It was billed as one of the games of the round. Two bitter arch rivals in front of a packed house for Sunday afternoon footy in the shire.
Unfortunately, the clash between the high-flying Sea Eagles and the reigning premiers was almost over before it began.
Manly ran in three tries in the opening quarter to blow Cronulla away at Southern Cross Group Stadium on Sunday, with the Sea Eagles eventually running out deserved 35-18 winners.
The win was made even sweeter for Manly, with the Sea Eagles replacing Cronulla in the NRL’s top four on for and against thanks to the 17-point victory.
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan described his side’s opening 20 minutes as “inexcusable” and was left fuming as the Sharks repeatedly turned over the ball – through mistakes and poor discipline – to gift Manly an 18-0 lead after 22 minutes.
While Flanagan paid tribute to Manly’s performance and the work of their coach, Trent Barrett, the Sharks coach was bitterly disappointed with his own team’s display.
“The first 20 minutes was awful. They played really well and deserved to win. He’s doing a good job, Baz. He’s got them going really well but our first 20 minutes was something I haven’t seen from this group,” he said.
“It was all because of what we did. We just dropped [the ball]. It was just inexcusable. It was 18-0 and it was all over, basically. We fought our way back and there was probably a bit of false hope there for a while. But then they kicked clear. They deserved to win.
“It was [terrible]. I’ve got to be careful how I word it because they were good as well. We were poor and they were good. But that first 20 minutes was basically game over.”
Cronulla also lost young hooker Jayden Brailey just after half-time with a badly broken jaw. Flanagan confirmed the 21-year-old had been taken to hospital and, with James Segeyaro not expected to return from an arm injury until after Cronulla’s second bye in a fortnight, all of a sudden the Sharks are looking light on at No.9.
With Daniel Mortimer to take up a two-and-a-half year deal with English Super League club Leigh Centurions this week, Fa’amanu Brown might be called upon to play hooker for Cronulla’s round 17 clash with the second-placed Sydney Roosters on the Central Coast on Saturday.
“I hope [tonight is a wake up call]. I really do hope so. We’ve got the Roosters next week. We’ve lost our young hooker Jayden. It’s a disappointing night all round,” Flanagan said.
Cronulla’s State of Origin quintet – Valentine Holmes, Jack Bird, Wade Graham, Andrew Fifita and James Maloney – struggled to make much of an impact against the hungry Sea Eagles who dominated through the middle for most of the contest.
But Flanagan dismissed the suggestion that he should has rested any of his key players.
“The score probably indicates how they handled backing up,” he said.
“Birdy was itching to play. He rang me up after the Origin and said he was ready to go now. So Birdy wasn’t tired. He was probably emotional about the loss.
“Wade was ready to go. They all wanted to play. So there were no players carrying little niggles. If they were carrying little niggles I would have rested them. That’s not an excuse for us today.”