League: Sea Eagles smash Knights in Gosford

Manly have converted a commanding halftime lead into victory for the first time this NRL season, smashing Newcastle 36-12 at Gosford's Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday night.

The Sea Eagles led by 16 points at the break against both the Wests Tigers in round one and Parramatta in round two, before collapsing to be run down at the death.

But after rushing to a 24-6 advantage at halftime, Des Hasler's men were able to go on with the job against the Knights.

Manly could have been forgiven for playing like a team robbed of confidence after their opening season capitulations, but after conceding the first try to a powerful run from Knights' prop Evarn Tuimavave, the home side snapped into action.

Fears of another second half momentum shift were virtually put to bed two minutes after the resumption, when hooker Matt Ballin beat some awful defence to stretch Manly's lead to 24 points.

Co-captain Jason King also got in on the action for Manly, reaching out for a try in the 64th minute.

The Sea Eagles right-side combination of second rower Glenn Stewart, centre Jamie Lyon and winger Tony Williams was deadly for Manly, directly setting up two tries and laying the platform for another.

A nice cut-out pass from Stewart put Williams away down the sideline, before the giant winger found fullback Ben Farrar backing up on his inside with a one-handed pass for Manly's first try in the 13th minute.

Williams rampaged down the flank again a few minutes later after some clever lead-up work from Stewart and Lyon.

After back-to-back penalties, five-eighth Kieran Foran put backrower Shane Rodney over in the 19th minute, although officials appeared to miss an Anthony Watmough knock-on from the previous ruck.

Feeling left out on the other side of the field, Steve Matai stamped his authority on the match with a first-half double.

He jogged through a huge gap in the Knights' left-side defence to score his first in the 22nd minute, and his second came just nine minutes later when Williams broke away again down the right side and kicked back into centre field for Matai to cross under the posts.

The match descended into one of the worst spectacles of the season in the second half, with drop ball and sloppy play from both sides.

Tempers flared in the 50th minute, when Newcastle's Mark Taufua took exception to Manly's Matt Cross at the play-the-ball.

Cross appeared to push his forearm into Taufua's face before he played the ball, with the Knights prop reacting by punching Cross and then throwing another at the Sea Eagles' Foran.

Taufua was awarded the penalty but the incident was placed on report.

Interchange Richard Fa'aoso scored a consolation try for Newcastle in the 76th minute.

- AAP