Junior Rep Report: Round 18

The Sea Eagles flew out of the gates in the opening minutes, Alton Naiyep scoring under the posts for an early lead in the first minute of play.

Despite the early try, Storm quickly found a response, winger Oscar Amosa diving over in the corner to make the score 6-4.

Manly’s strong start to the contest continued, scoring back-to-back tries in the 10th and 16th minute to jump out to a 18-4 lead.

Storm centre Siulagi Pio then turned momentum in his side’s favour, bumping off two defenders and breaking through the tackle to score in the 21st minute and start a strong passage of play from the visitors.

In a big blow for Storm, young hooker Gabriel Satrick was forced off for a HIA, with Brayden Seu-Easthope entering the fray in his absence.

Similar to how Manly started the first half, this time it was Storm who got the jump, scoring in the first set from the kick off after Matthew Hill backed himself and raced away to score and cut the Sea Eagles lead back to six-points.

After a gruelling 30 minutes of play in the second half, neither side were able to capitalise on their chances and fatigue quickly set in for both teams.

The standoff was broken in the 66th minute when Manly were granted a penalty for an illegal strip and played it safe by giving themselves the extra two points to lead by eight-points.

Similar to his earlier effort, Matthew Hill added yet another try to his remarkable 2024 campaign, this time combining with winger Brad Avery and running 50 metres to score, with the fulltime score reading 20-16.

The Storm will look to bounce back this week against the Rabbitohs at Coogee Oval on Sunday.

Written by Emily Mattocks