NRL round four: St George Illawarra Dragons defeat Manly Sea Eagles 20-12
A sea of errors from Tom Trbojevic and the Manly Sea Eagles allowed the St George Illawarra Dragons to pick and choose their moments to pounce and secure victory.
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It might take another month of matches before Tom Trbojevic makes so many errors. Let alone produce five in one game again.
The Sea Eagles superstar looked destined for a trademark game after laying on the opening try by overpowering the Dragons defenders before off-loading for Tolutau Koula to score.
The joy lasted all of four minutes for the Sea Eagles and in particular Trbojevic.
His next 76 minutes were a horror show with four unforced errors. There were simple split passes and a forward pass thrown. The official error count was five but the one where he dropped a contested attacking bomb is easily forgiven.
The rest though were so uncharacteristic given the standard he has set in his career. He was also caught out of position for a Tyrell Sloan try after being deceived by a Ben Hunt kick. Hunt looked like he was going to the short side before booting the ball in-field for Sloan to score with Trbojevic out of the picture.
At least Trbojevic – who tried hard to spark his side – came through the game unscathed so he will regroup in time to take on the Panthers on Saturday – and you would suggest he won’t be as poor again this year.
Trbojevic was not alone though. Daly Cherry-Evans threw a pass over the sideline. Lachlan Croker’s service out of dummy half was poor and Ben Trbojevic was another with a regulation fumble.
After a scintillating start to the season – particularly with the football – the Sea Eagles crashed back to reality. The Dragons defence deserve enormous credit after capitulating in back to back games. They scrambled well and suffocated a Sea Eagles attacking unit.
A repeat performance against Penrith could make for a long afternoon for the Sea Eagles. After back to back wins against the Rabbitohs and Roosters the Sea Eagles now face the reality of dropping three consecutive games after back to back losses to Parramatta and the Dragons.
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Originally published as NRL round four: St George Illawarra Dragons defeat Manly Sea Eagles 20-12
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