiana Khan-Pereira, Foran and Gold Coast kicker Tanah Boyd targeted the Manly right side, and proved too boisterous for a team that was down on troops but also spirit.

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