Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold has defended Manly’s ‘bizarre’ kicking tactic that led to a long-range Panthers try during his side’s 24-12 loss on Thursday night.
The loss leaves the Sea Eagles finals chances hanging in the balance with three games to play, while the Panthers continue to sit at the top of the NRL ladder as they close in on the minor premiership.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Panthers score after Manly tactic goes horribly wrong.
Watch the latest sport on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >>
The strange sequence of play began like any normal fifth tackle option as Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary put in a kick which was caught by Sea Eagles fullback Reuben Garrick.
As Garrick ran and approached the 20 metre line, he sent a towering kick back down-field in the hope that the Sea Eagles could surprise the Panthers defence and winger Jason Saab could outsprint the Penrith players and score a Manly try.
However, the play backfired in a big way as Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards retrieved the ball on his own 20 metre line, sprinted up the field, then offloaded to Penrith centre Stephen Crichton.
Crichton immediately passed to Panthers winger Sunia Turuva who cut through the Sea Eagles defence with ease and sprinted 60 metres to score under the posts.
The try came at a crucial time for the Panthers as it gave them an 18-12 lead just after half-time as they held off Manly and claimed another win during their dominant season.
The strange play left the commentators shocked.
“We’ve got a force em’ back kicking dual. What about this,” Warren Smith said in amazement on Fox League.
“C’mon Dylan, pump one up the other end.
“Manly go the kicking duel, Penrith bank the points.”
Rugby league great Michael Ennis added: “That was interesting, we’ve seen some wily stuff tonight. It’s Reuben Garrick, well, he thinks it’s the 80s.”
“He’s kicked straight away — it’s a kicking duel. We’re back to 1989. This is the most bizarre passage of play in 2023,” Mat Thompson said on Channel 9.
“What just happened?” Rugby league great Billy Slater replied.
Speaking after the loss, Manly coach Anthony Seibold confirmed the play was a deliberate tactic.
“It was a plan, yeah it was a plan,” Seibold said.
“We couldn’t come here and just try and arm-wrestle them. We spoke about returning serve during the week and we practiced it at training.
“One or two guys missed their job defensively otherwise we are making the tackle down there on Dylan Edwards and we are on top of them.
“We had to think outside the box because we were missing quite a few troops and we lost a couple in the first few minutes in the second half.”
Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans admitted the team practised the kicking tactic at training.
“It didn’t come off but yes we did practise it,” Cherry-Evans said during the post-match press conference.
“And as Seibs mentioned before, there were maybe a couple of people who missed their job defensively on the kick. It wasn’t out of the blue for us, we knew it was coming.
“Defensively and with the ball there were certain moments we just didn’t execute tonight and a good side made us pay.”
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary was full of praise for his star fullback and how his team handled the surprise kicking tactic.
“It’s why Dyl’s (Dylan Edwards) an elite fullback. On the run, it’s not something we considered really or had spoken about. And he was able to read it,” Cleary said after the match.
“And not just that we had (Stephen Crichton) back there available to take a pass and then pass on to (Turuva).
“So that’s a lot of the hard work that people don’t see, just being able to take advantage of that situation.”
If you’d like to view this content, please adjust your .
To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide.