Manly Sea Eagles came from 10-0 down to easily see off Canterbury Bulldogs who edge closer to the wooden spoon after this 32-20 defeat.
The Bulldogs remain two points behind the Broncos while Manly maintain their slim hopes of making the Finals but would need all the remaining results to go their way.
The Bulldogs started well and took their lead thanks to a try for Matt Doorey and three kicks from Nick Meaney.
But the Sea Eagles were to lead at the break after scoring three tries in nine minutes. Taniela Paseka steamed over, Curtis Sironen got on the end of Daly Cherry-Evans’ kick and then Brad Parker broke the Dogs’ line near the stripe. Cherry-Evans kicked two conversions to make the score 16-10 at the break.
Manly scored three more tries in the second half to comfortably see off their opponents. Jack Gosiewski, Morgan Harper and Martin Taupau all cross the whitewash while Lachlan Lewis and Jayden Okunbor replied for the Dogs in the second half but it wasn’t enough.
Bulldogs: Hopoate, Meaney, R Smith, Watene-Zelezniak, Okunbor, Averillo, Lewis, Tolman, Marshall-King, To’omaga, Faitala-Mariner, Doorey, Jackson; Interchanges: Wakeham, Sue, Britt, C Smith
Tries: Doorey, Lewis, Okunbor; Goals: Meaney 4
Sea Eagles: Funa, Hopoate, Parker, Harper, Miski, Cust, Cherry-Evans, Fonua-Blake, Croker, Taupau, Gosiewski, Sironen, Trbojevic; Interchanges: Levi, Waddell, Keppie, Paseka
Tries: Paseka, Sironen, Parker, Gosiewski, Taupau; Goals: Cherry-Evans 4
Full match reports of all this weekend’s NRL games will feature in Monday’s League Express.
