Manly earn top marks for NRL Pre-season Challenge win

The Manly Sea Eagles picked up a cool $100,000, the English Super League champions stunned Penrith for the title of best club side in the world, and the Dolphins confirmed they are in for a tough debut season after the NRL’s Pre-season Challenge wrapped up on Sunday.

The real stuff starts on March 2 when last year’s beaten grand finalists, Parramatta, host Melbourne Storm at CommBank Stadium in the first game of the 2023 NRL premiership.

So, what did we take out of the Pre-season Challenge, and which teams got a pass mark and which ones didn’t?

Manly got an A+ for taking out the tournament under new coach Anthony Seibold, who would have been a relieved man after the Sea Eagles finished with 29 of a possible 30 points, beating South Sydney 30-28 and then the powerful Sydney Roosters 28-16.

Seibold would have loved what he saw from several of his young players – especially speedster Tolutau Koula, who could be in for a huge season judging by what he displayed at the weekend.

Mr. Reliable, Reuben Garrick, also grabbed a hat-trick of tries and is set to continue from where he left off last season.

Manly will welcome back Tom Trbojevic for their round one clash with Canterbury at 4 Pines Stadium on March 4.

The Penrith Panthers were ambushed by St Helens but forced the game into golden point with a last-minute Brian To’o try only to lose to a field goal.

The Panthers have some adjustments to make in 2023 after losing big guns Viliame Kikau and hooker Api Koroisau, who were key cogs in coach Ivan Cleary’s game plans, but they still got an A grading for repeating their grand final win 22-16 over Parramatta before the narrow loss to St Helens.

What we learned was last year’s wooden spoon holders will be a lot better in 2023 under veteran coach Tim Sheens, whose style of play was evident when the Wests Tigers rolled a disappointing Canberra 36-4.

Sheens’ influence, along with assistant coaches Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah, was apparent in the way the Tigers attacked and defended after the Raiders opened the scoring with a try to Danny Levi in the 20th minute.

The Tigers’ response was to pile on 36 unanswered points with six different try-scorers to earn a B+ grade.

The Gold Coast Titans also caught the eye coming off a poor 2023 season.

The addition of classy playmaker and organiser Kieran Foran paid instant dividends with the former Manly star delivering a sweet cut-out pass in the opening minutes for young winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira to score the first of his four tries.

The Dolphins could not have asked for a worse start against the Titans.

Whether it was debut nerves or stage fright, they let in five tries in the first 25 minutes and the game was all over.

They settled things down in the second half, but even so, they scored a C.

The Cronulla Sharks scored an A with their Dally M halfback Nicho Hynes close to the player of the tournament.

The Sharks looked well prepared and, after surviving the initial emotions of Bulldogs fans, took control of the clash, scoring six tries – including a double to winger Ronaldo Mulitalo.

Hynes was magnificent with the ball in hand and his goal kicking was faultless following some off-season tutoring by former Canterbury wizard Darryl Halligan.

The jury, however, is still out on the Brisbane Broncos, although they did manage to beat the talented North Queensland 20-18 without two of their gun players, Adam Reynolds and Reece Walsh, after a 24-all draw with the Titans.

They scored a B+.

The biggest disappointments of the Pre-season Challenge were the Canberra Raiders, belted by two sides who missed the top eight last year – Canterbury (34-18) and then the Wests Tigers (36-4).

Compounding those two losses is an appearance before the judiciary for Raiders winger Jordan Rapana, who could miss the opening round of the season against the Cowboys on March 4.

Sorry, Ricky, but the Raiders got the low grade of D.

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