Round three of the NRL Telstra Premiership saw the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles beat the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in a thrilling 13-12 win for their first victory this season.
We take a look at the stats to see how Manly players performed at 4 Pines Park and where they stand across the NRL.
Tries
Despite conceding a try in the opening minute, the Sea Eagles were still able to get the job done against the Bulldogs thanks to tries from full-back Tom Trbojevic and winger Reuben Garrick, both scoring their first try for the season.
In 2021, the duo scored 28 and 23 tries respectively. Let's hope they can replicate that form in 2022.
The two now join second-rower Ethan Bullemor, hooker Karl Lawton and half-back Daly Cherry-Evans on one try each in 2022 with several other players on the NRL try list.
Possession and Completion
On a wet night, Manly edged out Canterbury in possession (52 to 48 per cent). Meanwhile, the completion rate was flipped as the Bulldogs completed at a higher rate (78%, 32/41 compared to Manly’s 70%, 33/47 sets).
Goals Converted and Points Scored
Reuben Garrick kicked two goals from two attempts to maintain his 100% status for the season so far.
Garrick is five from five in three games this season and currently sits in 15th place for points scored this season, tied with three other players on 14 points.
The winger is hoping for another big year following a record breaking points spree in 2021 that saw him finish on 334 points from 27 games (23 tries and 121 goals, 81% kicking rate).
Most Run Metres
Dally M Medal winner in full-back Tommy 'Turbo' lit up the field with a whopping 237 metres from 25 runs.
Veteran five-eighth Kieran Foran followed with 140 metres from 17 runs with prop Martin Taupau not far behind with 135 metres from 14 runs. Dylan Walker, Garrick, Brad Parker also ran over 100 metres.
Line Breaks, Tackle Breaks and Offloads
The Sea Eagles made three more line breaks (4-1) and almost double the tackle breaks (29-15) compared to the Bulldogs in the tough conditions.
Garrick finished with a hat-trick of line breaks and one tackle break with Cherry-Evans making the other line break as well as having five tackle breaks to his name. Tom Trbojevic and Foran both broke four tackles followed by Morgan Harper, Saab and Walker (3).
Harper also had another hat-trick, this time with the offloads, followed in second by Cherry-Evans and Lawton (2) and seven other players with just the one.
Field Goals
Captain Daly Cherry-Evans kicked his 24th field goal of his career to win the match with four minutes to play.
It is a remarkable feat by the brilliant half-back who always remains 'the iceman' under pressure when it comes to getting Manly home with a field goal.
Defence
Due to leading in possession, the Sea Eagles finished with 13 less tackles then their counterparts (289 to 302) but had a better effective tackle percentage (89.75% compared to the Bulldogs’ 85.55%). Manly missed 15 tackles, 14 less then Canterbury.
Manly lock Jake Trbojevic finished with the most tackles in the match (41) followed by hooker Lachlan Croker (32) and back-rower Haumole Olakau’atu (28).
Jake Trbojevic currently leads the NRL tackle board with 142 tackles, two ahead of Sharks hooker Blake Brailey. Five places down in sixth position is Croker who has a total of 124 tackles.
Attack
All Runs: Manly 188, Canterbury 159
All Run Metres: Manly 1637 metres, Canterbury 1419
Post Contact Metres: Manly 567, Canterbury 459
Line Breaks: Manly 4, Canterbury 1
Tackle Breaks: Manly 29, Canterbury 15
Kick Return Metres: Manly 110, Canterbury 97
Negative Play
Errors: Manly 18, Canterbury 10
Penalties Conceded: Manly 6, Canterbury 8
Ruck Infringements: Manly 1, Canterbury 5
