Manly Finally Atop the NRL Ladder

Manly captain Matt Orford has nailed a 30-metre field goal with just over three minutes on the clock to hand the Sea Eagles a 13-12 NRL win over Melbourne in a top of the table thriller at Brookvale Oval.

Orford struck the field goal attempt straight between the posts to end the 12-all stalemate after Melbourne had fought back from a 12-6 half-time deficit in front of 18,640 fans.

Melbourne hooker Cameron Smith missed one attempted field goal while halfback Cooper Cronk missed two earlier attempts, his first charged down by the head of Manly hooker Michael Monaghan and his other sailing wide.

Monaghan had his own attempt from 35m also waved away.

In a game which is sure to see Manly lumped with the premiership favourites tag, the game started like a battle of the cellar-dwellers with three successive dropped balls from Melbourne's Dallas Johnson, Manly's Luke Williamson and then Storm centre Matt King straight off a scrum.

Manly settled first, with Chris Hicks barging over in the corner on four minutes off a play started by Monaghan, who was again outstanding for the home side.

Back-rower Anthony Watmough pushed Manly's advantage out to 10-0 after 14 minutes when he scored a fortuitous try when Israel Folau fumbled Orford's bomb and the Eagles secondrower dived on the loose ball, with Jamie Lyon adding the conversion.

Lyon converted a penalty shot from 10m out in the 19th minute for a 12-0 lead.

Melbourne fullback Billy Slater was denied by superb cover defence from Orford and Williamson in the 29th minute when he was held up over the line.

Folau made amends shortly before the break when he plucked Cronk's bomb from well above his head, leaping over Michael Robertson and then with two defenders on his back managed to surge over and touch down one-handed.

Cameron Smith's conversion just seconds before the half-time siren ensured a 12-6 scoreline in favour of Manly at the break.

Melbourne dominated after the break and Cronk's pinpont cross-field kicking led to Matt King's try in the 52nd minute, with Smith nailing the conversion to level scores 12-all.

The match then turned into an absolute bash-a-thon, with Watmough and Jason King put on report for a dangerous throw on Steve Turner in the 44th minute.

Slater left the field in the 48th with concussion, a fractured cheekbone and badly cut right eye from a heavy collision with teammate Sam Tagatese when trying to tackle Orford.

Manly substitute George Rose suffered a sickening broken right leg in the 63rd minute which will more than likely end his NRL season.
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Kite doesn't want to lose Origin spot

Origin prop Brent Kite says all NSW forwards have been put on notice after being clearly outplayed in the opening clash by Queensland's pack of veterans.

With NSW selectors expected to make a few changes for the June 13 Origin II clash, a nervous Kite turned in one of his toughest performances of the year for Manly in last night's 13-12 win over fellow NRL heavyweights Melbourne.

Disappointed at being shut down by Queensland's Steve Price and Petero Civoniceva on Wednesday night, Kite rebounded in the best possible way with a match turning 35 tackles, 20 hit ups at 182 metres for the Sea Eagles.

The Manly prop said he knows every NSW forward's head is on the chopping block and the next two weeks at NRL level are vital as selectors mull over making Origin changes.

"The battle is on for spots I suppose. History shows usually one or two changes made to a losing side and none made to a winning side obviously," said Kite.

"I think everyone is on notice. It's in the hands of the selectors.

"I felt like I tried hard but I think (Queensland) did a good job on me personally. I didn't have quite as much room to move as I would have liked.

"The good thing is whenever you lose you can get on a bit of downer for the whole week but it was good it was only two days to get some kind of redemption.

"I don't know how well I went (against Melbourne) but I felt like there was a bit of improvement. I felt like I wanted to try and do some things and get down a bit quicker."

With former Blues hardman Steve Roach calling on Cronulla pair Greg Bird and Paul Gallen to be included in the NSW squad to add some mongrel, 18th man in Origin I Ryan Hoffman has reminded selectors not to overlook him.

Storm back rower Hoffman was also 18th man earlier this year for the Australian side in the Anzac Test and is determined to win himself a playing jersey for Origin II.

"It was sort of like having your Christmas present taken away from you on Wednesday night, being able to warm up with the guys but not run out on the field," said Hoffman.

"I'm very confident I would be able to handle Origin football.

"NSW does have a very aggressive pack with guys like (Nathan) Hindmarsh, Kite, Willie Mason - they are all tough guys.

"Whoever you throw in you know they're going to do the job but personally I know if I get a chance I would be able to do the job."

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Manly defence used to grind way to top

Manly have credited pride in their vaunted defence as the catalyst for moving into the outright NRL lead and firming in premiership contention.

