Lang Stadium
Fri Sep 24, 8:05pm
Selected Preliminary Semi-Final Team
CyberView from the Hill - Last Week
CyberView from the Hill - This Week
Late Changes
Cartwright, Burns were trimmed 24 hours before the game. Milne was trimmed on game day.
WIN 36-16
Finals are being played in Queensland due to the Greater Sydney Delta Variant covid outbreak.
Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes from 7:50pm, as the Manly team bus requiring a police escort through traffic to the venue.
Wayne Bennett and the Bunnies finally broke their preliminary duck from both during his tenure and before it with their 36-16 win over Manly. The fourth time proving a charm as Cody Walker and Damien Cook carved Manly to pieces. Reynolds took a backseat against the Sea Eagles on Friday night, nursing a groin strain that was picked up on Tuesday and kept quiet right until he took the field for a pre-game fitness test. The Sea Eagles woes meanwhile began before a kick-off that was delayed by 15 minutes, Des Hasler's team bus requiring a police escort through traffic to Suncorp Stadium. Their incredible season ended up under the wheels of it even with Reynolds battling early, largely because Walker was in his element. Walker's first – which saw three players fumble a dribbling kick before he nabbed it gave Souths a early 6 nil lead. Garrick was soon after denied a first half try due to obstruction. Then in a counter attack a great cutout pass by Taaffe saw the obligatory Alex Johnston try as Souths moved out to a 12 nil lead. Tom Trbojevic also was denied a try when he fumbled over the line. Reynolds' first kick of the night started the play in the 30th minute, but Cook's left-foot dink when the bomb came down left it in the shade. Cook too stood tallest where in previous finals he has been tough to find, laying on a show-stealing four-pointer that shot the Sea Eagles down for good. Walker of course was right where he needed to be, on the end of a glorious grubber for an 18-0 lead. Two opportunistic first-half tries answered concerns that have often come around big games for Walker. Souths went into the break leading 22 nil after Paulo crossed for his first try. With only seven completed sets and another seven squandered through poor handling at that stage, Manly were as complicit as anyone in their downfall. After the break a poor kick from Walker, Manly hit back to reduce the margin to 22 to 6. Right to the end the Sea Eagles kept fighting with Garrick and Trbojevic both eventually scoring when the game was gone. But in a few minutes Marshall had put paid any comeback when he put Graham through the gap to take a 28 to 6 lead. This was then followed 9 minutes later with another Reynolds kick caught on the full by Jaxson Paulo as he moonwalked to the tryline for a 32 to 6 lead. Blake Taaffe played a significant part too in a team that supposedly had no hope without Latrell Mitchell, making himself at home once more in the No.1 and taking the goalkicking duties from Reynolds. Jaxson Paulo's double – scoring a try either side of half-time – doused the briefest of Manly fightbacks that was given hope when Reuben Garrick got on the scoreboard. Right to the end the Sea Eagles kept fighting with Garrick and Trbojevic both eventually scoring when the game was gone. But the last try went to Alex Johnston in another left side attacking play as he equalled Les Brennan's record of 29 tries for South Sydney in a season. Bennett conceded playing Reynolds with both their cardinal and myrtle careers on the line was "a risk" but pointed to a nine-day recovery for next Sunday's grand final as ample time for the injury to heal. "He had an injury that [meant] he was pretty close to not playing," Bennett said. "The thing he couldn't do was kick. We didn't know if he'd get through the game either but we took the risk and we managed to pull it off."
