Morgan double seals wins for Eels

Ryan Morgan ... scores a double in Eels v Sharks. Source: Phil Hillyard / News Limited

Parramatta produced an inspiring defensive display to cling on for a 13-6 victory over Cronulla on Saturday night in the inaugural Johnny Mannah Cup.

2 Tries 1
Ryan Morgan 13'	Michael Gordon 19'
Ryan Morgan 33'
1 Conversions 1
Chris Sandow 35'	Michael Gordon 21'
1 Penalties 0
Chris Sandow 59'
1 Field Goals 0
Luke Kelly 75'

The NRL rivals were united before the match joining the crowd in honouring Mannah, who passed away in January following a battle with cancer, with a moment's applause.

The occasion brought out the best in Parramatta co-captain Tim Mannah, who produced a whole-hearted performance on a night named after his younger brother.

Mannah, as well as a brace of tries to centre Ryan Morgan, helped inspire the Eels to a courageous win - bouncing back from last round's 50-0 thrashing at the hands of the Sydney Roosters.

The match itself failed to reach any great heights, with both teams struggling to find their spark or polish in attack and looking far more comfortable defending their own line than crossing the opposition's.

Cronulla desperately missed the influence of star playmaker Todd Carney (foot), with his replacement Chad Townsend finding the chest of Jarryd Hayne far too regularly with his kicking game.

The Eels scored the only points of the second half, through a 59th minute penalty goal to Chris Sandow - and then a field goal to five-eighth Luke Kelly.

They had a four-point advantage from a mostly dour first half that was highlighted by two fortuitous tries.

Morgan was the beneficiary when a Hayne grubber ricocheted off Cronulla's Townsend and into the arms of Kelly who sent Morgan over for his second of the evening.

Morgan had earlier shown great pace to get on the outside of Ben Pomeroy and cross out wide for an unconverted try.

Pomeroy finished the match on the bench, taken off with 20 minutes remaining despite not appearing to pick up an injury.

Morgan's tries were split by a remarkable effort from Cronulla's Michael Gordon.

The talented fullback regathered a messy bomb before putting in a kick of his own which bounced awkwardly, hitting the crossbar before Eels' halfback Chris Sandow juggled it into Gordon's welcoming arms.

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Dangerfield's late goals get Crows home

Stop me if you can ... Patrick Dangerfield was instrumental in Adelaide's 19-point victory. Source: DAVE HUNT / AAP

Adelaide has put the disappointment of round one behind them with a gutsy 19-point victory over Brisbane in rainy conditions at the Gabba.

Whether the teams live up to their pre-season billing as AFL finalists remains to be seen.

2.3 (15)	Q1	2.3 (15)
6.5 (41)	Q2	7.6 (48)
10.13 (73)	Q3	9.11 (65)
10.17 (77)	Q4	14.12 (96)

Joshua Green 2	Patrick Dangerfield 2
Stefan Martin 2	Josh Jenkins 2
Dayne Zorko 2	Jared Petrenko 2
Rohan Bewick 1	Taylor Walker 2
Pearce Hanley 1	Richard Douglas 1
James Polkinghorne 1	Ricky Henderson 1
Tom Rockliff 1	Sam Jacobs 1
	Matthew Jaensch 1
	Brent Reilly 1
	Rory Sloane 1

But both sides showed their shock first round losses were aberrations in a hard fought Gabba clash which Adelaide eventually won.

As the rain came down in front of a 21,308-strong crowd, the Crows finally broke their winning drought for the year 14.12 (96) to 10.17 (77) in an absorbing arm wrestle.

Pre-season champions Brisbane could lay claim to flop of the opening round after crashing back to earth with a 68-point loss to wooden spoon tip Western Bulldogs.

However, top four fancies Adelaide would have been a close second after a controversy-plagued Essendon belted them by 35 points.

Adelaide may have been smarting from being blown away by the Bombers but they would have been forgiven for having another defeat in the back of their minds - last year's shock round 21 Gabba loss to the Lions.

