Turbo fires to keep finals hopes alive as ‘horrendous’ Dragons fall apart
St George Illawarra could not find an answer to stop Tom Trbojevic and his Sea Eagles teammates, suffering a brutal 44-10 thrashing on Friday night.
The ill-discipline of the likely wooden-spooners made it all to easy for Trbojevic to run riot at Brookvale Oval, even if some had doubts that a lingering hamstring injury may still be hindering his abilities on the field.
Trbojevic scored Manly’s fifth try against the Dragons. Getty Images
Those concerns were quickly put to bed within minutes of the fullback making his first line break and then again when he pounced over the tryline himself.
“Tom Trbojevic has been their star ... he has looked brilliant tonight,” league icon Greg Alexander said in commentary on Fox League.
“He has had a couple of uncharacteristic errors, but when he’s had the footy in his hands he has been unstoppable.”
Michael Ennis added at half-time: “He has just been all class, Tom. He just looks more and more confident with his body again. He’s carrying the ball with venom.”
The hosts led 26-0 at half time and that margin grew when Josh Feledy and Clayton Faulalo capitalised on Dragons mistakes to pounce with ease.
The visitors’ error count had reached 12 along with three penalties conceded and six ruck infringements by the 60th minute of the match, while young prop Loko Jnr Pasifiki Tonga had also been put on report.
“The error count is horrendous,” Alexander said on commentary.
Haumole Olakau’atu added to the pain of the visitors when he stormed over a number of defenders from the 20-metre line for his 50th NRL try.
Jamal Fogarty, despite recording three try assists, struggled to convert his teammates’ efforts, managing to kick just four from eight conversions.
The struggling Dragons broke through via Tyrell Sloan and Connor Muhleisen, but the latter was denied his effort by the Bunker as teammate Ryan Couchman was in an offside position when Fogarty kicked a drop-out.
Lehi Hopoate put the icing on the cake for the Sea Eagles, before Moses Suli scored a late consolation try for the Red V.
“The Manly miracle is still alive ... they can still make the finals,” Braith Anasta said as the full-time siren sounded.
Hopoate kicked off the celebrations for the stacked home crowd where some of the club’s old boys sat, darting over in the corner in the seventh minute.
Manly are still hopeful they can make the finals. Getty Images
A try then fell into the lap of Jason Saab when Jamal Fogarty put a chip through to the corner to find his unmarked winger to strike untouched.
While Trbojevic made a mess of a high ball from Kyle Flanagan, the Sea Eagles continued to dominate and force their rivals to make simple errors.
Saab replicated his first try-scoring effort to punch Manly further ahead, snatching a perfect kick to the corner from Fogarty to leave the Dragons scrambling.
Minutes later, he made a break from his side’s 20-metre line and looked to the support of Reuben Garrick to snatch Manly’s fourth try of the first half.
“That is just too easy,” Alexander said.
