By MARK CASHMAN

On an afternoon when there were storylines aplenty Northern Suburbs scored an attention getting 28-19 win over the Manly Marlins on Saturday.

This was the first major test for the Shoremen in the 2020 season after disposing of West Harbour and Penrith earlier in the year and they passed with flying colours scoring three tries and coming home on the boot of flyhalf Angus Sinclair, who kicked two penalty goals, two conversions and iced the game with a field goal.

But in the background there was the emotional jersey presentation before the game from the club’s former Wallaby Richard Tombs who stood up from his wheelchair to hand out the first grade squad’s jumpers and speak of what the club means to him.

The main focus in the pre-game formalities was on starting debut prop Isaac Cavu and Gary Bautz who came off the bench to play his 50th first grade game.

Elsewhere there was the return of Zak Beer to Manly Oval after nine years coaching at the Marlins and missing out on the top job there for this year.

Beer has settled in superbly at Northern Suburbs and has helped drive the coaching of the top group along with Sape Misa and Simon Johnson while head coach Earl Va’a has been stranded in New Zealand because of Covid-19 pandemic.

“It was a bit like taking your new girlfriend to dinner at your ex girlfriend’s place,” Beer said of his return to the Village Green where his uncle Brian ‘Bubbles’ Beer is a former president and life member.

Norths also have had limited success at Manly Oval in recent times only coming away with a couple of wins over the past decade, one of those coming during the Simon Cron premiership year.

They led 18-12 at the break and bounced out even further with a try to Kepu Lokotui down the right flank but the Marlins weren’t to be denied and came back into the encounter with a runaway try to Huttana Coffin.

But strong field position and the boot of Sinclair kept Norths ahead of the home side and in the end they probably should have won by a few more.

“That was big challenge for us so to come away with a win like that was great,” coach Va’a said.

“We were more composed than we have been at the start of the game and our defence worked well throughout the game.

“As I have said to the group everything good in our game starts with our defence.”

Manly Marlins weren’t completely out of this one though but they did look drained from the effort last week against Sydney Uni.

There were injuries too with James Ohmsen and Mick Adams coming off with knee injuries – the one for Ohmsen looking quite serious and heading off for an MRI early this week. Ben Crerar has a broken finger that will require surgery.

“There were some errors from our side that Norths pounced on and scored tries,” Marlins coach Matt McGoldrick said.

“We got out enthused at the tackle contest and as a result we struggled for rhythm right throughout the game.”

NORTHERN SUBURBS 28 (Reece Mau’u Harry Burey, Kepu Lokotui tries; Angus Sinclair 2 conversions, 2 pen goals, field goal) d MANLY 19 (Max Douglas, Jack Veitch, Hutana Coffin; Yool Yool 2 pen goals) at Manly Oval.

IMAGE: KAREN WATSON