Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Coach Trent Barrett says he won’t risk Dylan Walker tomorrow as the centre looks to overcome a cork injury.
Walker was rested for the second pool game against St George-Illawarra Dragons after suffering the minor injury in the 15-11 win over the Warriors.
The two wins means the Sea Eagles will also join the undefeated Parramatta Eels in the quarter-finals. The two teams will clash to see who finishes on top of the Piha pool.
“Apart from Dylan, we are pretty healthy. Dylan has a bit of a cork so we will monitor him in the morning,’’ Barrett said.
“If he is not right to play at any stage, we won’t risk him as we have got some good back up now. Tom Wright got a taste of playing against the big boys for the first time today after playing in the NYC last year.
“He had some good touches and we just need to give him the ball in the right positions.”
Barrett said he was impressed with the players’ attitude and their desire to want do well in the tournament.
“They have certainly done everything we have asked of them. We made it a bit hard for ourselves against the Dragons, letting in two early tries but they showed a fair bit of character to hit back to lead at half-time,’’ he said.
“I’m just really pleased with the little things that they have been doing and the boys are working hard for each other. We just have to keep ripping in tomorrow.
“They all did well today and I am proud of them, and so should our fans be. I thought Curtis Sirona was outstanding, Akuila Uate was good, and young Brian Kelly did some really good things.
“Lloyd Perrett and Shaun Lane will get more game time tomorrow now.
“Every contest we go in we want to win. We will be doing our best to beat Parramatta and then give it all we have in the finals.”
Results
Sea Eagles 23 (Joey Lussick, Curtis Sironen, Brian Kelly, Peter Schuster tries; 3 goals) def. Dragons 20 (Jai Field 2, Matt Dufty, Joel Thompson tries; 2 goals) Half-time: 17-11 to Manly.
Sea Eagles 15 (Dylan Walker, Jonathan Wright, Curtis Sironen tries; 1 goal) def. Warriors 11 (Sam Cook, Blake Ayshford tries; 1 goal.) Half-time: 4-4.