The Crows did their best to avenge the result with a stirring fourth-quarter comeback.

The Lions looked on track to grab consecutive wins over Adelaide for the first time since 2008-09 when they jumped to a nine-point lead early in the fourth term.

However, Adelaide banged home three consecutive majors including two straight to the influential Patrick Dangerfield (two goals, 23 touches), the latter a sensational running effort from the boundary that was green lighted on review and the Lions never recovered.

Scores were locked up at 2.3 (15) to 2.3 (15) at the first break after Adelaide's Brent Reilly was pinged for holding the ball and James Polkinghorne kicked truly from 20m.

The Crows looked set to take flight in the second, jumping to a 13-point lead when Taylor Walker dribbled through a goal from 45m.

However, the Lions reined the visitors in, restricting the halftime deficit to 7.6 (48) to 6.5 (41) after Josh Green somehow squeezed through a goal from the right pocket.peAdelaide again kicked away to a 13-point lead in the third when Jared Petrenko goaled from 25m after being taken high by Tom Rockliff.

But a Rohan Bewick snap after a Josh Jenkins fumble ensured the hosts enjoyed a 10.13 (73) to 9.11 (65) buffer at the final interval.

For Adelaide, Scott Thompson had 31 touches and Nathan van Berlo and Rory Sloane both 22.

Brisbane's Pearce Hanley led the way for the hosts with 30 disposals while Brent Moloney had 24 and Mitch Golby 19.

Click here to review all of the stats and scores in the FOX FOOTY Match Centre.

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HurricanesÂ’ whirlwind sinks Waratahs

Devastating ... Savea destroys the Waratahs. Source: Ross Setford / AAP

The Waratahs miserable overseas run has continued with a 41-29 Super Rugby loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday.

4 Tries 3
Julian Savea 13'	Bernard Foley 21'
Reggie Goodes 44'	Adam Ashley-Cooper 62'
Motu Matu'u 52'	Israel Folau 74'
Julian Savea 55'
3 Conversions 1
Beauden Barrett 14'	Brendan McKibbin 22'
Beauden Barrett 53'
Beauden Barrett 56'
5 Penalties 4
Beauden Barrett 10'	Brendan McKibbin 3'
Beauden Barrett 20'	Brendan McKibbin 16'
Beauden Barrett 33'	Brendan McKibbin 36'
Beauden Barrett 40'	Brendan McKibbin 50'
Beauden Barrett 71'

The Waratahs only trailed 19-16 after a see-sawing first half, but the Hurricanes produced a decisive third-quarter surge.

Australia Conference		W	L	D	PD	BP	Pts
1	Brumbies	5	1	1	73	3	29
2	Reds	5	2	0	5	2	26
3	Waratahs	3	4	0	-38	1	17
4	Western Force	1	5	0	-35	2	10
5	Melbourne Rebels	1	5	0	-100	1	9
New Zealand Conference		W	L	D	PD	BP	Pts
1	Chiefs	5	1	0	84	5	29
2	Hurricanes	4	2	0	13	3	23
3	Blues	3	3	0	27	6	22
4	Crusaders	3	3	0	38	5	21
5	Highlanders	0	6	0	-59	2	6
South Africa Conference		W	L	D	PD	BP	Pts
1	Sharks	5	1	0	64	1	25
2	Bulls	3	3	0	-5	3	19
3	Cheetahs	4	2	0	-4	2	18
4	Stormers	2	3	0	-4	3	15
5	Southern Kings	1	4	1	-59	1	11

Two converted tries in six minutes just before the hour tilted the game in the Hurricanes favour as they bolted to a 38-19 advantage.

Unconverted tries to centre Adam Ashley-Cooper and fullback Israel Folau got the Tahs back to within 12 points in the final six minutes.

They almost salvaged two bonus points at the death, but flanker Michael Hooper was dragged into touch just short of the line.

