Shute Shield Rd 1: Easts & Eastwood impress; Manly, Souths & Norths post wins
Easts and Eastwood showed why they’ve been widely talked about as two teams to watch in 2019 with impressive wins in round one, while Manly, Souths and Norths also claimed the bickies on the opening weekend.
We spoke to the coaches to get their thoughts on their round one clashes.
Manly 39-26 Western Sydney
Manly opened their season with a bonus point win over Western Sydney but leaked plenty of points against a new look Two Blues outfit who took their chances at Manly Oval.
After conceding the opening try, Manly scored the next four, two of which came while the Two Blues had a player in the bin.
John Folau scored two tries on debut to give Western Sydney hope of a comeback, but two late Marlins tries put the result beyond doubt.
“Clunky would probably best describe our performance on Saturday, it’s a fair way off where we need to be,” Manly coach Billy Melrose said.
“If it was a game of golf you would probably say three of our guys shot under