Making the finals for the first time since 2010, Manly quickly went from competition dark horse to legitimate premiership contender. Not since the days of Cherry-Evans, Foran and Warea-Hargreaves had the Sea Eagles been such a force in the NYC. On the back of Tom Trbojevic, Manly got off to a red hot start, winning five straight. Trbojevic moved up to the NRL and the Sea Eagles subsequently went on a seven game winless streak. In Round 15, coach David Heath made a season defining move, switching prop Addison Demetriou to centre. Demetriou became one of the competiton’s most damaging runners, scoring 18 tries after the switch. By the end of the season Manly had returned to their early season form and secured their top four spot with a win over the Roosters in Rounnd 25.
Heading into the finals on a five game winning streak, the Sea Eagles suffered a first up loss to the Panthers. Manly lead early in the game before being chased down. They almost suffered a similar fate against the Tigers a week later before coming back to win the game after being down at half time. In their best win of the year, they upset the second placed Cowboys to book their spot in the Grand Final. A rematch with Penrith beckoned but again, the Sea Eagles fell short. With a number of key players moving on in 2016 it will be a tough ask for Manly to reach the heights they did in 2016.
Standout Players
Addison Demetriou had 21 tries and 49 offloads and also lead the league in running metres with 3,666 and tackle breaks with 172. Tom Trbojevic played just 14 games but still managed 21 tries and 26 line breaks (third in the league). Liam Knight was one of the top props in the competition, running for 3,095 metres at an average of 163 per game and had 47 offloads. Halves Will Pearsall and Nicho Hynes led the side around well. Pearsall had 27 try assists and 28 line break assists, while Hynes had 21 try assists and 19 line break assists.
Top Pointscorer
Hugh Pratt finished the year as the second highest pointscorer in the competition. The tough hooker, who made 752 tackles in 2015, scored four tries and kicked 93 goals for 202 points.
Top Tryscorer
In 14 games, Tom Trbojevic scored 21 tries. Had he played a full season if he might’ve reached Gideon Mosby’s 39 tries. He scored four tries against Parramatta in Round 1 and again in Round 20 against the Warriors.
Best Win
Preliminary Final – defeated North Queensland 25-24.
Everyone was anticipating a Panthers-Cowboys Grand Final but nobody told Manly that. In one of the biggest upsets of 2015, Manly looked ready to play from the first whistle to the last. They subdued the high-scoring Cowboys, winning the forward battle. With the scores locked at 24-all, Nicho Hynes kicked the field that sent Manly to their first Grand Final.
Graduates
Tom Trbojevic (2014-2015 – 32 games, 41 tries, 164 points)
One of the best young talents in rugby league, Trbojevic looked a class above in the NYC and was near unstoppable at times. He made his NRL debut in Round 5 and ended his rookie year with eight tries in nine games.
Player to Watch in 2016
Still just 18 years old, it’ll be the third season of NYC for Jesse Ramien in 2016. A Coonamble junior, Ramien has the potential to be a dominant centre in the competition and push for higher honours. He played every game for Manly in 2015, scoring 13 tries and running for over 3,000 metres.
Representative Honours
Billy Bainbridge – New South Wales under-18s
Addison Demetriou – New South Wales under-20s (1 goal, 2 points)
Liam Knight – New South Wales under-20s
Jesse Ramien – New South Wales under-18s
18TH MAN 