NRL: Manly crush Bulldogs

Daly Cherry-Evans (L) of the Eagles celebrates his try with team mate Glenn Stewart. Photo / Getty Images

Sea Eagles 38
Bulldogs 4

Canterbury's struggles against the NRL elite reached a new low on tonight as rookie Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans put on a clinic in the Sea Eagles' 38-4 win at ANZ Stadium.

Without a win against any side in the NRL top six so far this season, this was something of a statement game for a Bulldogs outfit, desperate to stamp its mark on this year's premiership race.

But the only ones in blue and white to send any sort of message were the fans who bailed for the exits before the hour mark, as the Sea Eagles stretched their lead to 32-0 after Jamie Lyon's second try of the night.

Those fans would have to be applauded for lasting as long as they did as Cherry-Evans dismantled the Bulldogs over the opening 40 minutes, the hyphened one scoring one try and setting up two others for a 22-0 lead at the break.

Cherry-Evans was only given his crack at the NRL this year following the departure of Trent Hodkinson to the Bulldogs and, while the latter missed a rematch with his former club due to suspension, it's doubtful even he could have made any difference on Saturday night.

Canterbury didn't get a chance to miss Hodkinson's polish near the Manly tryline, as they struggled to get out of their own half for much of the night, their forward pack lacking bite and the outside backs not having any room to move.

The Sea Eagles on the other hand seemed to score at will, much of it off the back of Cherry-Evans who gave an indication of what was to come as he put George Rose over after eight minutes.

Lyon then scored his first as part of an 18-point haul for the night, before Cherry-Evans went over virtually untouched following a scrum win 10-metres out after a vicious step on Ben Barba.

The classy No.7 then did it with his defence, as he stole a ball from the grasp of Dene Halatau to set up David Williams for a four-pointer, the avalanche continuing after the restart as Will Hopoate just kept his backside in the field of play to score five minutes after the restart.

Things went from bad to worse as Kris Keating succumbed to a hamstring injury to force a major reshuffle for the Bulldogs, their lone bright spot being a long distance try to Barba 10 minutes from time.

MANLY 38 (J Lyon 2 D Cherry-Evans W Hopoate G Rose A Watmough D Williams tries J Lyon 5 goals) bt CANTERBURY 4 (B Barba try) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Adam Devcich. Crowd: 19,830.

- AAP