Manly fullback Clayton Faulalo had a very mixed night against South Sydney and teammate Jake Simpkin could be in hot water with the match review committee.
All the hype was around Kieran Foran and “Fozball” heading into Thursday night’s game at Brookvale Oval – but the Rabbitohs were out to spoil the party early.
Clayton Faulalo reacts after being sin binned. Nine
The hosts had all the momentum in the opening exchanges, but Cody Walker swung things around with a brilliant 40/20 kick.
Keaon Koloamatangi soon opened the scoring for the Bunnies and things got worse for the Sea Eagles when the No.1 was given his marching orders.
After opposing fullback Jye Gray made a clean linebreak, Faulalo made a cover tackle on Ashton Ward and appeared to strip the ball on the ground, with Adam Gee immediately sending him to the bin for a professional foul.
“The tackle was complete, that’s a big out,” Cameron Smith said on Nine.
Souths took the gift penalty goal but that decision might have come back to haunt them, failing to capitalise on the one-man advantage.
Instead, it was Manly who scored with 12 men when winger Jason Saab polished off a nice backline play to plant it down in the corner.
“That’s a big win – to have a man down but come away with six points and not concede any, that’s a huge advantage,” Smith said.
The home side extended their lead when Campbell Graham dropped it coming out of his own end and Lehi Hopoate cleaned up the scraps to score.
Sea Eagles hooker Simpkin was placed on report late in the opening half for a dangerous tackle, with Andrew Johns admitting he could be in hot water.
“That’s a chicken wing, he might be in strife for that one,” Johns said.
Faulalo’s night ended prematurely after leaving the field with a hamstring complaint during the second half, which occurred while scoring a try.