12 min 6-0 Walker try Taaffe goal
22 min 12-0 Johnston try Taaffe goal
28 min 18-0 Walker try Taaffe goal
37 min 22-0 Paulo try Taaffe miss
HT 22-0
43 min 22-6
50 min 28-6 Graham try Taaffe goal
59 min 32-6 Paulo try Taaffe miss
73 min 32-10
76 min 32-16
79 min 36-16 Johnston try Taaffe miss
Walker 2, Johnston 2, Paulo 2, Graham tries
Taaffe 4 from 7 goals
Weather Fine (19C)
Ground Soft
Crowd 26,294 (Played with 75% capacity due to the Brisbane Covid outbreak)
Referee Ashley Klein
Touch Judges Jon Stone / Phil Henderson
Video Grant Atkins
Scrums 4-5 (1H 1-2 )
Penalities 4-1 (1H 1-1 )
6 Again 4-4 (1H 2-2 )
Final Line Up -
Min Tac Pe 6A MT LA LB Rn DR m Er OL K TA T G/A FG 2FG
Flbk - 1 - Taaffe, Blake 80 1 - - 2 2 - 10 1 149 1 - - 2 - 4/7 - -
LWng - 2 - Johnston, Alex 80 4 - - 1 - 2 15 1 132 - 2 - - 2 - - -
LCnt - 3 - Gagai, Dane 80 17 - - 3 - - 19 1 165 3 - 1 1 - - - -
RCnt - 4 - Graham, Campbell 80 18 - - 4 1 1 13 1 98 - 2 - 1 1 - - -
RWng - 5 - Paulo, Jaxson 80 3 - - 2 - 1 15 - 108 - 1 - - 2 - - -
5/8 - 6 - Walker, Cody 80 20 - - 4 - - 17 - 100 2 1 11 - 2 - - -
Half - 7 - Reynolds, Adam 69 17 - 1 2 - - 14 - 92 - - 9 1 - - - - (c) [0-69]
Prop - 8 - Nicholls, Mark 31 17 - - 1 - - 13 - 106 - - - - - - - - [0-19,67-68,69-80]
Hook - 9 - Cook, Damien 80 38 - 1 2 - - 10 6 101 - - 3 1 - - - -
Prop - 10 - Tatola, Junior 42 22 - 1 - - - 11 - 102 2 - - - - - - - [0-19,57-80]
SRow - 11 - Koloamatangi, Keaon 67 24 - - 3 - - 14 - 131 - 1 - - - - - - [0-67]
SRow - 12 - Su'A, Jaydn 80 28 - - 3 - - 15 - 109 1 - - - - - - -
Lock - 13 - Murray, Cameron 63 35 1 - - - - 24 - 195 1 3 - - - - - - [0-34,51-80]
Int - 14 - Marshall, Benji 29 12 - - 3 1 - 5 - 33 - - - 1 - - - - [34-51,68-80]
Int - 15 - Host, Jacob 24 8 - - 1 - - 5 - 30 - - - - - - - - [56-80]
Int - 16 - Burgess, Tom 37 17 - 1 2 - - 16 - 129 - 1 - - - - - - [19-56]
Int - 17 - Arrow, Jai 38 25 - - 1 - - 13 - 111 1 - - - - - - - [19-57]
Conc - 19 - Mago, Patrick (DNP)
306 1 4 34 4 4 1897 11 11 24 7 7 4/7 - -
Completion Rate - 37/48 77%
Opposition Offloads - 5
Effective 1st Tackles
0 min 16m Walker kick COF
2 min 32m Walker kick COF
4 min 18m Walker kick COF
6 min 0m MW Err / SS NO TRY / Walker kick CIG
9 min 17m NW-6TG SCR MW-6A / SS Err(Taaffe) SCR
10 min 8m Walker kick
12 min 0m MW-6TG / DGagai kick TRY
14 min 66m SS Err(SuA)
16 min 22m MW Err / Walker kick COF 17m / SS-6A(DCook)
18 min 48m Walker kick COF 10m / SS P(Murray) / (MW NO TRY)
20 min 0m P / DCook kick CIG
22 min 0m MW-6A / TRY
24 min 62m SS Err(Arrow) / (MW NO TRY)
27 min 12m Walker kick MW-6TG / ChOv
28 min 0m Reynolds kick DCook kick TRY
31 min 25m Reynolds kick /
33 min 10m Reynolds kick COF
35 min 65m MW Err / SS Err(Walker) SCR 40m / SS-6A(Graham)
37 min 0m MW Err / TRY
39 min 72m MW-ShKO SS Err(DGagai)
half time
40 min 18m KO
42 min 55m Walker kick OOF / (MW TRY)
45 min 19m KO
47 min 33m Reynolds kick
48 min 10m MW Err / Reynolds kick
50 min 0m MW Err / Reynolds kick
52 min 10m Reynolds kick COF
54 min 40m Walker kick / 18m / SS-6A(Burgess)
57 min 34m MW-6A / Reynolds kick
59 min 0m Reynolds kick TRY
61 min 70m MW-ShKO
63 min 16m MW Err SCR / Reynolds kick COF
65 min 7m MW Err P / SS Err(DGagai) SCR
70 min 0m P-10SB / MW-6TG MW-CC(x) SCR / MW-6A / DCook kick CIG
71 min 22m MW-ShDO / SS Err(Murray) 12m / SS-6A(Murray)
73 min 23m MW Err / P / SS NO TRY SS Err(Tatola) SS-CC(x) SCR / (MW TRY)
75 min 13m KO
76 min 100m MW Err / SS Err(Tatola) SCR (MW TRY)
77 min 14m KO
79 min 0m MW Err SCR / TRY
Average effective 1st tackle location
- 24.6m - for the whole match
- 23.6m - 1st half
- 25.8m - 2nd half
Other First Grade Matches
10-6 LngS (3v1) Penrith b Melbourne
Judiciary News
No one has been charged out of the match.
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