Manly Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler believes the lopsided penalty count was a big factor in his side’s Friday night loss to the St George Illawarra Dragons.
The Sea Eagles lost the penalty count 9-5 in their 20-6 loss at Kogarah.
Having seen his team concede 16 penalties in its last three matches, Hasler said Manly’s discipline for the past month had been good, and that nothing had changed for this match.
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“It’s not a whinge, it’s not a complaint … I just can’t see how we warrant two to one in a penalty count. I don’t get that part I honestly don’t,” he said.
“That had a big influence as far as possession goes and so (the Dragons) capitalised on that.”
Despite that, Hasler said his side did well to restrict the Dragons to just two first-half tries.
The Sea Eagles scored early in the second half and found themselves camped deep in Dragons territory for much of the second half, but a combination of errors and a solid Dragons defence stopped them from scoring.
Hasler said his side had opportunities to win, but lamented its lack of execution.
The Sea Eagles lost Ben Trbojevic midway through the first half after failing a HIA, and were already without Jake Trbojevic, Lachlan Croker and Andrew Davey after all three had tested positive to COVID-19.
They also lost Josh Aloiai – one of their few stars in the match – in the last minute with a knee injury.
Skipper Daly Cherry-Evans said his teammates were “brave” considering the circumstances.
“That first half was a difficult one, and to go in at only 14-nil down I was pretty happy to be honest,” he said.
“We had a few injuries … it zaps you. We had to do a lot of extra tackling in that first half, so it only compounds and increases the workload that people have got to do out there.
“It was a difficult night for us, but we were brave.”
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