Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffered a disappointing 36-14 loss to Canberra Raiders tonight at GIO Stadium in round eight of the Holden Cup.
It was certainly a game of two different halves after Manly dominated the first half through some strong defence and spirit to lead 8-6 at half-time.
The Sea Eagles opened the scoring in the third minute when winger Alfred Smalley dived over in the right corner for a 4-0 lead after the ball was spread right through the backline from a scrum win after Canberra knocked the ball on from a clearing kick on the last tackle.
Five-eighth Tom Wright extended the lead to 8-0 in the 16th minute before the Raiders scored through a grubber kick 20 minutes later to trail 8-6 at the break.
Unfortunately for the Sea Eagles, the second half started terribly with the Raiders scoring three tries in 12 minutes and from there, were never headed in a poor second half from Manly.
Cade Cust managed to score for the Sea Eagles in the 73rd minute with the try converted by winger Bilal Marrbani for a 30-14 scoreline.
The Raiders then crossed again through their captain three minutes from full-time for a 36-14 lead.
Manly Holden Cup team
1 Luke Polselli
2 Bilal Maarbani
3 Brad Parker
17 Blake Andrews
5 Alfred Smalley
6 Tom Wright
7 Kurtis Preece
8 Jaiden Tarrant
9 Manase Fainu
16 John Tuivati
11 Haumole Olakau’atu
12 Josh Martin
13 Jesse Martin (C)
Interchange
15 Elia Faatui
21 Cade Cust
22 Kane McQuiggin
23 Amoni Tufui
