Seven-try Sea Eagles thrashing prompts tough questions for Cowboys
North Queensland coach Todd Payten said some of his players need to look at their physical and mental preparation after the horror round one loss to Manly-Warringah.
The Sea Eagles piled on seven unanswered tries in a near-perfect performance as they downed the Cowboys 42-12 at a packed Brookvale Oval.
Three tries inside the opening 10 minutes set the tone for Manly-Warringah as Haumole Olakau’atu, Jason Saab and Ben Trbojevic crossed.
Ethan Bulemor added a fourth before half time to establish a 24-0 lead at the break.
Any faint hopes the Cowboys had of a second-half comeback were extinguished with a five-minute, three-try burst as Toafofoa Sipley, Reuben Garrick and Daly Cherry-Evans sent a packed Brookvale into delirium.
Scott Drinkwater and Braidon Burns both crossed for the thoroughly cowed Cowboys, who will have to go back to the drawing board after the worst possible start to the 2025 NRL season.
The Cowboys were in shock at the way the Sea Eagles dismantled them. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
“I spoke about some of our individuals being off the mark, asked them to have a think about their prep, physically and mentally,” Payton said in the press conference.
“Then I asked them a question that I didn’t need an answer for straight away, but we’ll talk about that tomorrow.
“I told them to be ready to work, get back to work. It’s round one, we’ll put our heads down and stay together.”
Earlier on Saturday, a hat-trick from Dragons star Christian Tuipulotu wasn’t enough as the Bulldogs ran out 28-20 winners at Kogarah.
On a bad afternoon for the Dragons, Ryan Couchman suffered a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury, while Emre Guler was placed on report for a hip-drop tackle on Jacob Preston, placing St George-Illawarra’s forward stocks under more pressure.
Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton was also placed on report for dangerous use of his knees in trying to deny Tuipulotu a try and later limped off the field with what appeared to be cramp.
Preston was also placed on report for a high shot in a chaotic clash that the Bulldogs threatened to run away with before the Dragons late surge in front of a raucous, capacity crowd at Kogarah Oval.
Look back on all the action as it unfolded in our live blog.
Key Events
Thanks for being with us
Thanks very much for our first NRL Saturday blogs of the season.
A great night for the Sea Eagles.
A shocker for North Queensland.
And a happy one for us all to be with you once more.
From myself and Henry, thanks for being with us and we’ll catch you all again tomorrow for the Storm vs the Eels.
Payten questions his players’ preparation after horror loss
Cowboys coach Todd Payten is seething is his post-match press conference.
He’s questioning his players’ fitness and says that he’s already had some stern words with his team.
“I spoke about some of our individuals being off the mark,” Peyton said.
“I asked them to have a think about their prep physically and mentally….just told them be ready to work and come back to work through the week.
“It’s round one. Put your heads down and stay together.”
And usurpingly, given Manly scored three tries in the opening 15 minutes, he says the game was lost early.
“We gave away some dumb penalties,” Peyton said.
“The position for the first 30 minutes was 70%, 30% to us.
“Half time we had 100 more tackles.”
The Cowboys certainly did look undercooked tonight.
Manly didn’t.
Thanks for being with us team
Thanks Simon and Henry, not the outcome I was hoping for but entertaining all the same. You might need your coat going home Simon, looking at the radar, the weather has taken turn around Bris-Vegas…
– Mike
Thanks for the great double shift blog tonight guys. Always a pleasure to join you Simon and a big shout out to Henry.
– KB
A pleasure to be with you folks.
We will bring you all the comments from the coaches, with Todd Payten likely to have something interesting to say, you’d think.
That’s coming up shortly.
Dearden confident Cowboys will bounce back
Fair to say it wasn’t an ideal start to the Cowboy’s 30th year.
The Cowboy’s Tom Dearden is speaking to Ruan Sims.
He sounds exhausted.
“They’re (Manly) a strong side and they’ve got a big side,” Dearden tells ABC Sport.
“And I don’t think we matched their physicality and their intent.
“Disappointing way to start the year but it’s only round one so we got a lot of building and a lot of areas where we can get better.
“We bounce back next week.”
For Tom’s sake, I hope they do.
I’m sure Todd Payten is ropable enough as it is…
Reaction from the Cowboys boss is a matter of moments away.
Trbojevic pleased with sensational Sea Eagles
A near perfect round one performance from Manly.
And at the heart of it all was Tom Trbojevic.
He’s speaking to ABC Sport’s Ruan Sims.
“We like playing here and the fans turned up for us and it was great to put up a performance,” Trbojevic said.
“It was a very pleasing first half and that next 20 minutes of the second half finished them off.”
And he’s paid tribute to the excellent performances from Manly’s middles tonight in Brookvale.
“They were unbelievable, the way they really set a platform for us and the boys continued with that same momentum,” Trbojevic said.
“If they set a platform like that for us every week, we’ll go a long way to winning every game.”
Sea Eagles smash dismal Cowboys
An absolute thrashing of the highest order.
The Sea Eagles are sensational in beating the Cowboys 42-12, with North Queensland’s two tries coming in the final 10 minutes when the game had long gone.
Manly-Warringah scored three tries in the first 10 minutes through Haumole Olakau’atu, Jason Saab and Ben Trbojevic and never looked back from there.
Ethan Bullemor added another to make it 24-0 at half time, but there was no let up after the break for the Cowboys.
Toafofoa Sipley, Reuben Garrick and Daly Cherry-Evans all scored within five minutes to end the game as a contest.
Scott Drinkwater and Braidon Burns both crossed late for the Cowboys, who have been seriously humbled in a disaster of an opening game.
