The Manly Sea Eagles are on track to secure their spot in the finals, putting 22 points on the Canberra Raiders after a sending off for dissent turned a tight game on its head.
Despite an early lead from the Raiders, who scored two tries in the first quarter, the second-half of the match saw Anthony Seibold’s Sea Eagles take control of the game at GIO Stadium this afternoon, running out winners 24-46.
The turning point came at the 54-minute mark when Raider’s prop Joseph Talpine verbally confronted the referee repeatedly over a tackle on Luke Brooks, and was sent off. Manly took advantage of the 12-man side, putting another 18 points on the board.
Among the try scorers were Manly prop Taniela Paseka, whose contract with the club was extended from 2026 to 2029 this week, as well as fullback Tom Trbojevic, marking his 100th try with the club.
“I was really pleased with the result and the performance”, said coach Seibold, in the post-match press conference.
There is plenty of improvement left in the team with four weeks to go.
Canberra coach Ricky Stewart also acknowledged Manly’s performance, saying: “We got blown away by two very classy players, Cherry-Evans and Trbojevic.”
Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans added the team was pleased with the result and that “there is plenty of improvement left in the team with four weeks to go”.
The home game for Stewart’s Raiders was also Josh Papali’i’s 300th game with the club. The star prop went on to put the first four points on the board in the 9th minute of the game.
The four-week race to the finals will see the Sea Eagles play bottom-eight teams the Auckland Warriors and the West Sydney Tigers, followed by genuine premiership hopefuls Canterbury and Cronulla.
For Manly to miss out on the finals now, they would need to lose every one of their next four games.
Main image: supplied images/Canva montage.
