Manly reaffirmed their premiership favouritism with a comfortable 27-12 victory over Newcastle in the major qualifying final on Sunday. In front of 26,531 at the Sydney Football Stadium, the Sea Eagles took control early in the match and were never headed. The game was dubbed as purposeless by the Sydney press throughout the week, but both teams showed plenty of spirit and determination right throughout the contest. Manly won the right to play the red-hot Sydney City Roosters next Sunday while the Knights will have six days to recover for their clash with the North Sydney Bears.
Two notable changes were made prior to kick-off, which appeared to effect the course of the match. For Newcastle, Andrew Johns, who is in this reporters' opinion, the best player in Rugby League, did not play, and his place was taken by Leo Dynever. This blow, as well as the loss earlier in the week of in-form fullback, Robbie O'Davis, probably sealed the Knights' fate before the first ball had been kicked. Manly also made an interesting change. Bob Fulton elected to start with neither Cliff Lyons nor Craig Field, something which has not occurred in the Sea Eagles' previous 22 games this season. Instead, Fulton reverted to a tactic he used in the semi-finals in 1996, which was to move Nik Kosef to five-eighth and start Lyons off the bench. In 1996, it was Owen Cunningham who made the extra man in the forwards - on Sunday it was Anthony Collella.
The move paid dividends almost immediately, with Collella bursting through three or four feeble attempted tackles by Newcastle to power his way over the line in just the fifth minute. Only four minutes later, Manly were in again due to some excellent lead-up work from Steven Menzies and Danny Moore. Menzies made the initial bust, and gave the ball to Moore, who, upon reaching the sweeping defender standing a few metres behind the defensive line, gave it back to Menzies. Menzies then handed the ball to Terry Hill, who sprinted 40m to score under the posts. Nevin's conversion gave the Sea Eagles a 12-0 lead and the dream start they were hoping for.
Newcastle hit back with a try to centre, Owen Craigie. Craigie exhibited pure size and strength in crashing over the line out wide. Dynever's sideline conversion brought the Knights to within six, and his penalty goal a few minutes later reduced the margin to 12-8.
A try to John Hopoate late in the half gave Manly a deserved 16-8 lead at the break, and while there appeared to be no drama over the try, replays indicate that Hopoate may have put his non-ball carrying hand over the in-touch in-goal line before placing the ball down. However, the try was awarded, and Manly held an eight point lead at half-time.
The beginning of the second half was the low point in the match for both sides. Scrappy play, particularly from the Premiers, led to multiple dropped balls and scrums. It was indicative of the stanza that the first try of the second half was scored under scrappy and disjointed circumstances. A kick from Leo Dynever hit the left upright, causing all sorts of problems for Geoff Toovey. Matthew Johns was first to the ball, and put in a small second kick so that he was able to simply put his hand on the ball over the line, thus scoring a try. Dynever's missed conversion attempt from a relatively easy position left the Knights four points in arrears.
Manly began to hit their straps in the last quarter of the game. A try to Hopoate after Craig Innes broke through three tackles saw Manly regain the upper hand. A further try to Hill shut the gate on a Newcastle victory. Craig Field's drop-goal put the icing on the Manly cake, extending the Sea Eagles' lead to 27-12.
Jim Sedaris was the pick of the Manly players, making many metres out of dummy half. He also made plenty of tackles for the Sea Eagles. Terry Hill played solidly in the centres, picking up two tries, while Danny Moore did some good things on the wing. A clash between Mark Carroll and Paul Harragon early in the match shook Carroll up, but he returned to the fray and appeared to suffer no side-effects. A worry for Manly was what could only be described as a missile tackle in the 15th minute by Nik Kosef on Matthew Johns. Johns put in a kick, and Kosef came flying in almost sideways with his head, making no attempt to charge the ball down with his hands. He is almost certainly going to be cited by the Newcastle club, and may miss Manly's next match through suspension.
In the absence of his brother, Matthew Johns played very strongly for Newcastle. He slotted into first receiver on a number of occasions and directed the Newcastle play well throughout the match. Owen Craigie also played well for Newcastle, and was probably the only Knight to crack the Manly defence more than once.
The key to the game was Manly's ability to turn it on when required. Newcastle played reasonably solidly for the entire 80 minutes, but never had a stretch of play where they were outstanding. Manly, on the other hand, had two such patches - in the opening minutes and towards the end of the game. When the scores were closest (0-0 and 16-12), Manly were able to lift and find something extra, which was ultimately the difference between the two sides. Despite the loss, Newcastle would be considered favourites to defeat North Sydney next weekend and earn a return bout with the Sea Eagles, particularly with the likely return of O'Davis and Andrew Johns. Brett Grogan and Brett Clements, though, will take no further part in the Knight's premiership campaign after suffering ligament damage and groin problems respectively.
This report ©1997 by Nick Leonard
Back to the Sea Eagles home page.