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Match Report - Round 5 2002

Eagles 'disgraceful and embarrassing'
BY JEFF DUNNE
News Interactive
15apr02

A WEEK ago the Northern Eagles were sunning themselves in the glory of their first win of the season. Today they are contemplating the club's worst ever loss.

The 68-10 defeat at the hands of the New Zealand Warriors broke all the records yesterday.

It was the worst loss for the Northern Eagles eclipsing the 50-10 result against North Queensland in 2000.

It also shattered Manly's worst defeat, a 61-11 loss to St George in 1947.

The joy of their win over the Sydney Roosters in the previous round was a distant memory as coach Peter Sharp called a crisis meeting of his players at their Auckland hotel after the game.

The loss has destroyed any hint of momentum the battling club had generated.

But chief executive Ian Thomson, who did not travel to Auckland, said management would not getting involved directly in the post-mortems.

"You need to review what happened and ask if the preparation was right but that is a coaching issue not an administration issue," Thomson said.

"A loss like that is not acceptable but it is understandable.

"We're still trying to pull this team together.

"If we had this result in 2004 I would be filthy but in 2002 at the stage we're at, we're going to have blowouts like that.

"There are going to be times when it's beer and skittles like last weekend and there is going to be times when you feel like hiding."

The coach was reluctant to be too critical of his players.

"It was a below par effort," Sharp said.

But captain Steve Menzies did not hold back. "It was pretty disgraceful and embarrassing," Menzies said.

"They came out and had it all their way for the first 20 minutes but that's no excuse for the way we played. The game isn't gone after 20 minutes but we didn't offer much."

WARRIORS 68
S. Jones 3, C Toopi 2, S Faumuina 2, B Webb, L Hohaia, I Cleary, J Seu Seu tries; Cleary 12 goals

def. EAGLES 10
Hopoate 2 tries, Ferris goal

Erickson Stadium
14 Apr '02,
Crowd: 12,563

Referee: Tony Archer

Eagles Team:

Brendon Reeves,
Robert Miles,
Lenny Beckett,
Albert Torrens,
John Hopoate,
Luke Dorn,
Jason Ferris,
Grant Wooden,
Jamie Goddard,
David Westley,
Wade Forrester,
Mark Shipway,
Steve Menzies (c).

Replacements:
Jason King,
Danny Lima,
Brad Kelly,
Shayne Dunley.