Manly defy loss of gun trio in storming win over St George Illawarra

The Sea Eagles took on the Dragons without Tom Trbojevic, Jack Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans, but they've defied their loss of the three stars to dismantle St George Illawarra in a 32-18 victory.

Tyrell Sloan, take a bow!

The teen Dragon has produce a moment of magic late in the match to breathe life into a late St George Illawarra comeback.

With 10 minutes to play in the Gold Coast clash the Dragons have a huge deficit to peg back, following three unanswered Sea Eagles tries.

Kieran Foran, Cade Cust and Brad Parker have all crossed in the second 40 to help Manly to a 30-14 buffer.

Veteran Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran has iced a very lively team try to clinch the lead back for his side early in the second half.

In a dazzling passage of play that began with dummy-half Lachlan Croker on the right edge 60 metres out, the footy met seven sets of hands and found Foran on the left edge 25 metres out.

And the 2011 Manly premiership No.6 did enough to hold off St George Illawarra winger Cody Ramsey as he zipped over to score in the 41st minute.

"This is a team full of talent," Brad Fittler said on Nine's coverage before Reuben Garrick converted to hand Manly an 18-14 lead.

Phil Gould added: "It's not structural play; it's just footballers being footballers. Look at that: step and draw and pass and step and sprint and offload and catch and pass. That's just footballers being footballers. Nothing structured about any of that."

Dragons centre Jack Bird has kicked a penalty goal in the 33rd minute to push his side out to a 14-12 lead.

St George Illawarra were awarded a penalty when Manly utility Dylan Walker was penalised for hands in the ruck.

The Sea Eagles and Dragons have exchanged a pair of tries early to be locked up at 12-all almost 30 minutes into the match.

Manly centre Morgan Harper sliced through for a try in the 14th minute as the Sea Eagles hit back.

Des Hasler's men had consecutive tries when second-rower Haumole Olakau'atu bashed through from close range in the 20th minute.

And St George Illawarra front-rower Josh McGuire then went some way to redeeming himself for his attendance at the infamous barbecue in the 25th minute, forcing his way through two Manly defenders off a short run.

Second-game Dragons youngster Tyrell Sloan has split through for a stellar try in the eighth minute to ignite the underdogs early.

Filling in for Matt Dufty at fullback after the speedster was slapped with a one-match ban for his attendance at the Dragons' infamous party, Sloan linked with centre Jack Bird on the right edge and zipped away to open St George Illawarra's account.

Bird was put in space by halfback Ben Hunt and, as he tried to shrug off Brad Parker with a left-arm palm, offloaded to Sloan on his inside 40 metres out.

And Sloan, having found himself one on one with Manly fullback Reuben Garrick, moved past his opposite number effortlessly to score under the posts.

"He's an exciting young talent," said rugby league guru Phil Gould on Nine's coverage.

"Watch this for a move! See ya later, baby. Never even looked like worrying about him. See ya later, baby.

"You know the good ones when they do that part of it so easily. They know they're around the fullback before it happens. Just knew. He beat him with a little bit of a head-fake, he looked to the right and said, 'I've got you, I don't care what your name is, I don't care how many (games) you've played, I don't care what your scrap book looks like'."

Rugby league great Brad Fittler added: "Geez, he looks good running."

Sloan scored a try on his NRL debut against Canberra in Round 15, meaning he's now bagged two four-pointers in the first two games of his career.

Manly have withdrawn captain and star halfback Daly Cherry-Evans just before kick-off in their clash with St George Illawarra, in a crushing blow to their victory chances.

Cherry-Evans is joining gun fullback Tom Trbojevic on the sideline following State of Origin III on Wednesday night.

Josh Schuster has shifted from the second row to halfback to replace Cherry-Evans, Kane Lawton has moved from the bench to the back row and Cade Cust has been added to the bench.

On the contrary, the Dragons have opted to play both of their Origin representatives in the Gold Coast clash, backing in captain and star Ben Hunt and second-row enforcer Tariq Sims.

Teams:

Sea Eagles

5. Reuben Garrick 2. Jason Saab 3. Brad Parker 4. Morgan Harper 18. Moses Suli 6. Kieran Foran 12. Josh Schuster 8. Taniela Paseka 9. Lachlan Croker 10. Martin Taupau 11. Haumole Olakau'atu 15. Karl Lawton 13. Sean Keppie 14. Dylan Walker 16. Kurt De Luis 17. Toafofoa Sipley 21. Cade Cust 19. Tevita Funa

Dragons

1. Tyrell Sloan 2. Cody Ramsey 3. Jack Bird 4. Brayden Wiliame 5. Gerard Beale 6. Corey Norman 7. Ben Hunt 8. Blake Lawrie 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Jack de Belin 11. Josh Kerr 12. Tariq Sims 13. Jackson Ford 14. Poasa Faamausili 15. Jamayne Taunoa-Brown 16. Josh Mcguire 17. Billy Burns 18. Adam Clune

Simply too good from the Eels, who claim a 26-8 win over the Titans.