Frank Winterstein leads charge but the jury is still out on Manly
Victory over the Roosters suggested a return to form but the Sea Eagles look light off the bench, even with all the weight, and may be brittle on the fringes
Matt Cleary
Monday 7 August 2017 04.00 AEST Last modified on Monday 7 August 2017 05.32 AEST
Frank Winterstein may be the biggest human in the world. Not just in Australia or the
NRL or on Sydney’s northern beaches. But the biggest human in the entire world. Or so it may have appeared to 21-year-old Kiwi rookie Joseph Manu as Big Frank thundered towards him on Sunday afternoon like Paul Sironen on a promise, all froth and crazy eyes, nostrils flared like the maw of a frilled-neck lizard. It was the 37th minute – and the worm was about to turn.
Winterstein took the ball into contact and Manu bounced off like he had shirt-fronted a Brahman. The Manly second-rower stormed into space, ripped off footwork incongruous for such a man, and passed inside to the flying “Turbo” Tom Trbojevic who planted. Manly were back.
Heading into this fixture the accepted wisdom of the greater punditry was that the Sydney Roosters were the most likely choice to front Melbourne Storm in the decider. It was further assumed that Manly – who had leaked 92 points in their last two games, including 52 against St George – would be road-kill.
Manly ran out to Eagle Rock in front of a bumper home crowd of 14,564. Say what you will about the concrete paean to 1977 architecture but on a sunny Sunday afternoon, Brookvale Oval can fairly throb.
For the first 10 minutes it was all Manly; they knew 82% of possession; and they made only 17 tackles to the Roosters’ 52. On the back of repeat-repeat sets and drop-outs, Matthew Wright leapt into the corner and the bunker had a decision and went to the board. And people thought, so that’s how you beat Roosters – never give them ball.
But the Roosters came back hard. Luke Keary ran, Mitchell Pearce ran. Huge units Dylan Napa and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves ran as hard in defence as attack. They took on Martin Taupau, a challenge Taupau accepted and he trucked it up, was hammered in kind and offloaded.
And then Manly opened up. Daniel Tupou got on the end of slick work inside, tap-danced down the sideline and swung into the in-goal. Latrell Mitchell plucked one off Daly Cherry-Evans like he was picking a pocket and didn’t care if the mark knew it.
Hot-footed Roosters fullback Connor Watson scorched down the left and shredded the Manly defence. Tupou was flying, again and Keary channelled back-up king Terry Lamb and took the inside pass and it was 16-4, with the kick-to-come.
Mitchell lined up the conversion. Copperhead Road boomed over the tannoy. “My name’s John Lee Pettimore. Same as my daddy and his daddy before.” And so on. It was one of several odd choices to complement breaks in play, though Come on, Eileen after Darcy Lussick dropped the ball was quite funny.
But at 18-4 it was the Roosters making the sweet music. There was sweeping, fluid ball movement followed by physical, jolting defence. They looked better, stronger, and they looked like premiership second-favourites. Then big Frank ran at young Joseph and the Chooks didn’t score again.
Shaun Lane, another massive human, ran at Mitchell. Manly’s 11 and 12 are like two Paul Sironens. They play wide of the ruck, outside-centres from hell. Trbojevic ran off the tidy, under-rated Blake Green and went under the posts. Lewis Brown somehow rumbled over, man-handled by 500 kilograms of humanity, and Matt Cecchin gave doubt the benefit. We had a decision and went to the board – “TRY” time. The Eagles were up by four and the Brookie Hill mob hummed.
Chunky-thighed lock Isaac Liu thundered up field with a fine run and the Roosters attacked anew. Keary ran left, and found Mitchell and Tupou. Good things happened but Tupou’s fourth line break would be his last – down he went with a bad groin. The Roosters will sweat on him – he was near their best.
And then came another worm-turning point. With 13 minutes to play Manu was dragged into the in-goal by Lane and Akuila Uate to force a drop-out. Brad Parker ran a fine hard line and sluiced over and when Wright landed a bomb from out wide the Brookie Hill people raised tinnies as one.
When the Roosters were pinged offside in front, Cherry-Evans nailed the goal before Winterstein plunged over. Obstruction? Technically, but Watson would have sooner stopped an ‘86 Monaro. And then it
was over – Cherry-Evans scored at the death and Manly had rent the Roosters asunder 36-18.
Are Manly back? It looked like it, although a couple more Martin Taupaus would be handy. They look light off the bench, even with all the weight and they may be brittle on the fringes. It wasn’t a week ago that the Storm put 40 on them in a canter, so the jury’s still out.
You’d further suggest the Roosters with Boyd Cordner, Jake Friend and Michael Gordon would be a very different proposition from this XVII, which didn’t score a point from the 31st minute and had 32 points put on them. You’d still fancy the Chooks, but as to who’ll likely meet the Storm in the grand final, the jury’s still largely out on that one too.