The Hurricanes scored four tries to three, with blockbusting All Blacks winger Julian Savea crossing twice.
It was an 11th straight overseas loss for NSW, their sixth in New Zealand.

The loss left the Waratahs outside the top six heading into their second and final bye next week.

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See all the tries in our interactive Match Centre here!

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NSW produced some sparkling passages and held their own in the set-pieces but made some costly turnovers and were outpointed at the breakdown.

"We talked about not giving them easy possession and we gave them too much ball in our half and it hurt us,'' Waratahs captain and flanker Dave Dennis said.

"They are a good side the Hurricanes and scored two or three tries quickly in the second half and it was hard to come back.''

NSW halfback Brendan McKibbin posted first points with a penalty, that was cancelled out by Hurricanes five-eighth Beauden Barrett, who kicked 21 points.

Savea scored his first try when he sprinted 40 metres after the ball was swung out left after it was spilt by winger Drew Mitchell.

Barrett converted, but a McKibbin penalty got NSW back to within four points.

Another Barrett penalty expanded the Hurricanes lead to seven, but that was wiped out following a sensational solo effort from Waratahs five-eighth Bernard Foley.

Foley bamboozled three defenders with some stunning footwork in a 40-metre dash to the line and McKibbin converted to make it 13-13.

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Ken hopes emotion wont overwhelm Port

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Tribute ... Ken Hinkley hopes his players can handle their emotions. Source: Sarah Reed / News Limited

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley hopes his players won't be overwhelmed by emotion in their tribute match for former teammate John McCarthy.

But Hinkley admits uncertainty about just how his players will react against Greater Western Sydney on Saturday night.

"It's really hard because the emotional part, you think how long is it going to last?'' Hinkley told reporters on Friday.

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"Once the contest starts, is it influencing the players and their behaviours? We would hope not because we know their behaviours will change their outcomes.

"And that is the most important thing for us, we have got to get the right behaviours.''

McCarthy died, aged 22, after falling from a roof at a Las Vegas casino last September while on an end-of-season trip with some Power teammates.

Some Port players broke down while recording video tributes to McCarthy to be screened at AAMI Stadium before Port's first home game since his accidental death.

Both clubs will run through banners, and wear black arm bands, in McCarthy's honour.

But Hinkley said his task would be to "bring them (his players) back to the focus of playing football as much as we possibly can''.

"Obviously there is some stuff that we won't be able to control,'' he said.

"But we have just got to remind the boys what makes them good players and that is then their job: to go out and produce the sort of form that we want.

"They know it's a significant game for him and the way they want to honour him. Importantly, they know they can do that best by playing football.''

Hinkley called on all Port supporters to come to the match in a show of respect for McCarthy, whose Victorian-based family will attend the game.

Port fullback Alipate Carlile, who was with McCarthy on the ill-fated Las Vegas trip, will return from a hamstring injury to play against the Giants.

Beyond the McCarthy factor, Hinkley said the clash was also important for other reasons as Port seek to back-up their round one demolition of Melbourne.

"We're not fooled by one performance,'' Hinkley said.

"We know that we have to turn up again and play good footy again tomorrow night ... that is what AFL football demands of you.

"There is always opportunities in football to look back. And it's a really dangerous thing to do.''

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Rules won't change Storm playbook

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Melbourne Storm ... coach Craig Bellamy rules out changing his play book. Source:News Limited

Melbourne NRL coach Craig Bellamy won't re-write their playbook again despite the obstruction rule being tweaked.

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Bellamy applauded the "common sense" shown by the NRL this week to hand video referees the power to determine the significance of block runners in try-scoring situations.

Renowned for their innovative set plays, the Storm went back to the drawing board after a disallowed try in round three to come up with ways to work around the stricter interpretation.

"We did change a little bit," Bellamy said.

"A few of our plays we changed and a couple we put on the shelf.

"That's a little bit frustrating for us but we might stick with our new version."

The Wests Tigers will get a first-hand look of that version on Monday night at AAMI Park.

