By Jamie Anderson at Morry Breen Oval
The Wyong Roos posting a comprehensive victory of the Manly Sea Eagles at Morry Breen Oval on Saturday afternoon, and in doing so, kept their finals chances very much alive.
Both sides were fielding understrength sides due to a mix of representative duty, injury and suspension. As a result, a number of players were drawn on from the lower grades, and in Manly’s case, this lack of familiarity within the playing group was evident on the day.
Neither side was too keen to take the ascendency in the opening exchanges, with drop ball and poor execution keeping both coaches boxes unhappy at times.
Finally though, in the 17th minute, the home side finally showed patience with ball in hand and were rewarded as a simple left to right shift near the Manly line saw VB NSW Cup debutant, Damon Goolagong score in the corner.
Manly were their own worst enemy at times and continued to give Wyong wonderful field position and the Roos made the visitors pay.
Fairly simple tries to Daniel Penese in the 21st minute followed by Kheirallah in the 28th saw the home side leading 14-0 and doing it easily.
In the shadows of half time, a 14-0 scoreboard probably didn’t reflect the home sides dominance and would have still given Manly hope at the break, however another soft try, this time from a second man play to Jono Ford who waltzed into a gaping hole beside the posts, to see the Roos lead 20-0 at the break.
Any chances of a Sea Eagles comeback were scuttled in the 56th minute when the crowd on hand at Morry Breen were treated to the try of the day.
Roos fullback, Alex Langbridge, brilliantly sprinted into the clear some 40m out from Manly’s line, attempted to step his opposing number, couldn’t, but still managed to pop a great ball to a supporting Jono Ford who touched down under the posts for his second of the afternoon.
A further two tries to Grant Nelson and Damon Goolagong, who finished with two on debut, saw the Roos post a comprehensive 36-0 win, which in fairness, could have been much more except for a slow starts to both halves.
The Roos will enjoy the bye next weekend while the Sea Eagles will need to regroup as they host the Knights at Brooky on Saturday.
Wyong Roos 36 (D Goolagong 2, J Ford 2, G Nelson, M Kheirallah, D Penese tries; M Kheirallah 4 goals) def. Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 0 at Morry Breen Oval.
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