NRL 2021: Manly Sea Eagles win 56-10 over Parramatta Eels | Match Report

Tom Trbojevic gets the headlines - and deservedly so - but top four-bound Manly have many more strings to their bow, including a winger who tore pathetic Parramatta to shreds.

Makahesi Makatoa. Picture: NRL Photos

The Tom Trbojevic travelling roadshow rolled on to crush the pathetic Eels premiership hopes and keep Manly’s top four hopes alive on a record breaking night for hat-trick hero Reuben Garrick.

The 56-10 massacre on the Sunshine Coast was a masterclass by all Manly’s guns with halves Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans in the kind of form that won the Sea Eagles their last title.

Garrick, who needed just 17 points at the start of the game to equal Matthew Ridge’s club record of 257 points for a season, all but had the record in his grasp when he’d scored a double and landed four goals by halftime.

When he converted Moses Suli’s second half try he surpassed Ridge’s record which had stood since 1995.

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The Eels season is officially in free fall after their fourth straight loss. Picture: Getty Images.

Manly coach Des Hasler said Garrick’s record-breaking night was “fantastic”.

“Reuben works really hard at his game so it is very deserving but he will be the first to say he is on the end of a fair backline,” Hasler said. “Ridgey was ultra-competitive too, so it is a great personal achievement for Reuben.”

Parramatta could not have played any worse with passes going over heads and to ground, tackles missed with abandon and general lethargy infecting the entire playing group. To add to the Eels woes back-rower Ryan Matterson was sent off for a shoulder to the head of Brad Parker who was taken from the field.

The Eagles rocked from the opening whistle with Cherry-Evans setting up Parker with a slick grubber.

Trbojevic set up his favourite winger Garrick and scored himself after more Cherry-Evans magic. Further tries to Garrick in the 27th minute and Dylan Walker (29th) and Manly had the game in their grasp at 26-0.

The carnage continued in the second half with 18th man Suli scoring a double.

Reuben Garrick was incredible for the Sea Eagles, breaking Manly’s record for most points in a season. Picture: Getty Images.

Manly’s defence was punishing but some of the Eels errors were comic with Mitchell Moses dropping the ball cold after kicking the ball straight up in the air and trying to back heel it as it came down.

Eels coach Brad Arthur said his side was “down on belief”.

“We couldn’t afford to start like that and it just snowballed out of control,” he said.

“I haven’t got the answer right now for why that (intensity) wasn’t there. We are not showing that we want to play finals.

“I probably have to change things up at training this week and not focus on footy. Sometimes the harder you work the more of a hole you dig yourself.”

Hasler was thrilled with his side’s performance.

“They started the game with a lot of emotion but we were able to match that and get out of the blocks really early and play some really good footy. It was just important that we got the win tonight,” he said.

GARRICK’S GIFT

Garrick must pinch himself to be playing alongside ‘Turbo’ Tom Trbojevic set Garrick up for his first try, the 12th try assist that the Manly fullback has laid on for his left winger this year, and then again for his hat trick. Garrick’s form this year has been stellar in general play and with the boot and his record breaking night was capped with the club record and a personal haul of 28 points.

Can we put a line through the Eels for 2021 after they drop to sixth on the ladder? Picture: Getty Images.

2011 REVISITED

Foran and Cherry-Evans were unstoppable in the Sea Eagles run to the 2011 title and a decade on they are winding back the clock. Both were on fire against the Eels with Foran’s direct running and sleight of hand to the fore. Cherry- Evans’s precision kicking, passing and probing created havoc.

SLIPPING EELS

Parramatta’s fourth loss in a row has them on the slippery slide down the ladder and with games against the Storm and Panthers to come their pain is set to increase. They will struggle to beat the Cowboys next week. The disinterest of so many of their players in such a big game was hard to fathom. It was summed up by Maika Sivo strolling back to collect a kick and all but walking into the defence.

Eels horror show: Matterson marched over ugly high shot

Put a line through Parramatta’s title hopes, for the 35th straight year.

No side has conceded 50 points in a match and gone on to win the NRL premiership.

Eels fans can also put a line through Ryan Matterson’s regular season after the backrower was sent off for an ugly hit on Sea Eagles centre Brad Parker in Saturday night’s 56-10 loss to Manly.

The NRL vowed to crack down on foul play meaning Matterson could be facing a lengthy stint on the sideline.

And the pain looks set to continue for Brad Arthur’s men before a single minute of finals football has even been played.

The Eels will be forced to close out the regular season with two semi-finals rehearsals against the unstoppable Melbourne Storm and a near full-strength Penrith Panthers.

Ryan Matterson was sent from the field over a shoulder to the head of Manly's Brad Parker.

Two games that could resign the Eels to making up the numbers in September.

Two games that pose as a jarring reality check for Eels fans and the gap between their side and what it takes to be a genuine contender in the modern game.

Fox League commentator and premiership winner Braith Anasta summed it up perfectly.

“Parramatta are hanging on for dear life,” Anasta said.

Going by the headlines, coach Arthur could now be hanging on for dear life, too.

The coach rubbished speculation during the week he is on the nose at the club but another loss will hardly silence the detractors.

The complete lack of energy and body language from the Eels in the first half won’t silence the naysayers.

Only a title win will do that.

But a title win for this outfit feels out of reach for Parramatta at the moment.

And the club knows it.

Ryan Matterson was sent from the field over a shoulder to the head of Manly's Brad Parker.

It’s the reason veteran enforcer Junior Paulo wrote a letter to members and fans apologising for the team’s performances in the last month.

The reason why the club took the unorthodox approach to release an official statement to announce all negotiations with skipper Clint Gutherson had been put on hold.

For Gutherson, the headlines surrounding his future at the club must feel like groundhog day. The fullback attracted as many, almost identical, headlines when renegotiating his last deal to stay with the Blue and Gold.

Questions will again be asked about halfback Mitchell Moses ability to take this side deep into a finals series. When the game was still there to be won Moses came up with a kick error and a handling error.

Players during the week, including Gutherson, insisted the headlines were not a distraction.

But there is only one antidote to the headlines and that’s winning.

The Sea Eagles on the other hand did what the Eels have not been able to do, emerge as a genuine dark horse for this year’s title.

Manly are a dark horse for the premiership with their fifth game scoring 50 plus points. Picture: Getty Images.

At their best, Manly are an outfit that can at least go with the likes of the Storm and the Panthers. But beating either side has proven elusive so far.

Halves duo Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran wound back the clock on Saturday night as they worked in perfect tandem to steer their troops around the park.

Foran sliced through the Eel’s right hand defence with ease in the opening 40 minutes.

The kicking game of Cherry-Evans wore down Parramatta’s back three. The halfback threw an unbelieve cut out pass to winger Jason Saab that showed the skipper is as dangerous with the ball in hand as he is with the ball off his boot.

Last night, the Sea Eagles looked a shadow on the team that was anchored on the bottom of the table after the first four rounds.

Originally published as NRL 2021: Manly Sea Eagles win 56-10 over Parramatta Eels | Match Report