Manly SeaEagles Vs WSAS - Rnd 1 - Mattys Cup clash (Photo : pk/ourfooty media) PHOTO GALLERY

HAROLD MATTHEWS
Manly Sea Eagles VS Western Sydney Academy of Sports

It has been a long summer, we have watched the Kangaroos dominate the Rugby League World Cup only to falter in the final, the Australian tennis open came and went without an Australian contesting a final, and in recent events watched the Australian Cricket team slide down the world rankings.

But after 3 long months we had something to cheer about as Manly Sea Eagles took the field again against the Western Sydney Academy of Sport in Harold Matthews and SG Ball action.

The games were originally scheduled to be played at Brookvale Oval, but were moved to Western Weekender Stadium in St.Mary’s due to weather concerns.

The shift didn’t seem to make a difference. On a cold Saturday night the rain was torrential, and led the crowd to believe the players were playing with an over-sized bar of soap during periods of the game.

The Harold Matthews kicked things off, and within the first minute Manly were in golden field position due to a penalty against the Academy for a leg-pull.

The Sea Eagles did not waste the opportunity; three straight hard runs up the middle had Manly within metres of the line. They spread the ball wide to new recruit Jordan Meredith who crossed over in the corner.

Western Sydney had a chance to strike back shortly after. Some impressive ball movement saw them create a 3 on 1 overlap out wide, but some smart defence from Manly winger Benson Fakai who rushed up to the defence to pressure the ball handler caused the mistake, and relieved the pressure that was on the Sea Eagles.

Manly were the better team in the first half, although the error count continued to build, the Sea Eagles defence was solid throughout and they deserved to go into the sheds with the lead. But league is a strange game, and can change in an instance.

This was evident late in the half. After holding out Western Sydney for an entire set inside the 10 metre line, a simple side step broke the Sea Eagles defence, and saw the Academy’s five-eighth Benn Bridekirk score next to the sticks. The try so close to the posts led to an easy conversion and a Western Sydney Academy half-time lead.

HALF-TIME
Western Sydney Academy 6
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 4

After giving up the lead so late in the half the Sea Eagles were keen to get it back, continued errors by both teams saw the game stuck in mid-field.

Five minutes in to the new half Manly showed they can score from anywhere on the field. On last tackle Western Sydney’s kick was charged down, and collected by centre Michael Edwards.

Edwards then when on to run 50 metres downfield, showing to much pace for the Academy team and scored next to the uprights.

From there the arm wrestle continued. Rain continued falling, Manly’s defence led by captain Luke Vescio who had an unbelievable game bringing down players much bigger in stature, remained solid, and ball continued to be dropped.

The Sea Eagles looked to be in control of the game, but were only 4 points up. There was still a feeling around the ground that the Academy could steal the game, a Sea Eagles player needed to step up, take control, and guarantee the win.

Enter Brendan Hurd. Hurd had a sensational second half, he continually punched holes in the Western Sydney line, and his defence was rock solid.

He was rewarded ten minutes from full-time when he took 2 Western Sydney defenders over the line in a damaging run that all but guaranteed Manly’s Harold Matthews team would start 1-0.

In tough conditions defence was the key to victory. Manly displayed that they can hold even the best attacking teams out this year.

Luke Vescio was a standout; his darting runs from dummy-half and defence could only be described as incredible. Try-scorer Jordan Meredith was menacing all game; he troubled the defence out wide for the full 60 minutes.

Jim Stewart was new face and his game would have impressed people, and Brendan Hurd was a rock in the second half, steering Manly to victory.

Manly Sea Eagles 14 (Jordan Meredith, Michael Edwards, Brendan Hurd tries; Luke Walsh 1/1, Jordan Meredith 0/2 goals)
Def.
Western Sydney Academy 6 (Benn Bridekirk try; Ben Abbott 1/1 goal)

Manly SeaEagles kick off the 2009 SG Ball season (Photo's : pk/ourfooty media) PHOTO GALLERY

SG BALL

SG Ball
Manly Sea Eagles VS Western Sydney Academy of Sports

Rain continued to fall at Western Weekender Stadium when the SG Ball sides emerged from the sheds, from the outset it was obvious that whichever team ended the game with the better completion rate would take the two competition points.

It wasn’t a good start, for either team. The ball handling much like the weather was getting worse, not a completed set in the first 6 minutes.

It wasn’t till the 8th minute that a team got a genuine chance. Western Sydney won the scrum against the feed and were only 20 metres out.

It was the first completed set of the match, and it resulted in try to winger Sam Ahofono. The big number 2 was too strong for his opposite number brushing away the defender to score in the corner.

The next 20 minutes was much of the same. No team looked dangerous with the ball, they were just happy to keep hold of it. There were some highlights; Sea Eagles centres Jonathan Fakai and Josh Portlock rattled the opposition on more than one occasion, their big hits forcing errors.

Manly came close to scoring in the 23rd minute, a play that saw a Sea Eagle winger running down the touchline. He came close to scoring, but was pulled down by the fullback, and slid into touch only metres from the line.

Persistence finally paid off for the Sea Eagles shortly before halftime. The set wasn’t pretty, in fact the team looked slow and unorganised. But Mitch Barron finally put Manly on the board when he crashed over under the posts.

The game so far was probably summed up with the conversion attempt. An unfortunate occurrence for fullback Sione Ala whose conversion attempt came off the crossbar.

Manly had a late chance to take the lead when a play was executed near perfectly, but the last pass was put down. The teams went into the sheds deadlocked.

HALFTIME
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 4
Western Sydney Academy 4

The second half started with the game’s tendency of errors continuing. That’s until 10 minutes in when a series of events found someone in the sin bin, two line breaks, and a try.

It all started with a scrum on halfway. The ball went to Sea Eagles second rower Mat Scott, he took on the line and offloaded to five-eighth Jason Annear who had support to his right but didn’t spot the open winger, and was pulled down after gaining another 20 metres.

Western Sydney five-eighth Brendan La Houd was penalised for a professional foul after tackling Annear, and was sent to the sin bin.

Manly took advantage of the extra man in the next set when Mat Scott took on the line, and offloaded to winger Ronny Palumbo who scored in the corner.

Western Sydney had their chances to stake a late comeback, but the ball handling cost them greatly. Manly’s possession rate had improved in the ladder stages of the match, this resulting in two tries to captain Jason Annear.

The first included good lead up work from Jonathon Fakai who almost scored himself. The next play went to Annear who squeezed through a small gap in the defence to score.

The next was even easier with Annear pushing his way through some paper-thin defence to score in the corner and end what had been a frustrating game.