Matt Burton kicked a late field goal to condemn Des Hasler to seven straight losses for the first time in his career, as either a player or a coach, as the Sea Eagles’ annus horribilis ended with a 21-20 defeat to the Bulldogs at a wet Accor Stadium on Friday night.
His side’s season ripped apart by the rainbow jersey saga, Hasler faces an off-season of upheaval in which Manly’s football department will be under the microscope after plunging out of finals contention since seven players refused to wear the club’s inclusivity jumper.
Burton slotted a 79th-minute one-pointer, just minutes after Kyle Flanagan – fighting for his No.7 jersey beyond next year – scored a try from a Tevita Pangai jnr offload that seemed destined to send the game into golden point.
But Burton produced one of his trademark bombs, which was fumbled by the otherwise outstanding Sea Eagles rookie Kaeo Weekes, and the State of Origin star stepped up to stick the knife into Manly’s miserable season.
A drenched Jake Trbojevic, nursing a broken hand, showed as much passion as any of his teammates on the field, punching the air and riding every play for a match in which the Sea Eagles were only playing for, um, pride.
Fittingly, they found some from one of the Manly Seven. Haumole Olakau’atu, who opted against playing the Roosters in July, dived on a Daly Cherry-Evans grubber to break a late 16-all deadlock, and then burst downfield on the next set.
Zach Dockar-Clay crosses the line.Credit:Getty
It looked like it was going to be enough to settle an uninspiring contest, which predictably featured a glut of handling errors and some questionable defensive decisions.
Bulldogs centre Aaron Schoupp levelled the match when he raced 85 metres to snatch an intercept out of Kieran Foran’s hands. It helped the club avoid a fifth straight loss to end a year in which they parted ways with coach Trent Barrett after Magic Round.
Mick Potter might have done a sterling job as the relief teacher, but students always get a little stray with a stand-in. Thankfully for him, they tuned back in at the last minute to end their season on a high.
If clock watching was an Olympic sport, then there might have been a few gold medallists on the same land where Cathy Freeman captured the heart of a nation. And who could really blame them?
Foran played his last game for the Sea Eagles and, in keeping with his career, he put his head in places others wouldn’t put their feet – namely Raymond Faitala-Mariner’s chest. Against a club he used to play for, and never seemed to manage to get through a season with, Foran showed Father Time hasn’t got him yet. But his next challenge will be doing it on the holiday strip, away from Hasler.
His old sidekick, Cherry-Evans, shrugged off a stuttering end to the season with the first try after a Toafofoa Sipley break. By the time another departing Sea Eagle, Martin Taupau, scored a little more than 10 minutes later, Manly led 16-0.
But it is Manly. It is the last game of the season. So when the Bulldogs clawed the margin back to 16-12 at half-time thanks to tries from Braidon Burns and Zach Dockar-Clay, was it really a surprise?
Schoupp made it 16 unanswered points for the Bulldogs, before Olakau’atu and Flanagan traded tries to set up a grandstand finish which, for the first time in history, probably had Fox League considering dumping a golden point game to go to its next.
It didn’t get there, and Hasler could only wish it had.
CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 21 (Braidon Burns, Zach Dockar-Clay, Aaron Schoupp, Kyle Flanagan tries; Matt Burton 2 goals, field goal) defeated MANLY SEA EAGLES 20 (Daly Cherry-Evans, Christian Tuipulotu, Martin Taupau, Haumole Olakau’atu tries; Cherry-Evans 2 goals) at Accor Stadium. Referee: Peter Gough. Crowd: 13,648.
Stream the NRL Premiership 2022 live and free on 9Now.
