Manly thump Dragons, but fumble denies fans moment they were waiting for

4 Pines Park: The one thing Manly fans were looking forward to didn’t happen on Friday evening.

The Sea Eagles thumped a woeful St George Illawarra 44-10 to keep their slim finals hopes alive.

Manly simply need to beat the New Zealand Warriors next weekend and rely on South Sydney or the Cowboys losing both of their final two games to qualify.

The Sea Eagles have the firepower and confidence to cause some headaches should they make it to September.

Who would want to stop Haumole Olakau’atu in full flight? Tom Trbojevic is two games back from a hamstring injury and also bound to strip fitter.

And what about Clayton Faulolo, who bagged a try, set up another three and is proving arguably the best utility on the northern beaches?

But the 13,957 supporters inside 4 Pines Park one last time this season, including members of the club’s 1996 premiership team, rose to their feet for the kick-off in the 74th minute when Nathan Brown was ready to launch himself off the back fence.

Brown was playing his 200th NRL game and his last at home before finishing his career in the Super League next year.

What Brown lacks in size he makes up for in heart, and quickly earned the reputation for his kick-off carries, not to mention the nickname “Back-fence Brown”.

The TV cameras captured Brown’s eyes light up when the Dragons kicked to his side of the field. The Italian international started to steam on to the ball, got excited, then realised the pass from Jamal Fogarty was never coming because he had dropped the ball.

Brown let out a giant sigh, as did the supporters. It was a shame, but it was never going to change the result.

As is the case every year, Manly are the one club teams above them probably do not want to meet in the finals.

The Sea Eagles were given a standing ovation when they led 26-0 at the break against a Dragons side that completed only 10 of their 15 sets. Things did not improve for the men wearing red and white in the second half.

Lehi Hopoate opened the scoring when he caught a lovely cutout pass from Faulalo, then Jason Saab had an early double on the other wing, courtesy of a lovely chip kick from Brandon Wakeham, and a decent grubber from Jamal Fogarty.