Five-star Sea Eagles stun Brisbane

Nick Markham | Rugbyleaguelive.com | 11/05/08 | 0

VIDEO - All the key moments from Manly's resounding win over Brisbane

AUDIO - Wayne Bennett: 'We just got worn down today'

AUDIO - Steve Menzies: 'We were under the pump, but fought back well'

AUDIO - Des Hasler: ''I was proud of the way our senior blokes stood up'

AUDIO - Karmichael Hunt: 'Manly had too much class'

Manly has produced an exhilarating second-half performance, laying on four second half tries, including three in the space of 11 minutes to account for Broncos 30-12 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

The home side roared out of the blocks to notch the opening two four-pointers, but it was all maroon and white from that point on, Manly running in five unanswered tries to chalk up a resounding win.

Brisbane went to the half-time break with a 12-6 advantage, but when Steve Bell crossed for the Eagles in the 48th minute it triggered an avalanche of points for last year's grand finalists.

Steve Menzies added another four-pointer under the posts in the 52nd minute, and when Heath L'Estrange found a rampaging Brent Kite for Manly's fourth try in the 57th minute, a momentum shift of seismic proportions was almost complete.

But, as any Manly fan or even casual NRL observer would be aware by now, a Manly win isn't complete without Brett Stewart finding his way across the stripe, and the flying fullback crossed in the 72nd minute, with Orford's sideline conversion completing the impressive turnaround.

Brisbane looked slick in attack early despite the absence of Darren Lockyer, with the playmaking skills of Karmichael Hunt coming to the fore. The former test fullback caught out Manly debutante David Williams with a deft kick to the corner for flying winger Denan Kemp in the 12th minute.

Kemp scorched through after the kick and looked set to score comfortably, when suddenly the ball took a wicked bounce and skewed toward the touchline, but the winger showed remarkable skill and composure to gather the ball and touch down.

Michael Ennis missed the conversion but the Broncos were back on the attack from the re-start, courtesy of a Josh Perry high tackle.

Brisbane turned the territorial advantage gained from the resulting penalty into points almost immediately, Ennis grounding a deft kick into the in-goal from Peter Wallace to make it back-to-back tries for the home side.

Ennis added the extras from adjacent to the posts, the Broncos with a 10-nil advantage after 16 minutes.

The Sea Eagles hit back in the 27th minute through Michael Robertson, the winger out-leaping his opposite number Reece Robinson to latch onto a Jamie Lyon bomb, Orford's conversion narrowing the gap to 10-4.

Ennis added a penalty right on the stroke of half time, extending the Broncos lead to six at the break.

Manly had a number of repeat sets early in the second half and turned the possession into points through Bell's four pointer, with Menzies, Kite and Stewart's tries sounding an ominous warning that the Sea Eagles are capable of going one better than their 2007 finish.

I was really proud of the way the boys stuck in there... Manly coach Des Hasler