Tony Adams at Toyota Stadium
Manly has ended a two-match losing run in fine style, crushing Cronulla 48-18 at Toyota Stadium on Saturday night.
After weeks of frustration, Des Hasler’s Eagles cut loose in awesome style, scoring nine tries to three.
Leading the way was back-rower Anthony Watmough, who bagged a first-half hat trick.
The Sea Eagles met little resistance in the first half, scoring at close to a point a minute against a lethargic Sharks side.
Winger Tony Williams started the rout, pouncing on a well-placed grubber kick by lock Glenn Stewart to score in the corner after six minutes.
Four minutes later, Watmough bagged his first, charging down a John Morris kick and racing 35 metres.
Less than 90 seconds later, Watmough was in again, swatting off a couple of poor tackles in a determined run to the line.
Williams collected his second after 20 minutes, finishing off a quick hands movement featuring Stewart and skipper Jamie Lyon to plunge over in the corner.
Watmough scored his third inside the first half hour, with Jamie Lyon chip-kicking ahead and then handing the chunky back-rower the easiest of tries.
Fullback Ben Farrar put winger Michael Robertson over in the corner as the Manly score reached 30 in 32 minutes.
And then just before the break, a scrum move saw Robertson put five-eighth Kieran Foran over.
Lyon added the conversion and the stunned Sharks crowd could barely believe the 36-0 scoreline as the players left the field.
To their credit, the Sharks showed more spark after the resumption, with quick-fire tries to fullback Nathan Gardner and lock Paul Gallen – both converted by winger Luke Covell – reducing the deficit to 36-12.
But it didn’t take long for the Sea Eagles to add to their try tally, with Lyon
scoring an easy try from a grubber kick out wide and then converting.
MANLY 48 (A Watmough 3, T Williams 2, M Robertson, J Lyon, C Bailey, K Foran
tries; S Rodney 3, J Lyon 3 goals)
CRONULLA 18 (N Gardner, P Gallen, J Cordoba
tries; L Covell 3 goals). Referees: J Maxwell, A Shortall.
Crowd: 8863.