Wests Tigers old-stagers Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall have ensured the Michael Maguire era is off to a winning start with a 20-6 round-one NRL victory over Manly.
Things looked awry for the home side when a valiant Sea Eagles defence gritted their way to a 2-0 lead with half-an-hour to go on Saturday evening at Leichhardt Oval.
However, Farah wound back the clock with two second-half tries, while Marshall set up a third to spoil Des Hasler's return as Sea Eagles coach.
In miserable conditions in front of a crowd 13,159, the Tigers' veterans who produced a near-perfect display of wet-weather football.
The Tigers claimed the lead when a 35-year-old Farah was first to react to a Luke Brooks ricochet to score between the posts.
Marshall isolated Luke Garner to steamroll Daly Cherry-Evans in the 58th minute, before Farah dummied his way over not long after to seal the win.
It was an impressive start to the season for the Tigers, who were without new skipper Moses Mbye and are hoping to break an eight-year finals drought.
Marshall's performance also justified Maguire's decision to overlook high-profile playmaker Josh Reynolds for the key five-eighth spot.
The persistent rain made life hard for the two teams, with both sets of wingers making numerous mistakes defusing long and short kicks.
The Tigers enjoyed the lion's share of the territory, but couldn't convert initially into points.
Esan Marsters failed to cleanly ground a Marshall grubber in the 31st minute, while Farah was also held up over the line six minutes later.
They Sea Eagles weren't without their chances either, with Curtis Sironen denied by a rare referee interference, and Brendan Elliot ignoring an open Brad Parker.
But while the Tigers grew as the game went on, the Sea Eagles struggled to shake off their early-season rust and missed a number of their targets on set plays.
In contrast, Farah was in the face of Cherry-Evans on all of their last-tackle plays.
And things could get worse for Hasler, with forwards Addin Fonua-Blake and Joel Thompson likely to be in hot water with the match review committee.
Addin Fonua-Blake was pinged for dangerously diving at the legs of a kicking Marshall in the first half, while Thompson was reported for tripping.
Tigers halfback Brooks might also find himself in trouble for tripping Manly hooker Apisai Koroisau early in the second half.
Australian Associated Press
