Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffered a 36-6 loss to Penrith Panthers in the final round of the Telstra Premiership at Pepper Stadium tonight.
The loss means the Sea Eagles finished their season with just eight wins and on the back of five consecutive defeats to finish 2016 in 13th place.
The match marked the NRL debut of Manly Christian Brothers junior Billy Bainbridge after some impressive form in the Holden Cup this season.
Penrith opened the scoring through a converted try in the fifth minute to winger Josh Mansour for a 6-0 lead.
Two minutes later, Manly winger Brayden Wiliame was denied a try when replays showed his leg touched the sideline before planting the ball down in trying to dive over the line.
The Panthers then put on two converted tries in two minutes down Manly’s left edge through five-eighth Bryce Cartwright and winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak for an 18-0 lead after 24 minutes.
A minute later, Moylan delivered a well timed cut out pass to send hooker Peter Wallace over for a 24-0 lead after 28 minutes.
The Panthers then took a 30-0 lead into half-time when Mansour scored his second try on the siren from a Cartwright short kick.
Second Half
A converted try to centre Waqa Blake saw Penrith take a 36-0 lead after 45 minutes before a good run and offload by Daly Cherry-Evans saw lock Jake Trbojevic score under the posts to leave Manly trailing 36-6 after 62 minutes.
Penrith were denied a try in the 76th minute for a knock-on, much to the relief of the Manly fans in the crowd of 15,411.
