Manly have handed the finals bound Jets a fourth straight loss, after showing up on a mission to end the year with some new additions to the highlight reel.
It was a poor start for manly, who came up with errors in their first 2 sets. Before long, Newtown capitalised on the field position. Niwhai Puru put a grubber through with a bit of pepper on it, and while Blake Metcalfe was trying to shield it over the dead ball line, Chris Vea’ila rocketed through to pounce on the ball before it could do so.
It was a good start from the Jets, but they were unable to build off of an early try when Jordin Leiu knocked it on in the set that followed. This opened the door for Manly to level scores, and they did so when young gun Joey Walsh snapped three defenders to cross the line.
Manly were looking to score from absolutely anywhere, but their next try was a gift from Dylan Coutts, who threw an intercept to the quickest man on the park, Navren Willett, who raced away to score the try, and with the conversion took Manly up by 6.
Their free flowing attack saw them double down to claim another try in the following set. Walsh, Metcalfe, and Zaidas Muagututia combined for a massive break when they exchanged a few crafty offloads. Walsh was pulled up just short of the line but Muagututia scooted out of dummy half to make it back to back tries for the Sea Eagles.
This filled them with confidence, and they continued to shift the ball around. Whilst trying to swing it from left to right well inside their own half, Sam Stonestreet picked off a pass from Brandon Wakeham to close the margin.
Manly didn’t let this discourage their adventurous attack however, and right on the stroke of halftime, a break from Ezekiel Paulo led to Muagututia scoring his second of the day when Walsh sent him over with a beautiful inside ball.
The Jets lost Niwhai Puru early into the second half, but they came out with plenty of intent, and after Pickering forced a dropout with a well placed grubber, he crossed for the first points of the half when Rajab put him through the manly defence with a great short ball.
Rajab continued stepping up in the absence of Niwhai Puru when he muscled his way over to reclaim the lead for Newtown. He over played his hand when they had their next attacking chance however, when his cutout pass hit the deck and was scooped up by Jordan Swann. Swann found Walsh inside him to work it near halfway.Stonestreet then put down a towering bomb, which was scooped up by Hugo Hart, who powered his way over the line to reclaim the lead.
This try was followed up shortly after when a double pump from Walsh led to Willett making a 50 metre break. Back in the Jets’ red zone, the Sea Eagles shifted it to the left where Semisi Kioa broke a tackle and cut inside to score a dazzling try.
The Jets went close to scoring again, but a forward pass from Michael Gabrael gave the ball back to Manly. As they were working out of their own end, Muagututia had another big impact on the game when he produced a lovely shortball for Jacob Sykes, who broke through the line and found Hart outside him to finish the job, putting the Maroon and Whites a little too far out of reach for Newtown.
The Jets showed plenty of fight when they won a short kick off in spectacular fashion, which led to a late try scored by Felix Faatili, but it was too little too late. Manly were able to put the cherry on top of their victory when Walsh danced around the defence once more to score another great try in the final moments of the match.
Fulltime: 42-30
Talking Points:
- Joey Walsh put in another stellar performance to lead his side to victory this afternoon. He scored two brilliant individual tries off the back of his footwork, set up another, and was constantly finding gaps in Newtown’s defence to send his teammates through. He’s a real player of the future.
- Zaidas Muagututia was another contender for best on ground today, picking up a double in the first half, and instigating Hugo Hart’s second try by putting Jacob Sykes through a gap. He was a massive contributor to most of Manly’s second phase play, and completely changed the game after getting onto the field.
- The Newtown Jets are experiencing a form slump at the worst possible time of the season. They’ll have to pick themselves up by the bootstraps to turn things around in their elimination final against the Canberra Raiders next week, which may be difficult without gun halfback Niwhai Puru, who was taken from the field this afternoon.
Key Moment:
Zaidas Muagututia’s first try marked the moment that Manly really claimed dominance in this match. Just moments after Navren Willett’s intercept, the brilliant team break made by Walsh, Muagututia and Metcalfe saw them roll down the field with ease, leading to back to back tries.
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