Rugby league icon Johnathan Thurston has pinpointed the Manly Sea Eagles' sluggish response to errors as their chief concern, in the wake of their 46-6 hiding at the hands of the red-hot Penrith Panthers.
While the last-placed Sea Eagles crashed to a fourth consecutive defeat to start the season, they only recorded two more errors than the reigning premiers, making 10 to the Panthers' eight.
But those errors burnt Manly as Penrith, primarily through a lethal left edge headlined by Viliame Kikau, Jarome Luai, Matt Burton and Brian To'o, ran in eight tries and consigned the Sea Eagles' to their heaviest defeat in history at Brookvale Oval.
Thurston drilled that home during Nine's post-match coverage of the opening match of round four.
"They've got a really soft underbelly at the moment. They make an error and then they'll concede another one, a six-again, but they're not defending it and it's leading to tries," Thurston said.
"So that's where the leaders need to take control of the match and get the ball down to the other end of the field. Every time they were trying to come out of their own end they were shifting or it was just a simple forward pass and they're just making errors and putting themselves under the pump.
"The No.7 and No.6 really need to take this team forward and just get the ball down the other end. When they kicked early and got the Panthers coming out of their own end they looked good defensively."
Former Jillaroos star Allana Ferguson agreed with the North Queensland Cowboys great.
"There was a very big difference to how both sides actually handled those errors. Penrith defend and build pressure on the back of it, but what Manly did was make those errors … Then they actually concede points," Ferguson said.
"It's about being in those moments and your effort and your attitude towards the game. You can't afford to let in so many points off the back of errors. You've got to stand tall and fight hard."
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