The Sea Eagles used their desperate defence to hold out Melbourne in a 13-12 thriller at Brookvale Oval on Saturday night, with both Storm tries coming from clever Cooper Cronk kicks.

Conceding an average of just two tries per game, the Eagles are easily the best defensive side in the NRL but prop Brent Kite said it was the disastrous fortnight in round seven and eight that gave Manly the kick up the backside they needed.

The Eagles conceded 30 points against both North Queensland and Canberra in successive weeks, Kite revealing Manly had made a conscious effort to refocus on defence leading into their bye in two weeks time.

"In previous games this year we've showed plenty of character and we did the same (against Melbourne)," said Kite.

"We started off real well defensively in the season and we had a couple of weeks where we conceded 30 points on consecutive weeks and since then we've made a real aim to get back on the defence.

"We are really focusing on trying to get one more win up (against Penrith on Friday) and go into the bye and put our feet up then."

Melbourne forward Ryan Hoffman said Manly's defence isn't only the toughest to break in the NRL, but the most physical he had faced all season.

With centre Steve Matai pulling off several bone-crunchers and props Jason King and Kite also hitting targets, Hoffman said the Sea Eagles were genuine title contenders and he wouldn't be surprised if the Storm met them again in this year's grand final.

"It was a very tight game and the scoreline showed that," said Hoffman.

"It bloody well felt like (finals football) ... you'd expect nothing less from one v two clash and Manly showed they are definitely a big finals contender.

"I thought it was a very even clash and they showed they were one point better than us so hopefully if we get them again we can get over them."

Kite said the biggest problem facing Manly now will be how to cover the loss of interchange prop and cult hero George Rose who suffered a badly broken leg and won't play again this season.

"I'm a big fan of George. I have done a similar injury and my heart just went out to him," said Kite.

"He was in good form too which is hard for us to find someone to replace George and give us that spark we need off the bench."

Manly could also have some judiciary concerns with Kite and Anthony Watmough on report for a dangerous throw on Steve Turner.
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Orford powers Manly past 'Baby Broncos'

Manly halfback Matt Orford gave NSW selectors a none too subtle reminder of his ability with a starring role in his side's 18-6 win over an Origin-depleted Brisbane at Brookvale Oval.

Orford, overlooked for Origin I in favour of Newcastle youngster Jarrod Mullen, had a hand in three of his side's four tries as the Sea Eagles joined ladder leaders Melbourne on 18 competition points ahead of their meeting on Saturday night.

Winger Nick Bradley-Qualilawa scored a double for the home side in his first game of the season with Jason King and Anthony Watmough the other Manly tryscorers.

The undermanned Broncos, who now have just three wins from their opening ten games, were always going to struggle to match the high-flying Sea Eagles.

But despite taking to the field without seven players in camp with the Queensland Origin side and Test forward Sam Thaiday on the sidelines with a fractured eye socket, Brisbane battled until the final minute with an effort that would have pleased coach Wayne Bennett.

They may have also unearthed a new star in 20-year-old fullback Denan Kemp, who punctuated an impressive debut with a sensational 75 metre try which saw him beat five defenders.

The Sea Eagles looked like running away with the game with two tries in the opening 13 minutes, Orford finding a chink in the Broncos armour to put Bradley-Qualilawa over after some great scrambling defence from the visitors.

Orford then turned to the boot to set up King for his four-pointer with a pin-pint grubber which hit the upright.

The Broncos regained their composure and threatened the Sea Eagles line, but were let down by poor options on the last tackle with halfback Shane Perry having an ordinary night with the boot.

The Sea Eagles extended their lead four minutes after the restart when an Orford switch of play gave Bradley-Qualilawa a narrow passage down the right hand touchline before Anthony Watmough took it out to 18-0.

With the play looking like it had broken down, Watmough performed an acrobatic forward roll to spin out of a Brad Thorn tackle before powering his way over, Thorn's misery was compounded when he was placed on report for a lifting tackle on King in the lead-up to the try.

Ben Kennedy who?

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RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts.
Users of RSS content use software programs called "feed readers" or "feed aggregators". The user subscribes to a feed by entering a link of the feed into the reader program. The reader can then check the user's subscribed feeds to see if any of those feeds have new content since the last time it was checked, and, if so, retrieve that content and present it to the user.
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What is XML?
Wikipedia defines it as
The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose markup language.[1] Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet.[2]
It is a simplified subset of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), and is designed to be relatively human-legible. By adding semantic constraints, application languages can be implemented in XML.
What is RSS?
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts.
Users of RSS content use software programs called "feed readers" or "feed aggregators". The user subscribes to a feed by entering a link of the feed into the reader program. The reader can then check the user's subscribed feeds to see if any of those feeds have new content since the last time it was checked, and, if so, retrieve that content and present it to the user.