Melbourne had centre Curtis Scott sent off as their miserable record without Cameron Smith continued, falling 24-4 to Manly in a spiteful clash at AAMI Park last night.
Without the cool head of the retired Kangaroos captain, who was suspended for a dangerous tackle on Titans second-rower and former Melbourne teammate Kevin Proctor last week, the Storm struggled for composure with the Sea Eagles at their niggling best. As well as Scott being marched, four players were sin-binned as tempers boiled over.
Big stink: Players clash in Melbourne before Curtis Scott is shown a red card.
It was the first time Manly have won back to back this season, while Melbourne have collected only four wins from 16 games Smith has sat out since 2011. There were shades of the infamous 2011 Battle of Brookvale, when brawling teams spilled over the sidelines, as the game erupted 10 minutes into the second half.
Scott, the first NRL player sent off since David Shillington in 2015, was dismissed for throwing a flurry of punches that left Manly five-eighth Dylan Walker with a swollen eye he was barely able to see out of. But Walker was given time to put some ice on the injury, sin-binned for his part in the fight, while teammate Api Koroisau was also shown a yellow card.
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The hooker earned the wrath of home fans by clapping and giving them the thumbs up as he walked to the sheds.
Fox League reported that the Manly players returned to the field one minute 41 seconds too early, which is certain to be investigated by the NRL. At that stage Manly led 6-4 with the first try of the match scored just three minutes earlier by winger Matthew Wright.
It was a stunning effort as the winger chased down a kick deep into a corner of the in-goal by halfback Daly Cherry-Evans, which caught the Storms Cameron Munster off-guard as it looked to be heading out.
Off you go: Scott becomes the first NRL player to be sent off since 2015.
Photo: NRL Photos
Shiner: Dylan Walker sports a black eye as he leaves the field.
Photo: NRL Photos
The Storm werent able to capitalise on their numerical advantage, with the Sea Eagles instead adding another try in the other corner with winger Akuila Uate burning the defence along the narrowest of sideline corridors. Melbournes attack continued to look confused without Smith as centre Will Chambers was denied by the video referee midway through the second half.
Elation: Manly celebrate on their way to a huge victory over the Storm.
Photo: AAP
Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic then ran onto a neat Cherry-Evans grubber with the converted try putting the result out of Storms reach. Josh Addo-Carr put in a superb chase to catch Tom Trbojevic when he broke away with four minutes to play, but he stood up and walked over the ball as Trbojevic tried to play it, so was sin-binned for the final minutes. That brought to four the number of players sin-binned for the match – Manly lock Jake Trbojevic having also been marched for a professional foul on Kenny Bromwich just before half-time.
On the last play of the night centre Moses Suli capitalised on Manlys two-man overlap to put the icing on the cake with a try.
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