The Manly Sea Eagles took a while to get going on Sunday afternoon at Accor Stadium but once they did the floodgates opened and points came plenty. Manly ran in 7 tries for the day in the end comfortably taking care of the Bulldogs 42-24.
The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the 5th minute when Blake Wilson made a linebreak down the right wing and set up Corey Waddell to score on his inside. From there Manly scored 28 unanswered points with tries to Jason Saab, Toafofoa Sipley, Ray Tuaimalo-Vaega, Haumole Olakau'atu and captain Daly Cherry-Evans. Cherry-Evans was instrumental all day continuing his great form across the 2023 season. He scored a great try dazzling the markers out of dummy half and running 40 metres to score as well as putting Olakau'atu through a gaping hole for his try.
The Bulldogs hit back in the 59th minute when Wilson cleaned up an errant pass from Cherry-Evans and put Averillo away and from there the points came thick and fast. Lachlan Croker barged over in the 64th minute and then Manly combined for a lovely long range try off the kickoff in the very next set. Olakau'atu laid a perfect inside ball to send Koula through the line who then found Saab for his second backing up on the inside. The Dogs then scored two tries in two minutes through Toby Sexton and Kyle Flanagan to give fans a glimmer of hope but it was too little too late. Gordon Chan Kum Tong added a late penalty goal in front of 70 family and friends that were in attendance for his debut.
With both teams out of the finals race there was plenty attacking footy as expected. Manly had 11 linebreaks on the day with Canterbury contributing 5 of their own. The Bulldogs also had 11 offloads and at times were throwing the ball around like second phase play was going out of fashion. Both teams made 10 errors and 45 missed tackles for the Bulldogs effectively sums up their day.
Tolutau Koula was outstanding at fullback for Manly filling in for the injured Reuben Garrick. Koula set up 3 tries, made 3 line breaks of his own and ran for 297 metres. He is truly a sight to see in open space with his electric speed giving the Bulldogs headaches all afternoon long. Sipley was also very good for Manly setting the tone early on and scored a try for the 2nd time in 3 weeks even if the pass from Lachlan Croker was dubious. Speaking of Croker he was also influential for the Sea Eagles setting up a try, scoring one of his own, and chipping in a 40/20.
Both teams will look to finish the season on a high note next week with the Bulldogs playing Gold Coast at 2pm Sunday afternoon while Manly have the Tigers on Friday night at home at 6pm.