See 1999 Player Movements for a summary of possible changes to next year's team.
Manly: Phillips, Hancock, Hopoate, Hill, Duncan, Field, Toovey (c), Kosef, Gartner, Menzies, Colella, Serdaris, Peters. Res: Torrens, Lyons, Taylor, Browne.
Balmain: Nevin, Langaloa, Withers, Webber, Milford, Gillett, Dunley, Smith, O'Neill, Stimson, Sironen (c), Senter, Walker. Res: Starr, Magnus, Nable, Meads.
FootyTAB: Balmain +6.5
Just four games remain in the preliminary rounds, with Manly, Balmain, Illawarra and Canterbury all set to fight it out for the tenth spot in the semi-finals. The Eagles must win all four of their remaining games to be assured of a finals spot - the most crucial of these will be on Sunday, when they take on Balmain at Brookvale. The Tigers are just one point ahead of Manly, and a win should see us move into the top half of the table for the first time this year.
In other news, Nik Kosef and Geoff Toovey will discuss their futures with the club today. Kosef is expected to announce tomorrow whether he will re-sign with the Sea Eagles or move to Balmain.
For Saturday night's ganme Craig Hancock moves back to the wing and Albert Torrens has moved back to the bench.
Gold Coast: King, Hudson, Mackay, Nicol, Myles, Allen, Patten, Conley, Sattler, Durheim, O'Brien, Goddard (c), Driscoll. Res: Teevan, McAllister, Nahi, Currie, Campbell.
Manly: Phillips, Hancock, Hopoate, Hill, Duncan, Field, Toovey (c), Kosef, Gartner, Menzies, Colella, Serdaris, Peters. Res: Torrens, Lyons, Taylor, Browne, S Fulton (one to be omitted).
FootyTAB: Gold Coast +12.5
Coach Bob Fulton made various positional changes before the game - Duncan came off the bench and on to the wing, Hancock moved to fullback, Phillips to five-eighth and Toovey to hooker. For the first 30 minutes this seemed to rather unsettle the team - some lazy defence and a series of senseless handling errors resulted in two quick tries to the Steelers, opening up a 12-0 lead to the visitors. But from there it was all Manly. The try-scoring began with a perfectly weighted kick on the last from Craig Field, a flying Alf Duncan pouncing on the ball in the in-goal. Manly went into the break trailing 12-4.
The second half saw Cliffy take the field, and the Master's hands coupled with some explosive Beaver-magic saw Manly put on two quick tries. The first saw Lyons fire a short ball to Menzies, who punched through the gap before offloading a brilliant one-hander for Hancock for the try. Shortly after, Lyons flicked it inside to Menzies who burst through several tackles to steam over the line. Despite these great passages of play, some dreadful attempts at conversion left the game poised at 12-12. But shortly afterwards, John Hopoate got the ball 30 metres out and saw a yawning gap in the Illawarra line. He had little to do but run fast and straight to put Manly ahead 16-12.
The game-breaker and highlight of the match came just a few minutes later. Illawarra were pressing the Manly line, but some fabulous Eagles defence was holding solid. A Steelers' grubber on the last tackle was regathered in the in-goal by Alf Duncan, who ran back into the field of play, and ran, and ran, and ran: 105 metres all told, without a hand being put on him. Alf then converted his own try to finish off a convincing victory.
Best for Manly yesterday was Steve Menzies, who was back to his running best; Jim Serdaris and Alf Duncan also played well. The win puts Manly 3 points outside the ten. Next Saturday night the Eagles play the Gold Coast at Carrara Stadium.
Meanwhile, numerous changes look certain in the Manly line-up for next season. Anthony Colella is talking to other clubs, while neither Nik Kosef nor Geoff Toovey have yet re-signed for 1999. It seems likely that Owen ``O.J.'' Cunningham will return to Brookvale next year, after two years with North Queensland. If rumours are to be believed, at least one other Sea Eagle turned Super Leaguer could be heading back to the Peninsula in 1999...
Meanwhile, Manly are rumoured to be interested in signing Ricky Stuart for 1999, after the Raiders half-back announced he will be leaving Canberra at the end of the year.
Manly: Phillips, Hancock, Hopoate, Hill, Torrens, Field, Toovey (c), Kosef, Gartner, Menzies, Colella, Serdaris, Peters. Res: Duncan, Lyons, Taylor, Browne.
Illawarra: Patten, Wishart, Timmons, McGregor (c), Britten, Barrett, Robinson, Mackay, Lamey, Wilson, Hart, Callaway, Leikvoll. Res: Simon, Fitzgibbon, Chamoun, Purcell.
FootyTAB: Illawarra +3.5
The Storm moved to an early lead through some sloppy Manly defence, but the Eagles scored just before the break to trail 12-4. A classic Toovey try from the scrum-base brought things to 12-10 after 42 minutes, and a penalty in front of the posts made it 12-12 with just 15 minutes remaining. However Phillips' attempt at field-goal then went wide, and Melbourne replied with two soft tries to finish things off.
Highlight for me was the crowd, who had absolutely no idea what was going on. Storm fans repeatedly interrupted their cries of ``Manly suck'' to ask me why a penalty had been given, while every time a try was scored the video screen helpfully said ``Try (4 points)''...
Despite the loss, Manly still have a good chance of making the semi-finals, with an easy draw ahead of them. The Eagles host Illawarra on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the is now on-line.
Melbourne: Ross, Smith, Bell, Martin, Bai, S Hill, Kimmorley, Nikau, Roarty, Marquet, Kearns, Swain, Lazarus (c). Res: Rua, Bawden, Evans, Carlaw.
Manly: Phillips, Hancock, Duncan, Hopoate, T Hill, Torrens, Field, Toovey (c), Kosef, Gartner, Menzies, Colella, Serdaris, Peters (one back to be omitted). Res: Lyons, Taylor, Olejnik.
FootyTAB: Manly +4.5
Meanwhile Terry Hill faces the judiciary tonight, after pleading not guilty to a high tackle on Corey Pearson on Sunday.
Menzies continued to fire in the second half, setting up John Hopoate for a great try, before the Dragons hit back to make it 22-12. With 15 minutes remaining, St George had several sets of six near the Manly line and the pressure was on. But on the last tackle a Nathan Brown bomb was handballed to Manly prop Anthony Colella, who outsprinted the St George backs for 80 metres before unloading to Albert Torrens for the match-winning try. A smart pass from Cliffy set up another smart try to Alf Duncan late in the game, capping off a magnificent win for the Sea Eagles.
Manly completely outclassed their opponents - their defence was solid, their attack innovative, and the mistake rate low. The outstanding player for Manly was Anthony Colella, who put in an amazing amount of yards up front. Steve Menzies, Craig Field and Nik Kosef also all had great games. Terry Hill was placed on report for a high tackle.
On Friday night Manly head down south to take on the Melbourne Storm. Current form points to another Eagles victory.
Manly: Hancock, Duncan, Hopoate, Hill, Torrens, Phillips, Toovey (c), Kosef, Gartner, Menzies, Colella, Serdaris, Peters. Res: Field, Lyons, Taylor.
St George: Murphy, Blacklock, Coyne (c), Ainscough, Wagon, Mundine, Rodwell, Bartrim, Thompson, Treacy, Ward, Brown, Pearson. Res: Stapleton, Simpson, Hardy, Lenihan, Kusto.
FootyTAB: St George +3.5
Earlier stories: [Jan-Feb 98 | Mar 98 | Apr 98 | May 98 | Jun 98]
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