Manly crush toothless Tigers
Andrew Stevenson | July 14, 2007
MANLY, who made a smashing return to form last weekend in obliterating the Roosters 56-0, continued the party at Brookvale Oval last night, with a comprehensive 34-4 disposal of Wests Tigers.
The Tigers, shooting for a share of third place on the NRL ladder, were exposed as pretenders by the very team voted by peers last week as the game's most over-rated.
Instead the emphatic win confirmed Manly in clear second and on track to claim a home semi-final.
The Tigers hadn't beaten Manly at Brookvale since 2003. Last night they rarely looked like ending their barren run and the much-vaunted attacking unit ended the game with a single try - a long range bust from dummy half.
Their opponents first unlocked the Tigers' defences then made merry in their house, ransacking every room in a six-try effort.
The Sea Eagles converted a 12-4 half-time lead with a far more confident performance in the second, before a home crowd of 15,288.
In fact Manly got to the lead with less than 10 minutes of dominance in a first half marked by the Tigers failure to convert pressure into points.
The game began with a bad omen for the Tigers, with fullback Daniel Fitzhenry leaping high to take the first bomb, defusing it safely enough - albeit sending it over the dead ball line off the middle of his head.
They survived the repeat set and, just when they were starting to work their way clear of danger, Fitzhenry threw a forward pass from dummy half.
With a couple of desperation penalties for good measure come seven minutes Manly had been camped on the Tigers' line for almost the entire game. Sheer weight of numbers was enough, with Glenn Stewart scoring the first try.
But possession then flowed the Tigers' way, the visitors having all the chances for the next half hour. The Tigers tried a bit of everything last night - a short kick off to start the game and frequently kicking early in the tackle count. No reward was payable for initiative, with poor handling and errors bringing Wests Tigers undone and their attack grinding ahead in first gear.
With Tigers' danger man, Robbie Farah running the team from first receiver the tactic took the punch from the team's flat-passing forward attack and allowed Manly to relax around the ruck. At their peril. After 32 minutes the answer arrived with Stuart Flanagan running on from the bench and then continuing on for more than 50 metres, evading the defence and then crashing over the line with Manly fullback Brett Stewart still hanging on.
With three minutes left Manly's Jack Afamasaga spilled the ball but, what should have been a vital last attack for the Tigers went awry when the ball was coughed straight back up.
Piggy-backing on a penalty against Chris Heighington for holding down Steve Matai, Manly got close enough; Michael Monaghan did the rest, beating five tacklers in a run to the line.
The first minutes of the second half revealed far more accurately the direction of the game. First Tigers centre Dean Collis was caught in goal and then Manly's go-to men Monaghan, Matt Orford and Jamie Lyon got the ball to Steve Menzies who stepped Chris Lawrence to score. That put Manly out to a 16-4 lead before Lyon managed to evade Paul Whatuira who had charged out of the line. No surprise who was on hand to receive the ball on the inside, with Menzies showing age has not slowed his step as he bagged a second.
At 22-4 Manly were sitting pretty and ready to enjoy a second weekend in the ascendance. First Monaghan snared a 40-20, then Chris Hicks and Lyon pulled off the impressive feat of man-handling the Tigers' monster winger Taniela Tuiaki over the sideline.
Back over the on the other side of the field Manly's Adam Cuthbertson showed plenty of skill in drawing Fitzhenry perfectly to open a clear path for his winger Michael Robertson to score. Five minutes out from time Cuthbertson celebrated a fine night, with a lovely delayed offload as a he fell to the ground close to the posts, with Mark Bryant crossing for the last try, Orford's conversion bringing up the team's 90th point in six days.
