Bulldogs stun Manly at Fortress Brookvale

v BYE

Canterbury-Bankstown produced a professional performance in a 28-6 victory over a lackluster Sea Eagles team in front of 16,512 at Brookvale Oval.

A new era dawned at Manly in the first game of Trent Barrett being in charge but it was the old hand, and former Manly man Des Hasler who took the spoils with the Bulldogs running over the Sea Eagles.

The Sea Eagles bumbled their way through the opening ten minutes showing the signs of a team that acquired eight new players in the off-season while the Bulldogs looked like they did in the back-end of 2015. Just rollicking through the middle and using their explosive backs to finish.

Josh Reynolds buzzed around the field all night and played a huge hand in the opening half where the Bulldogs put on four tries. His grubber wasn't cleaned up, allowing Sam Perrett to pounce to make it four-nil.

Once again it was the grubber from Reynolds and a fantastic finish from makeshift fullback William Hopoate just inside the dead-ball line to double the delight for the visitors. Sam Kasiano, looking trim for the new season, showed he hadn't lost any power as he dived over from close range in the 27th minute.

Josh Morris rounded off an impressive first-half display from the Bulldogs as the representative centre pounced again, on a Manly mistake at the back to touchdown with Mbye shrugging off his first miss to make it 22-nil at the break.

After a disastrous first half, it could only get better for the home side and they were the first on the scoreboard in the second stanza. Jorge Taufua was unable to catch a cold in the opening hour but still provided a classy finish to bring the Sea Eagles back into it.

It wouldn't be a Bulldogs game without Curtis Rona getting on the scoresheet and the winger opened his 2016 account with a simple try after the Bulldogs stripped the Manly defense of numbers from the scrum which allowed Rona to score. Mbye completed the performance with a 80th minute penalty goal to put icing on the cake of this 28-6 scoreline.