2009 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season

The 2009 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season was the 60th in the club's history. They competed in the National Rugby League's 2009 Telstra Premiership and finished the regular season 5th (out of 16). The Sea Eagles were then knocked out in the first week of the play-offs by eventual premiers, the Melbourne Storm.

Contents

Season summary

As 2008 NRL premiers, Manly-Warringah started their season with the World Club Challenge match in England against Super League's 2008 champions, the Leeds Rhinos. They defeated the Rhinos 28 - 20, putting an end to England club football's 5-year hold on the World Club Challenge trophy before preparing for the start of the 2009 NRL season.

Sea Eagles star player Brett Stewart was accused of a sexual assault with a 17-year-old girl, this coming the same day after Manly's infamous season launch on March 6, where it was believed Stewart got drunk. The NRL suspended Stewart until Round 5 of the competition, but he was still allowed to train with the club. As a result, the club started their premiership defence poorly, with four consecutive losses seeing them at last place after round four. They won their fifth round match so they were the last team to record their first win of the season, against the Wests Tigers. Upon Stewart's return he scored 3 tries in the Sea Eagles' first win of the season. Stewart was exonerated over his sexual assault charge in September 2010.

Stewart only played four further matches in the 2009 season; he suffered a knee injury in the Sea Eagles' round six victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs and missed a great deal of football. He returned in round 25, just in time for Manly's charge to the finals; after the Sea eagles initially struggled without him on the field. Manly were eliminated in the first round of finals, going down 40-12 to the Melbourne Storm at Etihad Stadium despite finishing fifth at the end of the regular season. Losses to two of the top three teams were the reasons for Manly's early exit, ending their premiership defence in disappointment.

2009 Squad

No. Position Player
FE Chris Bailey
HK Matt Ballin
WG Ben Farrar
SR Adam Cuthbertson
FE Kieran Foran
RE Glenn Hall
HB Trent Hodkinson
FB Will Hopoate
PR Jason King
PR Brent Kite
RE Heath L'Estrange
SR Jake Lingard
FE Jamie Lyon
CE Steve Matai
No. Position Player
SR Vic Mauro
SR Phil Morwood
CE Shane Neumann
HB Matt Orford
CE Junior Paulo
PR Josh Perry
WG Michael Robertson
SR Shane Rodney
PR George Rose
FB Brett Stewart
SR Glenn Stewart
WG Andrew Suniula
SR Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
SR Anthony Watmough
WG David Williams
WG Tony Williams

Table

Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1 St. George Illawarra 24 17 0 7 2 548 329 +219 38
2 Bulldogs 24 18 0 6 2 575 428 +147 38*
3 Gold Coast 24 16 0 8 2 514 467 +47 36
4 Melbourne 24 14 1 9 2 505 348 +157 33
5 Manly-Warringah 24 14 0 10 2 549 439 +90 32
6 Brisbane 24 14 0 10 2 511 566 −55 32
7 Newcastle 24 13 0 11 2 508 491 +17 30
8 Parramatta 24 12 1 11 2 476 473 +3 29
9 Wests Tigers 24 12 0 12 2 558 483 +75 28
10 South Sydney 24 11 1 12 2 566 549 +17 27
11 Penrith 24 11 1 12 2 515 589 −74 27
12 North Queensland 24 11 0 13 2 558 474 +84 26
13 Canberra 24 9 0 15 2 489 510 −31 22
14 New Zealand 24 7 2 15 2 377 545 −188 20
15 Cronulla-Sutherland 24 5 0 19 2 359 568 −209 14
16 Sydney Roosters 24 5 0 19 2 382 681 −299 14

* Bulldogs stripped of 2 competition points after an interchange breach in round 2

References