Posted By Staff Reporter
Canterbury coach Des Hasler says the club's supporters should be proud of his players after they edged out Manly 16-10 in a brutal NRL qualifying final encounter at ANZ Stadium. A second-half try from newly-crowned Dally M Medallist Ben Barba proved to be the difference between the sides as the Bulldogs booked themselves a week off and consigned Manly to an semi-final clash against either Brisbane or North Queensland in Sydney next week. Hasler denied he took any more satisfaction from the win coming against the club he left in bitter circumstances just weeks after leading them last year's premiership. "A win in a semi-final is always satisfying," Hasler said. "But it's no more satisfying than it would be against any other team. It was a tough game and it was a game we would rather win than lose. Both sides gave it their all and our fans should be very proud of them."
While the defeat does not end Manly's defence of their title, they look certain to be without Jamie Lyon who limped off with a calf injury early in the game. Joe Galuvao also went off with an ankle injury and Steve Matai and co-captain Jason King could miss next week's game after being placed on report within 30 seconds of one another for high shots on Aiden Tolman and Sam Perrett. Matai, who has carryover points against him for previous offences could be out for up to two games should the match review committee opt to sanction the Kiwi star on Monday. Sea Eagles coach Geoff Toovey remained tight-lipped on the incidents after the game and said he had no idea how serious the injuries were. But he did accuse the referees of allowing Canterbury to not be 10 metres when his side were playing-the-ball. "We just ran out of petrol at the end, we lost a couple of players and ran out of petrol," he said. "I thought our defence was really good, it was hard in attack missing Jamie but I thought we were playing back in the five metre rule at one stage. "They were very quick off the line let's just say that. "I thought it was ridiculous to tell you the truth but that's just me being a bit biased I suppose. "If there was a 10m sprint in the Olympics there'd be a couple of gold medallists out there." Lyon and Galuvao will undergo scans on Saturday to determine the extent of their injuries. NRL.COM Comments are closed.
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