Manly Sea Eagles

Sea Eagles consider appeal

Manly will consider appealing the $50,000 fine meted out by the NRL for last Friday night's brawl with Melbourne players at Brookvale Oval.

The Sea Eagles will take legal advice before deciding how to proceed in the wake of the fine and five of their stars being charged over the fight.

Lock Glenn Stewart will appear before the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night after his contrary conduct charge was referred directly to the panel.

Darcy Lussick, Brett Stewart, Kieran Foran and Michael Robertson were also charged with offences ranging in grade from four to one, respectively.

"The club will handle the charges against the players for contrary conduct in the normal manner," Sea Eagles chairman Scott Penn said in a statement.

"The fine to the club is disappointing and we will need to look at seeking external advice on the merit of the fine.

"We would not rule out an appeal."

Glenn Stewart is looking at the real possibility of missing the entire finals campaign after the match review committee found the highest grading for his charge - five - was not sufficient.

A grade five contrary charge equates to a five-week ban, meaning Stewart could be looking at even longer.

"Glenn Stewart has expressed his remorse at the incident in which he was sent off," Penn said.

"It has been a tough time for him and his team-mates over the past few days but now the charges have been laid we need to calmly examine every issue.

"That will take time but we have a deadline of noon tomorrow and we will take up all that time.

"It is vital to every part of our organisation - our sponsors, fans and players - that we acknowledge the seriousness of the incident but ensure the outcome is fair to everyone involved.

"Emotions have run high since last Friday and the comments have been relentless.

"It is essential that there is no pre-judging taking place because of intense media speculation."

Penn says the Sea Eagles had every faith in the NRL judicial system.

NRL Rugby Melbourne Storm vs Manly Sea Eagles live 26thAugust ...

FootyTab: Storm +3.5

Greg Prichard writes: It is easy to say the Storm must be getting close to a loss, since they have won 12 in a row, but they are unlikely to have a letdown going into this match. It’s one versus two, so they should be right up for it. The Sea Eagles were a little off their game against the Bulldogs last weekend, but they still won and their minds may have been straying to this game anyway. This should be an epic contest, and it could go either way.

AAP writes: The NRL’s top two teams meet in the match of the round, with both clubs set to renew a fierce rivalry dating back to the 2007-2008 grand finals. Both teams claimed one premiership apiece from those battles, but would dearly love to get the upper hand here. Melbourne are on a club-record streak of 12 consecutive wins, but will have to take on Manly without inspirational halfback Cooper Cronk. The Sea Eagles are undefeated at Brookvale Oval this season, but will need to lift their performance from last round’s scratchy 27-16 victory over Canterbury if they are to tame the competition’s best team.

Key: Both teams possess genuine match-winners at fullback. Billy Slater is widely regarded as the game’s No.1 custodian and is a freak in attack and defence, but Brett Stewart’s try-scoring rate at Brookvale is unprecedented.

SEA EAGLES: Brett Stewart, Michael Robertson, Jamie Lyon (capt), Steve Matai, David Williams, Kieran Foran, Daly Cherry-Evans, George Rose, Matt Ballin, Brent Kite, Anthony Watmough, Joe Galuvao, Glenn Stewart. Interchange: Darcy Lussick, Jamie Buhrer, Shane Rodney, Tony Williams, Tim Robinson (one to be omitted).

STORM: Billy Slater, Matt Duffie, Dane Nielsen, Beau Champion, Anthony Quinn, Rory Kostjasyn, Gareth Widdop, Bryan Norrie, Cameron Smith (capt), Jesse Bromwich, Adam Blair, Sika Manu, Kevin Proctor.

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