It was 3rd versus 11th last night at Windsor Oval, the hallowed playing field of the “Wolfpack†as they are colloquially known out these parts. Of course they are better known to the wider rugby league community as the Penrith Panthers feeder club. And you could tell you were in Panthers territory, aside from the abundance of flannelette shirts and tracky dacks, with Phil Gould, Ivan Cleary and David Fairleigh all in attendance.
The match had been touted as generation next – a reference to Gus Gould’s elevation of a few of Penrith’s young guns from the 20’s including George Jennings, Michael’s brother who bagged a double in last week’s 20’s Origin. Ultimately, it was one of the young guns, fullback Kieran Moss, who spilled the ball near his line at the end of the game for Jesse Sene-Lafao to stroll over under the posts for the match winning try.
David Gower did not play as anticipated. I suspect Tooves may have pulled him out with next week in mind.
The match was a real grinding affair and there were not many line breaks from either side. Many of the trys came from kicks – both in the air and grubbers.
Manly’s first try came from a grubber by five eight Dane Chisholm who kicked the ball from the right side of the field to the left side for his halves partner Jason Seage who flew from nowhere to touch down. This guy has serious pace.
Manly’s second try came in the 37th minute when Michael Chee Kam stormed on to a Dane Chisholm short ball 15 metres out to show everyone at Manly what we had seen of him as a Canberra young gun. Chee Kam went off injured in the 52nd minute with a leg injury. It was a shame because he was playing really well. I don’t know the extent of the injury.
Manly’s 3rd try went to centre Esi Tonga after Jason Seage bamboozled the Wolves defence with some nice footwork and then a deft grubber into the in-goal for Tonga to touch down.
The last Manly try came in the 77th minute with Manly behind 16-20. A kick was dropped by the Wolves fullback and like a thief in the night, former Wolves star turned villain, Jesse Sene-Lafao scooped up the ball and ran 5 metres to score the match winner.
The look on the faces of the Penrith triumvirate of Gould, Cleary & Fairleigh after the game was priceless!
Manly were the underdogs but whoever wrote the script didn’t tell them because they certainly didn’t play like they were the underdogs. Toovey made a plea to the team last week to put more mongrel into the tackle and that’s just what they did. Aggression was everywhere. Great stuff.
It’s hard to pick out the best players as it was a great team effort. Three of our four trys came from efforts of the halves Jason Seage and Dane Chisholm and that deserves mention.
Manly 22 (Seage, Chee Kam, Tonga, Sene Lefao, Chisholm 3/4) def Windsor Wolves 20 (Nabuli, Moss, Satini, G Jennings, Satini 1/3, John 1/1)
With some Manly NRL players under a cloud for next week’s game due to injury and possible suspension some of the reserve grade players may have to step up.
George Rose played strong. Has recently expressed a desire to surf on Saturdays rather than play footy but he ain’t stupid, he sniffed an opportunity and played accordingly.
Jesse Sene-Lafao played well after a few weeks out with injury. He is on report for a high shot but I didn’t see too much in it and he should be right for next week.
Ligi Sao did what he has done all season – cart the ball up strong and tackle anything that moves in front of him. He would not let the NRL boys down.
Michael Chee Kam played well last night but has struggled to reproduce his Canberra form since coming back from off-season surgery. I don't think he is ready yet and he is also under an injury cloud after coming off injured last night.
Peter Hiku went ok but nothing spectacular. He was safe at the back but it was a tough night for free running footy.
Esi Tonga made a few bursts and scored a good try. His defence is also good. Might be time for Esi to stand up?