The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have suffered a crushing 64-4 defeat to the Melbourne Storm in the penultimate round of the Jersey Flegg Cup at Gosch's Paddock, Victoria, this afternoon.
Match: Storm v Sea Eagles
Round 25 -
home Team
Storm
1st Position
away Team
Sea Eagles
12th Position
Venue: Gosch's Paddock, Victoria
Melbourne proved why they're leading the competition with a dominant display from start to finish, outscoring Manly 11 tries to 1 in their biggest loss since 2019.
Poor handling and defence in their own half saw the Sea Eagles leak six tries in the first half. The Storm scored four tries after 21 minutes and two quick back-to-back tries in the ten minutes before half-time to hold a 36-point lead with 37 minutes played.
Manly pulled one back on the stroke of half-time through Zachary Karam. A quick shift to the right edge saw an overlap that allowed the full-back to break through, dragging a defender with him to score in the corner for a 36-4 deficit at the break.
Four tries in 22 minutes saw Melbourne bring up their half-century en route to take their lead to 58-4.
Both sides had a player sent to the sin-bin in the 67th minute following a scuffle, with Manly's Broden Konz and Melbourne's Tuimalatu-Brown spending ten minutes on the sideline.
The Storm scored their 11th and final try of the match with seven minutes to play for a final scoreline of 64-4.
The Sea Eagles host the Cronulla Sharks in the final round of the Jersey Flegg Cup next week at 4 Pines Park. The round 26 fixture kicks off at 12pm on Sunday August 31. The NSW Cup follows with a 1:45pm kick-off.
