Match Report - First Grade v Manly April 10

Manly 111 – Parramatta 0

No matter how you say it 111-0 doesn’t look pretty. You can’t sugar coat it - Manly winger Nemani Nadolo opened us up with 4 tries and 3 try  assists. He did the same when he played against us for Randwick last year. People say he can’t tackle but my question is: does he have to?

Brendan Lane our new full back caught him at least 3 times around the legs, as did our half Brett Gillett.   There were times through out the game when we played well but it is hard to put yourself in a try scoring position without the ball and having to defend constantly. Richie Williams looked dangerous with a little bit of space.

The good news for Parra is that we didn’t give up, we were just outclassed. Coach Hartill spoke at half time about not letting them have the space and we needed to close the gap so they couldn’t run at us. As Mark stated in the paper he was disappointed but he was still quite proud. The quote for me came in the changes room after the match from a Manly official.

“Tough times don’t last, tough people do”.

I would like to congratulate our 7 debutants in playing their first 1^st Grade game for Parramatta : Jono Ede, Ben Faingaa, Jason Huia, Tuineau Faasisila, Ben Gilbert, Mark Frost and  Brendan Lane.

A special mention must be made of Mark Hartill’s appointment as our first grade coach and his first game as coach. Mark is true gentleman and we as club are very fortunate to have him.  He always looks for the positive and how he can make it better.

Thommo