The drought is broken! The Eels put together a complete performance to hammer Manly 44-10, this afternoon at Stadium Australia.
From the opening whistle, the Eels accused of lacking effort in some of their performances this season were switched on. They ran in seven tries to two in an effort that looked much more like the 2017 Eels that made the finals.
It seemed the two sides switched bodies from their clash back in Round 2. The Eels were disciplined, slick and executed well. Some superb passages of football belied their lowly status at the bottom of the ladder, Mitchell Moses, the maligned half was the talisman for the Eels,
The half produced a precise pass to send George Jennings in, and his crisp ball headlined a right to left shift that ended in Manu Ma'u crossed on the wing. Kaysa Pritchard, who talied past the half-century of run metres despite a HIA assessment in the first forty, strolled over for a 20-nil Eels lead at the half.
There was aggression from the Eels off-field earlier this week, they took that on field on Sunday afternoon. Their aggression in defense, aided by some impressive short kicking from Norman and Moses, never allowed the Eagles back into the contest.
Once they laid the platform, the Eels polished them off with a rejuvenated backline. Corey Norman cut through in the 46th, before Michael Jennings joined his brother on the scorers list, touching down from a Moses chip. The drought well and truly, broken, the Eels played much like their 2017 selves this afternoon.
Kenny Edwards put the icing on the cake for the Eels as the interchange forward surged onto some link play from the halves before the home side turned on style as Clint Gutherson dived over after some hot stepping by Moses.
This afternoon ended a turbulent week on the Northern Beaches on a sour note. The Sea Eagles looked devoid of energy and effort in the first half, before they found some late tries to Brad Parker and Akuila Uate to save some face.
Next round the Eels are back at ANZ Stadium on Sunday afternoon against the high-flying Wests Tigers, while the Sea Eagles host Newcastle on Friday at Lottoland.