Tom Trbojevic was sensational for the Sea Eagles, as was Daly Cherry-Evans, with Olakau’atu a monster up front.
Five of the Sea Eagles’ first seven games are at home, where a passionate support base will give them a great base to start the season in the best possible way.
79′ Karl Lawton on report
That is extremely odd from Karl Lawton.
Referee Peter Gough got it right, “that’s rubbish mate,” he said.
Lawton was first to Reuben Garrick, and gave him a solid working over on the ground.
Very strange, not sure what Lawton wanted to get out of that other than identify himself as a bit of a grub.
Manly are warned not to let that carry on anywhere and it seems they wont.
78′ The Cowboys have another!
The Sea Eagles have run out of steam a bit here.
That was a good try from the Cowboys though.
Brayden Burns scored the try with a nice little run – but it started with a real bullocking effort from Viliami Vailea down the right side.
The kick is good and it’s now 42-12.
Character building, or soul destroying
Will this be character building for the Cowboys or soul destroying?
– Mike
Only time will tell, Mike.
But it makes their match against the Sharks next week compelling viewing.
How Todd Payten handles this and this group, including a young halfback, will be crucial.
We’ll bring you all the post-match comments from the press conference.
73′ The Cowboys score!
Boos ring out around Brookvale Oval as the Cowboys finally put something together.
Scott Drinkwater picked up the ball and ghosted through the line.
Tom Trbojevic, who was involved in a move just before the Sea Eagles turned the ball over, was out of position and the Cowboys fullback flew over.
The kick is good.
The score is 42-6.
At least the Cowboys will not be nilled.
North Queensland nightmare
On commentary for ABC Sport, Dene Halatau says the Cowboys are looking exhausted.
It’s hard to argue with him.
The North Queenslanders are all types of undercooked and Manly have been on it from the very first minute.
Ruan Sims, on the sidelines for the national broadcaster, agrees.
“Nobody (from the Cowboys) is pinning their ears back and competing for it.”
63′ The Cowboys burn a chance
Oh no, that’s poor from the Cowboys!
Braidon Burns
did really well to break down the outside.
He had support, with just Tom Trbojevic to beat.
But Trbojevic did brilliantly to somehow sheep dog the two Cowboys into the corner to await support from his defence, who close out the danger.
The Cowboys still have a chance, but Dearden twice tries to loft a pass over the enormous winger Jason Saab, who reaches out and plucks it out the air both times, although knocking on in the process.
We’re gunna need a bigger rocket
A few passengers in the Cowboys side tonight. Let’s hope a well aimed rocket at half time gets them moving.
– KB
Party time in Brookvale
Not a bad night to be a Sea Eagle.
We’ve just been told there are 17,375 fans in attendance for this Manly masterclass.
56′ MANLY CAN’T STOP SCORING!
It’s hard to think of what to say!
The Sea Eagles were straight on the attack after Thomas Duffy kicked the kick off out on the full.
Manly made it to Cowboys line.
Taniela Paseka got the ball, got tackled, dropped the ball off to DCE, who takes a step and falls over the line.
It is just too easy – and it’s a case of just how many more can the Sea Eagles get?
If they needed a target, 44 unanswered points would be a new round one record for the Sea Eagles.
53′ HAVE ANOTHER TRY, MANLY!
This is insanity.
This move started inside Manly’s own 30, with Haumole Olakau’atu punishing Tom Dearden for having the tenacity to stand up in his way.
The Sea Eagles work the short side, a miniscule short side with Cherry-Evans and Trbojecvic in no space at all, with Trbojevic just injecting that pace at the right time with such skill. Jason Saab had barely a metre to work with, still beat his man, grubbered a kick inside, Drinkwater dived like a football goalkeeper but couldn’t stop the ball and it sat up for Reuben Garrick to score.
That was fluid, magical rugby league.
Wow, the Sea Eagles are just on fire.
Flannagan rues errors
Back across the harbour, St. George Illawarra boss Shane Flanagan is not happy.
He’s blasting his side for its sloppiness during the Dragons’ eight-point loss to Canterbury-Bankstown earlier tonight.
And he’s come with stats.
“Too many errors, yardage errors,” Flanagan says in his post match press conference.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance, dropping the ball on kicks…I think we had three play the balls in their 20 in the second half, just no field position.
“When we get field position, we can play footy, we can score tries.
“But when you turn the footy over and have errors like that today with a 68% completion rate, you’re not gonna win.”
50′ More Trbojevic magic
Another line break, just an injection of pace when in the line and the Cowboys scatter like dominos.
Jason Saab was in support, but couldn’t get the pass back to Trbojevic and is tackled.
The Sea Eagles recycle, and Toafofoa Sipley shows immense strength to get over the line.
It’s 30-0 to the Sea Eagles.
That’s probably not the celebration the Cowboys had in mind to celebrate the start of their 30th season.
47′ Cowboys defence in tatters
Haumole
Olakau’atu
and Daly Cherry-Evans link up to break down the middle.
Cherry-Evans chips a kick in, inexplicably with support outside him, and Jeremiah Nanai gathers after Scott Drinkwater taps the ball back.
Tom Trbojevic was on the outside but the Queensland Maroons rep must have just not seen him.
44′ Cowboys have a promising set, Manly goes 100 metres to force drop out
Impressive start from the Cowboys, a decent set to get them into the game.
But then the Sea Eagles move the ball left to Hopoate who breaks free.
The move breaks down so Cherry-Evans kicks cross field to Saab who taps it back in to Reuben Garrick, who grubbers ahead and then hauls down Scott Drinkwater to force a goal line drop out.
