Daly Cherry-Evans may be the oldest player in the NRL, but he showed he is also still one of the best with a masterclass to begin his 15th season.
Cherry-Evans scored one and had a hand in three more tries as Manly kicked off their title campaign with a good old fashioned rugby league ambush.
If the Cowboys hadn’t seen the beat down coming, they were well aware when they trailed 16-0 inside the first 12 minutes.
“It’s a rare night. The rarest of nights … Lap it up, Manly fans, because you may not see the likes of this for a long, long time,” Fox League commentator Warren Smith said.
“They’re unstoppable! It’s an avalanche of points at Brookvale – you’ve rarely seen the likes of it. Try after try after try.”
The Northern Beaches faithful were out in full force at a sold out 4 Pines Park and the Sea Eagles piled on 42 unanswered points to decimate a disappointing North Queensland side 42-12. The Cowboys took 72 minutes to trouble the scorer.
“I can’t believe what I’m watching. I can’t believe how well Manly are playing … This is scintillating football,” Fox League’s Greg Alexander said.
“We have seen some sides over the last two decades make great starts, but I can’t recall a better one.”
Alexander said he was bullish about the Sea Eagles in commentary.
“I’m sure they’ve got designs on the top four. There’s a train of thought amongst many that Manly might be the ones to make the move and who can argue on what they have done tonight,” he said.
Cherry-Evans wasn’t the only Manly star to deliver on the night either with the side’s other big names at their damaging best.
Tom Trbojevic was all class, making breaks, creating breaks and running for 234 metres. Haumole Olakau’atu terrorised everyone in his sights, while Lehi Hopoate showed he is fast becoming one of the game’s most exciting young stars.
Cherry-Evans got the Sea Eagles off to a flying start by putting Olakau’atu over inside four minutes. Just three minutes later that pair combined to hit Tom Trbojevic at speed, who tapped on to Jason Saab to score in the corner.
The veteran half was again involved two minutes later when he hoisted a towering bomb that Hopoate characteristically plucked from the clutches of Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater before offloading to Ben Trbojevic to score.
LEAPING LEHI
Hopoate is a threat every time Manly boost a bomb in his direction.
For the third time in his fledgling 15-match NRL career, Hopoate was able to take an attacking kick on the fly and almost simultaneously offload it to a trailing teammate to score.
Commentating on Fox, Alexander was gushing in his praise for the versatile back.
“What a talent he is, Lehi Hopoate. When he made his debut last year he looked like a hundred gamer, not making his debut. It didn’t matter whether he played wing, fullback, centre he looked comfortable.”
BROOKY BULLY
Ethan Bullemor isn’t the biggest name on Manly’s roster but he’s fast becoming one of the most popular players on the Peninsula.
The tough as nails forward has made a habit of bursting into the backfield and taking on a hapless opposition fullback and so it was again when ‘Bully’ backed up a Tom Trbojevic break and raced clear to score.
COWBOYS EXPERIENCE VOID
At times the Cowboys had no answer to the Manly juggernaut and some of that can no doubt be put down to the massive departure of experienced players since last season.
They started a new-look backline following the departures of Kyle Feldt, Val Holmes and Chad Townsend, the trio taking a collective 682 games of NRL experience with them.
In their place were journeyman Braidon Burns, talented teenage centre Jaxon Purdue and rookie half Tom Duffy. Purdue in particular will be having nightmares of Olakau’atu bearing down on him for nights to come.
Add to that the retirement of 217-game premiership winner Jake Granville, the injuries to Jason Taumalolo and Heilum Luki and North Queensland have had their challenges between seasons.
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