Manly coach Geoff Toovey highlighted consistency as the key to his side’s red-hot run of form after the Sea Eagles blew away struggling Parramatta 40-6 on Saturday.
The win was the Sea Eagles fifth in a row and consolidated their spot in the top four – thanks largely to their red-hot back line.
Wingers Jorge Taufua and David Williams scored two tries apiece with Daly Cherry-Evans, Brett Stewart and former Eels back-rower Justin Horo also crossing.
Toovey’s side have now scored an astonishing 198 points in their last five encounters and the former NSW halfback said his job was being made easier by the efficiency shown by his players.
“It makes a hell of a difference when you’ve got a consistent team week-in, week-out,” Toovey said.
“They get to work those combinations and that’s what we’ve had the last month.
“Touch wood it continues that way. We’ve still got a lot of improvement in us. There were mistakes today from both sides so we can still work on it.”
Eels coach Ricky Stuart refused to condemn his players after they sunk to a 10th straight defeat – their worst losing streak since 1995 – but said they were just not good enough to win games when they continually gave away the ball.
The first half saw the hosts dominate their early proceedings, but seven errors in the opening 20 minutes cruelled their chances of catching Manly cold.
“It was played in tough spirit, tough nature, they were just too good,” Stuart said.
“Errors didn’t help us. It was probably individual errors focused more on the game but from what I see the boys are trying their hardest.
“They’re busting their guts. Our efforts were there but some individual errors and it compounded into a whole weight of possession going Manly’s way.
“You can’t afford to do that with the kind of team they’ve got.”
Stuart was also left frustrated by a decision to call back a try to Ryan Morgan that would have levelled the scores in the first half.
Referee Phil Haines said Matt Keating had been impeded by Matt Ballin and claimed he couldn’t play the advantage because the Eels hooker hadn’t been allowed to play the ball – a ruling that was lost on Stuart.
“The bloke that pushed Keating in the play the ball, why wasn’t he sent to the bin? It was going to be a try for all money,” Stuart said.
“There’s new rules coming out every week. It happened to us against the Cowboys when Johnathan Thurston was laying all over Jarryd Hayne but he didn’t get sent to the bin.
“You’ve just got to hope that it’s your lucky night.”
On a more positive note for the Eels, Stuart said he hoped to have Hayne available for next Friday’s clash with the Wests Tigers.
“We’ll test him in the week and we should know by Tuesday,” he said.
“If not this week then next week he should be right.”
