When they say that rugby league is a game of two halves, it well and truly is, as the Manly Sea Eagles second half display blew the Parramatta Eels off the park, as they cruised home to victory and won 40-6.
With the Eels recent form at Parramatta Stadium quite good despite some losses, things looked to be heading in a similar direction as they were down just 16-0 at the break and playing somewhat well, just lacking the required execution.
With Manly in attack mode, however and the Eels down on confidence and troops, Manly were just far too good as they cruised home in front of just over 11,000 fans at Parramatta.
With his players showing great efficiency in their game and scoring a whopping 198 points in their last five games, the performances of late have left coach Geoff Toovey one happy man.
“It makes a hell of a difference when you’ve got a consistent team week-in, week-out,” Toovey said.
“They get to work those combinations and that’s what we’ve had the last month.
“Touch wood it continues that way. We’ve still got a lot of improvement in us. There were mistakes today from both sides so we can still work on it.”
For Eels coach Ricky Stuart, whilst he chose not to go so far as to condemn his players, he did admit that his side is simply not good enough to win games this year, in what is the club’s worst losing streak since 1995.
“It was played in tough spirit, tough nature, they were just too good,” Stuart said.
What made it even more frustrating is that the Eels had the opportunity to score points, but lack of execution and sloppy errors at Generic Cialis crucial times let them down when they had Manly under pressure.
“Errors didn’t help us. It was probably individual errors focused more on the game but from what I see the boys are trying their hardest,” said Stuart.
“They’re busting their guts. Our efforts were there but some individual errors and it compounded into a whole weight of possession going Manly’s way.
“You can’t afford to do that with the kind of team they’ve got.”
There was one moment that left Stuart baffled, though, when the Eels went over in the first half – a try that would have levelled the scores – but were called back because referee Phil Haines ruled that there was no advantage for Matt Keating as he could not play the ball due to being impeded by Matt Ballin.
The decision to bring the play back was one that left the Eels coach miffed.
“The bloke that pushed Keating in the play the ball, why wasn’t he sent to the bin? It was going to be a try for all money,” Stuart said.
“There’s new rules coming out every week. It happened to us against the Cowboys when Johnathan Thurston was laying all over Jarryd Hayne but he didn’t get sent to the bin.
“You’ve just got to hope that it’s your lucky night.”
In a positive note for all Eels fans, though and something they have been waiting for – the return of Jarryd Hayne, something that is likely for next week’s clash against the Tigers, if not the week after.
“We’ll test him in the week and we should know by Tuesday,” he said.
“If not this week then next week he should be right.”
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