Souths Didn’t Lose Because of Sticky Spray. They Lost Because Manly Had a Plan.
By FootyNRLScore — 2026-06-05
## Souths Didn’t Lose Because of Sticky Spray. They Lost Because Manly Had a Plan
There are nights where rugby league gives you a clean headline. This was not one of them. Manly beat South Sydney 28-14, but somehow the match will be remembered for sticky spray, a ball glued to Ben Trbojevic’s hand, and Wayne Bennett looking like he wanted to personally unplug the bunker and throw it into Narrabeen Lake. Manly won. Souths fumed. The internet did what the internet does best: calmly processed the nuance. Just kidding, everyone started yelling.
And yes, South Sydney were absolutely entitled to be filthy. Clayton Faulalo’s second-half try came after Ben Trbojevic appeared to bobble the ball at the play-the-ball, with referee Adam Gee heard explaining that Trbojevic had control and the ball only stuck because of grip spray. The Bunker could not rule on that play-the-ball error, which is the sort of sentence that makes fans question whether rugby league has laws or just vibes with sponsors.
Bennett did not miss. “They pay all this money for the bunker and we still don’t get it right,” he said, while also admitting Souths “weren’t playing well” and refusing to use it as the sole excuse. That second part matters. The coach was angry, but he was not blind. The controversy hurt Souths; it did not explain Souths.
Because the uncomfortable truth is this: Manly looked like a side with a system, and Souths looked like a side waiting for individual moments to save them. Cody Walker’s 40/20 set up Keaon Koloamatangi’s early try, Ashton Ward’s 40/20 later opened the door for David Fifita, and that was about as structured as South Sydney’s threat became. Two brilliant kicks. Two forward tries. Not enough sustained pressure. Not enough edge polish. Not enough reason for Manly to panic.
Kieran Foran, meanwhile, is coaching like someone who still has mud on his boots. After the win he said, “I just wanted us to play well tonight,” and added he was “really proud with how the boys responded.” That is not poetry, but it is exactly what Manly are right now: simple, connected, direct, and annoying to play against. Jake Trbojevic summed up the week nicely too, joking that everywhere he drove he saw “Fozball”, “Foz Pines” and even “Kieran Foran Chicken”, before admitting, “jeez, we better play good.” They did.
The FootyNRLScore numbers backed the eye test. Manly are not sitting first in the Power Rankings — correction noted — but fifth on 77 still says they are firmly in the serious-footy conversation. The Panthers are clear on 93, the Warriors sit second on 82, the Dolphins third on 81 and the Sharks fourth on 78, but Manly’s fifth-place 77 feels about right: dangerous, rising, and still with enough chaos to keep their fans emotionally hydrated.
The individual ratings were even more revealing. Jason Saab topped Manly’s FootyNRLScore card with an 8.0, and that felt fair. His double, including the late finisher, was the clean punctuation mark on a messy Souths night. Haumole Olakau’atu rated 7.2 on FootyNRLScore and was the match’s physical thermostat. Fox Sports also had him as Manly’s top SuperCoach player with 102 points, while Reuben Garrick and Ben Trbojevic were also right up there.
For Souths, Cameron Murray’s 6.6 was the highest Rabbitohs rating on the FootyNRLScore pitch view. That is the issue. Your captain should not have to drag the respectability of the performance around like luggage with a broken wheel. Koloamatangi’s 6.5 and Walker’s 6.3 were solid enough, but the outside backs tell the story: Campbell Graham 5.1, Edward Kosi 5.5, Alex Johnston 5.6, Latrell Siegwalt 5.6. That is not a backline firing. That is a backline asking for a wellness check.
The fan reaction saw it too. On Reddit’s post-match thread, plenty of Souths anger centred not just on the bunker, but on the decision to take the penalty goal while Manly were down to 12. One fan wrote that Souths “deserved to lose” after taking the two with Manly “on the ropes,” while another called it a two-minute breather for the Sea Eagles. Harsh? Maybe. Wrong? Not entirely.
The Pride forum had the emotional stakes right before kick-off. One Souths fan called it “the biggest moment of our season so far” and warned that Manly’s backline, halves and forward pack were all serious threats. That was not doomposting. That was scouting. Manly’s speed and support play did exactly what Rabbitohs fans feared it would do.
Souths supporters now have to ask the bias question. Are you angry because the bunker missed a call, or because the call gave you somewhere convenient to put the frustration? Both can be true. The Faulalo try was controversial. But Souths were also outplayed for long stretches, failed to punish a sin-bin, and spent too much of the night relying on Walker and Ward to kick them out of trouble.
Manly, on the other hand, are starting to look like one of those teams nobody wants to admit they enjoy watching. Saab is stretching edges, Koula is electric, Brooks looks calm, Fogarty is steering, and Olakau’atu is running like someone told him the defensive line owes him money. Even Faulalo managed to score, get binned, get injured and become the centre of a national rules debate. Productive evening, really.
Final word? South Sydney did not get robbed of a win. They got robbed of a cleaner excuse.
The bunker may have had a shocker, but Manly had the better plan, better ratings, better edge speed, and the better finish. Souths had moments. Manly had a match.
FootyNRLScore sign-off: the Sea Eagles are flying, the Rabbitohs are searching, and sticky spray has officially entered rugby league folklore. Somewhere, a Steeden is applying for workers’ comp.