The Parramatta Eels dominated their Saturday evening home game against the Sea Eagles. Chloe Schibeci reports.
Result
Parramatta Eels 34
Tries: (6) Bailey Simonsson 14th, 62nd; Ofahiki Ogden 9th; Clint Gutherson 27th; J’maine Hopgood 35th; Makahesi Makatoa 75th
Goals: (5) Clint Gutherson 11th, 16th, 29th, 36th, 63rd
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 4
Tries: (1) Christian Tuipulotu 22nd
Goals: NA
Report
Both Parramatta and Manly were coming off the back off 20+ point wins last weekend when the Eels hosted the Sea Eagles at Commbank Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Eels started off on the right foot, establishing some dominance early on. They almost scored their first points of the evening when Manly player Kaeo Weekes impeded J’maine Hopgood’s run, stopping a possible try, which the Bunker called a professional foul and Weekes was sent to the sin bin.
The Eels were taking full advantage of the Sea Eagles being one man down, with Ofahiki Ogden and Bailey Simonsson both scoring tries for Parramatta.
Parramatta were looking consistently and confidently on top of the Sea Eagles, making big metres with their sets and leaving limited opportunities for Manly. It wasn’t until Weekes came back from the sin bin that Manly scored their first points of the game, with Christian Tuipulotu the one to score.
The Eels scored again, this time through Clint Gutherson, who threw a dummy and crashed through the Manly defence right on their line.
Parramatta were starting to get even stronger as the first half drew to a close, scoring yet another try, widening the margin to 20 points. Manly were going to have to make a larger-than-large effort to muster a comeback in the second half.
As the clock ticked away during the second half, the more desperate Manly became, particularly in their defence. The Eels had a few chances to score, and got quite close to the Sea Eagles’ line, however not close enough.
For the second week in a row, a Parramatta try was awarded to Maika Sivo, but was then disallowed by the Bunker after finding an obstruction in the lead up. Manly were awarded a penalty.
It didn’t take long for the Eels to recover from this. Just two minutes later, Simonsson scored his second try for the evening.
The Eels were denied a few more tries, before finally securing one in the last few minutes of the game, widening the margin to 30 points.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
3 – Clint Gutherson (Eels)
2 – Bailey Simonsson (Eels)
1 – J’maine Hopgood (Eels)
