The Sea Eagles have romped to a 30-6 win at a soaking McDonald Jones Stadium against a Knights side left reeling from a series of injuries and now a third straight loss.
In heavy rain in Newcastle, the home side looked to have scored first through Dom Young but the try was overturned for Tyson Frizell's lead run taking out Kieran Foran.
Instead Manly scored the only two tries of the opening half with Dylan Walker's short ball helping Andrew Davey over and a pinpoint Daly Cherry-Evans kick sitting up nicely for Morgan Harper and a 10-0 lead at the break.
A series of ruck penalties and set restarts given away by the Sea Eagles invited the Knights to attack after the resumption and Kalyn Ponga crossed after a nice sequence of offloading.
Davey gets Manly's first
The skipper looked to have put his side ahead with a neat grubber soon after but Chris Randall fumbled the put-down.
A ruck penalty against Sauaso Sue allowed Manly to move six points ahead before Karl Lawton embarrassed the Knights defence with a dart from dummy half. A Haumole Olakau'atu touchdown off a nice Walker grubber sealed the win and Taniela Paseka scored last off a Lawton grubber.
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Match snapshot
- Dom Young looked to have opened the scoring in the 20th minute but the try was overturned by the Bunker for obstruction in the lead up. In a double blow to the Knights, Young injured his knee in the process and played no further part in the game.
- Chris Randall was placed on report for high contact on Martin Taupau in the first tackle of the game. Taupau appeared to suffer a shoulder injury in the same tackle and eventually came off in the 20th minute.
Randall can't ground it
- Morgan Harper was also placed on report for high contact on Kalyn Ponga with Ponga taken off for a HIA soon after.
- Sean Keppie later become the third player in the match to be put on report, this time for a crusher tackle.
- Knights forward Jirah Momoisea last less than four minutes on field before being taken off with an arm injury, leaving the Knights with just one player on the bench until Ponga returned after half time.
- Dylan Walker's ball-playing off the bench turned the tide for Manly, setting up two tries and making an impact through the middle.
- Knights lock Kurt Mann was forced to edge forward and briefly fullback as injuries started to bite, highlighting his value to the club.
Play of the game
In heavy conditions and with his side up 4-0, Daly Cherry-Evans continued on from last week's imperious kicking form to stab a pinpoint grubber into space to sit up perfectly for Morgan Harper to score.
DCE plays the conditions to perfection
What's next
The Knights have a 10-day turnaround going into next Sunday's trip down to Wollongong to face the 15th-placed Dragons with Momoisea and possibly Young sidelined and Chris Randall awaiting the match review committee's charge sheet.
The Sea Eagles return home to host the ninth-placed Titans next Saturday with a nine-day turnaround of their own. They'll still be Turbo-less but Tolutau Koula should be available, while Martin Taupau is also under an injury cloud and Harper and Keppie are on report.