It proved a disheartening Friday evening for the Dragons as a wave of ill-discipline invited the Sea Eagles to surge towards a 44-10 win at 4 Pines Park.
The statsheet made for some grim reading 40 minutes in with Manly completing twice as many sets as the Dragons whilst also doubling the visitors' run metre tally.
Four errors from the opening eight Dragons sets handed Manly's strike men the chance to shred through down the left and right edges to the tune of five tries in 26 minutes.
Match: Sea Eagles v Dragons
Round 26 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
9th Position
away Team
Dragons
17th Position
Venue: 4 Pines Park, Sydney
Jacob Webster went excruciatingly close to the first try of his NRL career on the other side of the half-hour mark only for the ball to be dislodged from his grip inches short of the stripe.
Daniel Atkinson made an attempt to spark something for his team on the other side of half-time with a gutsy kick defusal and subsequent line break only for an error the following play to undo the No.1's work – a theme of the night for the Red V.
The Dragons' nightmare continued moments later with a yardage error laying on Manly's sixth try of the night with Josh Feledy diving over before a stray pass while on the attack gifted Clayton Faulalo a long-range try.
Connor Muhleisen was inserted into the action an hour in for his first taste of NRL action in close to two years.
The 25-year-old suffered an ACL rupture in the club’s Knock-On Effect NSW Cup Grand Final last year and made an awaited return to the field earlier this month.
NRL Match Highlights: Round 26 vs. Sea Eagles
A barnstorming Haumole Olakau’atu manufactured another for for the hosts entering the final quarter of the match as the scoreboard turned ugly for the Dragons.
The Dragons broke their duck egg off the back of a ferocious Loko Jnr Pasifiki Tonga break with the barraging prop putting his side on the front foot before Hamish Stewart showcased some nice hands to send Tyrell Sloan over for his 11th try of the season.
Muhleisen looked to have snagged a deserved late try for the Red V off a bungled Manly short dropout only for video officials to jump in late and deny the No.14.
As luck would have it, the Sea Eagles marched down the other end and scored again through Lehi Hopoate – his second of the evening – to put an exclamation point on the result.
