Garrick scores 28 in Manly win; Paseka suffers Achilles injury

Reuben Garrick delivered a career-best performance and Manly produced their finest showing of the 2025 NRL season to date, but a likely season-ending Achilles injury to prop Taniela Paseka took the gloss off a 40-12 demolition of Canberra at 4 Pines Park on Sunday night.

Garrick was unstoppable, racking up 28 points from four tries and six goals in a whirlwind 24 hours in which he also became a first-time father.

But the celebration was tempered by concern for Paseka, who hobbled off midway through the first half and is set for surgery.

“That’s really disappointing for Taniela, his family and us as a club,” Manly coach Anthony Seibold said.

“He’s been our starting front-rower since I’ve been here and we really value him on and off the field.”

NRL Round 3: Sea Eagles v Raiders highlights

It was a brutal 10-minute stretch in the first half — featuring a Corey Horsburgh sin bin, two spilled bombs by fullback Kaeo Weekes, and relentless Sea Eagles pressure — that broke the game open.

Manly ran in four tries during that period, with Ethan Bullemor grabbing a double and Jake Simpkin scoring his first try for the rugby league club in his 50th NRL game.

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The carnage saw the hosts lead 30-0 at halftime, the Raiders left gassed after making more than 230 tackles in the opening stanza.

Despite Canberra crossing twice in the second half through Sebastian Kris and Hudson Young, the $2.50 outsiders with the top NRL bookmakers were never in it — and the coach was fuming post-match about the lopsided penalty and six-again count.

“I don’t think there’s a football team in the comp that can defend those statistics and win,” Ricky Stuart said.

“When you’ve made 220 tackles to their 70 in a half, you can’t be ahead on the scoreboard.”

Manly’s Daly Cherry-Evans showed no signs of the back issue that hampered him last week, while Haumole Olakau’atu ran for 217 metres and busted seven tackles in a powerful showing.

Seibold said the response after last week’s loss to the Warriors showed his team had turned a corner.

“We put a lot of work into Canberra, our kick chase was really on, and we suffocated them. It was a really pleasing team performance,” he said.

The Sea Eagles also paid tribute to late superfan Beau Hewitt and June Penn, wearing black armbands in their honour.

Beau’s family delivered the match ball before kick-off.

Canberra will welcome back skipper Joe Tapine next week, but face a long week of soul-searching after their unbeaten start to the NRL season came crashing down.

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