Josh Schuster has announced himself as Manly’s long-term five-eighth as he and Tom Trbojevic lifted the Sea Eagles to a wild 34-30 NRL win over Parramatta.
In his first game as Manly’s full-time No.6, Schuster had a hand in four tries as he and Trbojevic combined at will on the Sea Eagles’ left edge in Thursday night’s home game.
It was enough to consign the Eels to a third-straight loss to start the season, despite a bizarre final 10 minutes which included a combined four tries from both sides.
After Manly led 28-16 with seven minutes to go, Parramatta put themselves back into the game through tries to Maika Sivo and Josh Hodgson.
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The Sea Eagles then appeared to have the contest sealed when Haumole Olakau’atu intercepted a J’maine Hopgood offload and ran 30 metres to score and make it 34-24.
Parramatta scored again through Sivo with two minutes to play, but any hopes of a late comeback win were killed off when Brad Parker tackled Mitch Moses into touch with a minute to play.
It summed up a chaotic night and last year’s grand finalist’s start to the season, with all three Parramatta losses by four points or fewer.
“We’ve been at the death in all three games but we need more than just fronting up with effort,” Eels coach Brad Arthur said.
“We need to execute our plan.
“It’s different stages where individuals’ lack of concentration. There’s some simple fundamentals that really hurt us.”
Clint Gutherson was arguably the best on field, as he scored two tries and made a try-saving tackle in the second half to help bring Parramatta back into the contest from 14-0 down to 16-14 up.
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But the star of the show for Manly was 21-year-old Schuster.
The five-eighth and Trbojevic combined for Manly’s opening two tries, with the first coming when they spread it down the left and the latter put Reuben Garrick over.
Trbojevic was the beneficiary the next time around, when Schuster ran the ball out of dummy-half and found the fullback on his inside to hit the line at speed and crash over.
Then, after Gutherson’s heroics, it was Schuster who made the biggest difference again.
He put Trbojevic over for his second try when he collected a Kelma Tuilagi offload and put a chip kick into the in-goal for his chasing fullback.
It was one of two tries to come off Schuster’s boot, with Olakau’atu bagging another when the five-eighth put up a shallow bomb after a quick Trbojevic play-the-ball.
Schuster’s outing came after he long pushed for a chance in the No.6 jersey, having sat behind departed veteran Kieran Foran for the past two years.
He was exposed at times in defence, but his attack alone and combination with Trbojevic should serve as a sign of promise for the Sea Eagles.
“He was really effective,” coach Anthony Seibold said.
“Daly Cherry-Evans, Josh and Tom connected really well. We even left a couple of tries out there with two or three disallowed.
“We felt like we threatened every time we got down into field position. That’s a promising start.”
Manly sits first on the ladder after its best start to a season since it last made the grand final in 2013.
Parramatta has more back-row problems after Matt Doorey hurt his knee and Jack Murchie to fall under the NRL’s new mandatory 11-day concussion stand down.
Some relief will come with the return of Ryan Matterson next week, but Shaun Lane is still out for an extended period with his facial fracture.
-AAP
