An emotional Parramatta overcame an early 14-point deficit to snap Manly’s unbeaten start to the season on a day when the Eels honoured the brother of Reagan Campbell-Gillard.
Playing in his 200th NRL match, Campbell-Gillard wore a black armband and coach Brad Arthur admitted his side “needed to repay” the Australian and NSW enforcer, fighting back from a sluggish start to win their second match from the opening three rounds.
Campbell-Gillard has lost his mother and brother within a year, but insisted he play as the Eels outlasted the Sea Eagles 28-24 at CommBank Stadium on Sunday.
“He’s just had a tough 12 months off the field,” Arthur said. “I don’t know how he does it, but he always puts his teammates first. We needed to put him first today.
“He hasn’t ever shied away from his responsibility to the team. He’s showed plenty of resilience for us over the last few seasons. We needed to repay him today. We had to.”
Eels prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard.Credit: Getty
With Junior Paulo again relegated to the bench, Campbell-Gillard punched out 102 run metres in another powerhouse 56-minute display.
He was also involved in one of the game’s flashpoints when slapped by Sea Eagles prop Josh Aloiai in the dying seconds, prompting referee Peter Gough to send the Samoan international to the sin-bin.
“He’s put us first and we’ve built a culture where you want to come into training,” Eels co-captain Clint Gutherson said. “Reg is the type of guy that would never let us down.
“As Brad said, the last 12 months have been tough off the field for him. We love that bloke and I think it showed today.”
Manly coach Anthony Seibold was left baffled by an obstruction call in the second half which denied a spectacular Tolu Koula try.
Sea Eagles forward Jake Trbojevic was adjudged to have impeded Eels substitute Luca Moretti as Tom Trbojevic made a long break near half-way, despite replays showing the Parramatta player little to no chance of actually reaching Tom Trbojevic.
Blaize Talagi celebrates a try on debut.Credit: Getty
“The rulings are black and white, but watching that one is at the other end of the scale,” Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans said. “I don’t think he was going to get there so well done to him. He played to the rules.”
But Arthur was insistent the bunker made the right call.
“It’s obstruction,” he said. “You can’t stop in the line.”
The Sea Eagles were trailing 26-18 at the time and immediately surrendered a penalty goal to Mitchell Moses before Corey Waddell’s try set up a grandstand finish.
The Eels had earlier taken a second-half lead through tries to ex-Manly players Morgan Harper and Kelma Tuilagi, a far cry from the Sea Eagles’ blistering start which saw them outpacing the clock in the first quarter of the game.
Tom Trbojevic scored a contender for what normally would be one of the tries of the season if not for Xavier Coates’ aerial effort when a near length-of-the-field effort ended with him scooping up a Reuben Garrick kick.
But the Eels hit the lead in the first half when debutant Blaize Talagi scored his first NRL try.
“The thing we’ve improved is our level of composure and calmness,” Arthur said. “We didn’t go chasing the game with trying to score tries. We chased it through our physicality and effort. We were able to score some points and drag ourselves back into it.”
Said Seibold: “The start of the game was as good as we’ve been in my time at the club.
“I need to be really careful what I say here, but the management of the game changed a little bit there after 14-0. I think they started to get some calls their way and some field position and possession.
“I’m not sure why, but it was some of the interpretations around the ruck. They’re a good enough side to take advantage. That was a really good game of footy.”