Bellamy, however, was more concerned with his team's defence than its attack despite their 4-0 win-loss start to the season.

"If someone said, especially with the schedule we've had, that we'd be four games up then we would have grabbed that with both hands,'' Bellamy said on Friday.

"There's been a few signs of a couple of things that we probably haven't been that good at in the last couple of games.

"Defensively there's just a couple of things we need to pick up on."

The Storm did leak five tries to almost fall to Brisbane in their last outing, with their right-hand touchline manned by winger Matt Duffie, the most obvious weakness.

Duffie is under pressure with premiership winger big Fijian Sisa Waqa back in contention after recovering from a cut hand.

With veteran Braith Anasta shifting to halfback for the Tigers, Bellamy expects their faltering attack to finally fire.

The former NSW playmaker will replace youngster Jacob Miller who was a casualty after their 22-0 loss to Manly.

"You always know they're going to be a dangerous attacking team, especially with guys like Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall in there,'' Bellamy said.

"They have probably been a little bit up and down but we expect them to be at their best."

Anasta hasn't started at halfback in six years, the last time memorable for all the wrong reasons with his Roosters suffering a 56-0 loss.

Bellamy believed Anasta's footy nous and improved skills would mean a different outcome this time around.

"He's a pretty complete package but Braith's best position is probably in the halves," he said.

"He should be a little bit more comfortable in the halves so that means he'll probably play really well."

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Blues run down winless Highlanders

Double ... Piri Weepu rescues the Blues. Source: AAP

Blues halfback Piri Weepu scored two late tries in a 29-18 win over the Highlanders at Eden Park which consigned the southern side to a sixth straight loss this Super Rugby season.

4 Tries 2
Steven Luatua 20'	Ben Smith 9'
Angus Ta'avao 29'	Phil Burleigh 63'
Piri Weepu 59'
Piri Weepu 70'
3 Conversions 1
Chris Noakes 29'	Colin Slade 10'
Chris Noakes 60'
Baden Kerr 70'
1 Penalties 2
Chris Noakes 67'	Colin Slade 3'
	Colin Slade 38'

Up 13-12 at halftime, the Highlanders fell away late, gifting the Blues a third win which ends their own slump of three successive defeats.

Australia Conference		W	L	D	PD	BP	Pts
1	Brumbies	5	1	0	73	3	27
2	Reds	5	2	0	5	2	26
3	Waratahs	3	3	0	-26	1	17
4	Western Force	1	5	0	-35	2	10
5	Melbourne Rebels	1	5	0	-100	1	9
New Zealand Conference		W	L	D	PD	BP	Pts
1	Chiefs	5	1	0	84	5	29
2	Blues	3	3	0	27	6	22
3	Crusaders	3	2	0	42	4	20
4	Hurricanes	3	2	0	1	2	18
5	Highlanders	0	6	0	-59	2	6
South Africa Conference		W	L	D	PD	BP	Pts
1	Sharks	4	1	0	60	1	21
2	Bulls	3	3	0	-5	3	19
3	Cheetahs	4	2	0	-4	2	18
4	Stormers	2	3	0	-4	3	15
5	Southern Kings	1	4	0	-59	0	8

Weepu was at the heart of victory, outplaying error-prone counterpart and fellow All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith in a game where countless handling errors mirrored the recent fortunes of both teams.

The Blues scored four tries to two to improve their home record against the Highlanders to nine wins from 11 meetings.

Their first two tries, to flanker Steven Luatua and prop Angus Ta'avao were scored while Highlanders inside centre Ma'a Nonu was in the sinbin for a blatant shoulder charge on Weepu in the 19th minute.

However, the visitors still managed to lead at the break courtesy of a try to fullback Ben Smith and two penalties by five-eighth Colin Slade.

The Blues defended for much of the 20 minutes after halftime, struggling at scrum time and down one man when winger George Moala was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on opposite Buxton Popoali'i which saw the Highlander stretchered from the field.

