By MARK CASHMAN

Gordon coach Brian Melrose walked into Manly Oval on Saturday expecting what he thought would be a “dangerous game” for his Highlanders but little did he know how things would play out over the next couple of hours.

The Highlanders started their defence of the Shute Shield with a 12 tries to two thrashing of a Manly Marlins that will have some serious soul searching to do this week.

Scrumhalf Jacob Abel scored a hat-trick of tries as did fullback Ben Pollack and the club’s four first grade debutants all contributed significantly to the 78-10 victory.