Caption: Nicho Hynes looks for support in the loss to Newcastle today. Photo: NRL Photos
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffered a 30-24 loss to Newcastle Knights in the Holden Cup at Hunter Stadium today.
It was the first match for new Manly Coach Darren Maroon with his young team playing some very attacking football. Former Coach Chad Randall is now a co-coach of Manly’s Intrust Super Premiership team alongside Luke Williamson.
The Sea Eagles got off to a flying start to lead 10-0 early after half-back Cade Cust darted over from dummy half and winger Jayden El-Jalkh dived over in the right corner.
The Knights quickly responded with two converted tries through hooker Joe Morris and winger Matt Soper-Lawler for a 12-10 lead midway through the first half.
The Sea Eagles regained the lead when talented centre Brad Parker split the defence to find open space before offloading to winger Harlan Collins to score for a 14-12 lead at half-time.
2nd Half
Newcastle regained the lead when Morris crossed for his second try for an 18-14 scoreline before a great break by Lucas Price saw Parker score. Hynes converted to give Manly a 20-18 lead after 56 minutes.
Hynes then took the line on to score himself two minutes later to stretch the Sea Eagles lead to 24-18 before the Knights locked it up at 24-all with a converted try to full-back Nick Meaney.
The Knights then took a 30-24 lead when five-eighth Brock Lamb stepped his way over the line. The home side held on in the final minutes to take the two points .
Although winless after eight rounds, the Sea Eagles showed a vast improvement and their first win of the season is hopefully not far off.
Manly team:
1 Luke Polselli 2 Jayden El-Jalkh 3 Jesse Ramien 4 Brad Parker 5 Harlan Collins 6 Nicholas Hynes
7 Cade Cust 8 Elia Faatui 10 Darcy Cox 11 Billy Bainbridge 13 Jonny Walker 18 Eduard Wulf
23 Sione Hopoate; Interchange: 9 Heath Garay, 12 Lucas Price, 14 John Tasi Tuivaiti, 17 George Francis