However, they found a second wind and a slick move featuring several offloads was finished by Weepu in the 60th minute.

Phil Burleigh responded soon afterwards courtesy of a break from fellow-Highlanders reserve Fumiaki Tanaka to reduce the lead to one point.

However, a penalty to Blues five-eighth Chris Noakes was followed by Weepu's second try after he backed up charging centre Rene Ranger, who was a handful all night.

The Highlanders' overall losing streak now stands at nine. They haven't won since last May, when they downed the Blues at Eden Park.

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Aloisi to fight three-match ban

Banished ... John Aloisi will serve a three-game touchline ban. Source: Joe Castro / AAP

There are questions over the fight shown by Melbourne Heart as their A-League season slipped away, but they'll fight to have coach John Aloisi available to start the next one.

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The Heart are appealing a three-game suspension handed to the coach on Wednesday.

Aloisi's first season at the helm finished with him banished to the stands for abusing officials at halftime of his club's season-ending 2-1 loss to Central Coast Mariners on Saturday night.

The extra two games added to his mandatory one-match suspension by the match review panel heaped further pain to what has been a dismal last part of the season.

Finalists last season, the Heart were well in contention for a repeat appearance before fading badly to lose their last five games and finish second-bottom.

The Heart's appeal, against the extra two games of the ban, is expected to be heard next week.

If the ban stands, it will include any FFA-sanctioned pre-season matches the club play in the lead-up to next season.

That means even if he loses the appeal, Aloisi could still potentially serve the ban in full before the season starts, if the Heart can organise three pre-season friendlies.

Defender Patrick Gerhardt received only the mandatory one-match ban after he was sent off in the first half against the Mariners.

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Daley wants Pearce, Reynolds for City

Mitchell Pearce ... and Adam Reynolds both in contention for City Origin. Source: Gregg Porteous / News Limited

NSW coach Laurie Daley wants halfback contenders Mitchell Pearce and Adam Reynolds both named in the City Origin side as he weighs up his option for the State of Origin opener.

South Sydney youngster Reynolds has throw down the gauntlet to Blues incumbent Pearce, who produced his best performance of 2013 in the Sydney Roosters' 50-0 hammering of Parramatta on Monday night.

Ideally Daley would have loved the opportunity to pit 22-year-old Reynolds - last year's NRL rookie of the year - up against Pearce in Coffs Harbour on April 21, but both are eligible for City.

With both being specialist halfbacks, City Origin coach Brad Fittler is unlikely to use the duo as a halves pairing, with a game-sharing situation the most likely option.

Just two rounds remain before the City and Country sides are named on April 14.

"Both of them I'm assuming will be somewhere in the squad - it will be up to Freddie how he uses them," Daley said of Reynolds and Pearce.

"I'd like to have a look at both of them.

"I want to see how Reynolds handles the step up into the higher grade and alongside different players.

"That will be good for his development."

Daley stated earlier this year that Pearce remained his preferred option in the No.7, as the new coach looks to build on the playmaking partnership of Pearce, Todd Carney and Robbie Farah which was formed under previous NSW coach Ricky Stuart.

Halfback won't be the only position of interest in the City-Country clash, with Daley confirming all players in contention for the Origin opener on June 6 would play in the game bar the Australian players who will play in the Test against New Zealand two days earlier.

With Queensland expected to dominate the Australian side, Daley should get the chance to see a large number of his options on the same field.

Only the likes of Paul Gallen, Luke Lewis, Greg Bird, James Tamou and Greg Bird would be considered likely Test selections.

"I'm hoping the two teams (City and Country) will be made up of guys that we want to have a look at," Daley said.

"That may be difficult given we may have a couple of people going for the same position and you can't fit them all in.

"That's what we've done over the last couple of years.

"There's a chance there for guys to put their hand up, 100 per cent."

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'AFL playing the schoolyard bully'

In control ... AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou. Source: Lukas Coach / AAP

AFL's reputation as the schoolyard bully on Australia's sporting landscape has been enhanced by Andrew Demetriou's decision to prevent a Port Adelaide employee from volunteering to help A-League club Adelaide United find a new coach.

