Sea Eagles working to fix their questionable record in night matches
Dean Ritchie, The Daily Telegraph
August 29, 2019
They are are the Sea Eagles who can’t fly at night.
On the eve of Saturday evening’s Battle of Brookvale II, The Daily Telegraph can reveal Manly’s concerning night plight which was described by a leading Australian sports psychologist as “unusual”.
Over the past five years, Manly have won just 27 of 72 night games. That’s a modest success rate of 37.5 per cent.
Conversely, the Sea Eagles have won 27 from 47 day matches – a winning strike rate of almost 60 per cent.
And with sunset due at 5.33pm Saturday - right on kick-off - Manly face another match under flood lights.
This year, Manly have just five wins from 11 games contested in the evening. Their horrible night record stretches back to 2016 – five wins from 19 games – and 2015 – six wins from 18 games.
In that time, Manly have lost night matches at Lottoland, Albury, Campbelltown, Canberra, Leichhardt, Auckland, Parramatta, Penrith, Robina, Shark Park, Suncorp, Townsville and Wollongong.
Friday evening match against Melbourne will be another test to see whether Sea Eagles can take flight at night.
“The only thing I can think of is that the routines would be different,” said doctor Phil Jauncey, “When a team is playing during the day time, players don’t have a lot of time to worry about anything.
“I know being with teams at night, you have the captain’s run and then you have all that afternoon and evening off and then all the next day. It seems to take forever for kick-off.
“It’s almost a day and a half before you play. They are really just killing time. When you have an afternoon game, it’s only one day.
“My guess – and it is purely a guess because it is unusual - is that the players aren’t filling in their afternoon time well. Maybe they are filling it in using up too much mental energy, just thinking.
“If you have worries then you have more time to worry about what could go wrong.”
Manly players this week spoke about the significant challenge Melbourne will be present at Brookvale Oval.
Showing Manly’s simple yet effective approach to footy this season, centre Brendan Elliot said: “We’re just trying to put in a good performance each week, no matter who the team is in front of us.
“Leading into the finals, at the back-end of the season, we want to play well. There is definitely something building here.
“With Des (Hasler, coach) coming back to the club, I feel he has brought so much passion and so much belief. With this being my first year here, I feel there is really something awesome building here.”
Sea Eagles forward Curtis Sironen’s return from injury offsets the loss of Joel Thompson, out for four-to-six weeks with a broken arm.
“I was probably touch and go last week but I was being pretty cautious at this time of the year,” Sironen said. “I’ve been champing at the bit watching, I’m feeling good, ready to go.”
Provided the weather is kind, Manly is hoping for a crowd of around 15,000 to 16,000 for the big game.