Match Report: Round 12 vs Eels

The Sea Eagles were out to do the double on the Eels after a comfortable win at home in Round 4 but were well below their best, and well beaten.

Both teams lost players to head injury assessments in the opening exchanges.

Eels centre Will Penisini called it a night just 90 seconds into the game, after a collision with the shoulder of Lehi Hopoate resulted in a category one HIA.

Manly half Jake Arthur was next to see the medicos after a head knock in the sixth minute, with Lachlan Croker given an earlier than expected entry to the game.

Manly were first to score when Lehi Hopoate dived into the northwestern corner in the ninth minute.

It was a rapid-fire play on the left edge involving Tom Trbojevic and magic ball from Tolu Koula which came off the back of a surging run through the middle by Ethan Bullemor.

The Eels made a couple of long-range breaks only for Manly’s scrambling defence to arrive just in time, before finding their first points in the 25th minute.

Manly failed to defuse bomb which was tapped back by Dylan Walker, then kicked through for right centre Jordan Samrani who scored in the southwestern corner.

The Eels were in again in the very next set, scoring from 70 metres out when Walker broke the defence on this own 30 metre line resulting in a try on debut to 20-year-old Joash Papalii.

The Sea Eagles levelled the score at 10-10 on the half hour mark with a similar play on the left edge that gave them their first try. 

It was Hopoate again on the end of a slick backline shift with the ball fed through the hands of Trbojevic and Koula.

The Eels conceded several set restarts defending their own line, and were eventually penalised, but repelled the Manly attack.

Able to swiftly work their way to the other end, the Eels then crossed for their third try when half Dean Hawkins put prop Jack Williams through a huge gap close to the line.

Parramatta headed into half time up 16-10 before extending their lead seven minutes into the second half. 

Fullback Isaiah Iongi broke a Luke Brooks tackle and sliced though to score, pushing the score out to 22-10.

Hopoate then went within inches of bagging a third try on the hour mark but was taken out before grounding the ball.

The Eels worked downfield in the very next set and scored again to stretch their lead to 28-10 with about 18 minutes to play. 

It was lock J’Maine Hopgood who found himself crossing next to the posts after a messy patch of play where a kick ricocheted from one player to the next.

Parramatta’s lead became 20 points with a quarter of an hour remaining when Sean Russell slotted a penalty goal from about 30 metres out, after an infringement at the ruck by Jazz Tevaga.

That was the last scoring play as the Eels notched their fourth win of the season.

For Manly, it was a performance well below what they produced in Townsville six days earlier, as attention now turns to next weekend's visit by the Broncos to Brookvale.