Darren Burgess, the highly respected strength and conditioning coach who worked with the Socceroos and English giants Liverpool before returning home to work with Port Adelaide in the AFL, was seconded by the board of Adelaide United to contribute to a panel formed to recruit the Reds next coach.

Centre of storm ... Darren Burgess. Source: News Limited

Other members of the panel are former Socceroos Craig Foster and Alex Tobin.

Burgess's role was to be purely voluntary. He has a real affinity with football and has experience in the game at the highest level that would be hard to find anywhere else in Australia.

Given his understanding of elite team sport and the role of the coach therein, it seemed a reasonable thing for the Reds to seek his opinion in choosing a permanent replacement for John Kosmina.

But those plans were scuppered when AFL boss Demetriou personally and directly intervened, instructing Port Adelaide that Burgess was not to have involvement with Adelaide United on any official basis.

Technically, the AFL commission might have a right to dictate those sort of terms to its member clubs, but the question is why they chose to do so.

What are the AFL worried about?

The only explanation is the obvious one, which is that the AFL is the biggest kid in the schoolyard and is looking to exact total dominance over the marketplace.

The AFL's apparent attempts to run a totalitarian state bring into sharp focus Graham Arnold's comments after Central Coast Mariners' game last weekend.

Asked if he watched Western Sydney Wanderers play the previous night - the team he has been battling all year for A-League supremacy - Arnold replied that he didn't see the game because he was watching the NRL.

If the AFL is running Australian sport's version of the Spanish Inquisition, then surely Graham Arnold would have been burnt at the stake.

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NRL changes obstruction rule

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Change of heart ... the amendment will give more power to video referees. Source: Mark Evans / News Limited

After four weeks of mayhem, common sense has finally prevailed at NRL headquarters with video referees handed the power to determine the significance of block runners in try-scoring situations.

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Obstruction rulings will no longer be a case of black and white for the men in the video referees box, who up until now were forced to deny tries where there was any contact initiated by a block runner into a defender.

It led to farcical situations where teams were being stripped of what appeared legitimate four-pointers where a defender was impeded well away from where the try was being scored - as was the case with the Cooper Cronk no-try in Melbourne Storm's round three win over Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

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Effective from this weekend, if a defender is taken out but would not have been in a position to stop the try being scored, the try will still be awarded.

The move comes following a meeting on Tuesday involving referees boss Daniel Anderson and other members of the competition committee.

NRL general manager of football operations Nathan McGuirk said the rule change was not a green light for block runners to take out defenders.

"Having examined the application of the rule over the opening four rounds we believe an adjustment was necessary to provide a level of discretion for the video referee in the review process," McGuirk said in a statement.

"... (it) ensures that tries that would have been fairly scored will be awarded."

"Daniel (referees' boss Daniel Anderson) in particular has made some really positive changes to the refereeing of matches in 2013 and the fact that we are able to make adjustments when they need to be made reflects the strength of the system we have in place.

"It is important to note that this is not a green light for block (decoy) runners to start contacting defenders with no consequences.

Players and coaches alike were left fuming over the weekend when a series of tries were rejected by the video referee, Wests Tigers skipper Robbie Farah claiming players were being encouraged to take a dive when hit by a decoy runner.

But the change is unlikely to provide a foolproof mechanism for awarding tries, with the same debate which marred last year's campaign over the level of interference of a block runner sure to divide opinion.

Rival coaches Ivan Cleary (Penrith Panthers) and Gold Coast Titans boss John Cartwright had different views on the no-try against Panthers No.6 on Sunday afternoon after Sika Manu ran into Titans back-rower Greg Bird in the lead-up.

Cleary, who is part of the competition committee, claimed defenders weren't doing their job if they didn't attempt to run into a decoy runner when a try was being scored under the system adopted over the opening month of the campaign.

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