Wests Tigers suffer loss to Sea Eagles

Wests Tigers have suffered a 44-24 loss to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Suncorp Stadium.

Michael Maguire’s men started fast to hold an early lead before the Silvertails ran away with the game in the second half.  

The loss was compounded with Wests Tigers forwards Luke Garner and Alex Seyfarth suffering injuries and were both unable to finish the match after leaving the field in the opening half an hour.

Garner injured his ankle after getting caught up in an awkward tackle, before a cannonball tackle by former Wests Tiger Josh Aloiai caused an MCL injury to Seyfarth.

The Sea Eagles were first to register points with right centre Morgan Harper sliding his way through for a 4-0 lead after seven minutes.

Wests Tigers hooker Jacob Liddle sparked his side when he made a slick break up the middle, and on the ensuing tackle Luke Brooks and Luke Garner combined with Ken Maumalo to score — before Adam Doueihi landed the sideline conversion for a 6-4 lead.

Manly regained their four-point advantage after 22 minutes when Jason Saab collected a Daly Cherry-Evans kick and offloaded to Haumole Olakau’atu, who connected with Lachlan Croker to score.

The game was certainly toing and froing with Wests Tigers going straight up the other end to hit back when Brooks took on the line before finding Doueihi on his inside, who bounced over the line for a 12-10 lead.

Wests Tigers had a number of attacking raids but couldn’t extend their lead and the Sea Eagles made them pay with two late tries before the break.

Josh Schuster made a break and assisted Cherry-Evans to score before Tom Trbojevic’s run up field allowed Harper to have his second try of the night for a half-time 20-12.

The Sea Eagles returned to where they left off with Trbojevic and Dylan Walker scoring to extend their side’s lead to 20 points.

The deficit was cut to 14 with 24 minutes remaining when Liddle darted at the line to score his sixth try of the year.

Harper secured his hat-trick and Cherry-Evans had a double for the Sea Eagles, before Maumalo found the line again.

Wests Tigers will now turn their attention to next Friday’s clash against the Warriors at Suncorp Stadium.

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 44 (Harper 3, Cherry-Evans 2, Croker, Trbojevic, Walker tries; Garrick 6/8 goals) def. Wests Tigers 24 (Maumalo 2, Doueihi, Liddle tries; Doueihi 4/4 goals) at Suncorp Stadium.