Manly's touching Terry Hill tribute in win over Eels as Maika Sivo brain snap thrusts his NRL career into doubt

Manly paid their respects to rugby league great Terry Hill in their 32-18 win over the Eels on Friday night, with every Sea Eagles player wearing a black armband in honour of the NRL cult hero. Earlier this week the rugby league community was rocked by the death of Hill, 52, after he died of a heart attack.

Hill was a great of the sport in the 90s, playing 14 State of Origin games for the Blues and representing the Kangaroos on nine occasions. The enigmatic centre played for several clubs in his illustrious 246-game career, most of which were for the Sea Eagles between 1994-1999.

Before the match, Manly CEO Tony Mestrov said Hill will always be fondly remembered at the club. "Terry was a much-loved and respected figure not only at the Sea Eagles but across rugby league, where he played for several clubs,'' Mestrov said.

"On behalf of everyone at the Sea Eagles, we offer our deepest and sincere condolences to Terry's family and friends during this difficult time. Terry will always be fondly remembered at Manly." During the hard-fought encounter with Parramatta, each Manly player that took the field wore a black armband as a sign of respect for the rugby league great.

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Maika Sivo's brain snap could cost him his NRL career

Maika Sivo's NRL career has been littered with suspensions and he is likely headed for another stint on the sidelines after another 'dumb' moment cost his side dearly. One week after suffering a second-half capitulation at the hands of the Dolphins in Darwin, Parramatta again let a 14-6 lead slip on Friday night at Brookvale, with Sivo's error with 10 minutes to go sealing the side's fate.

The winger scored a first-half double and completed a hat-trick in the 66th minute but a brain explosion undid all his good work and effectively threw the game away for his side. After completing a tackle on Manly’s Reuben Garrick, Sivo decided to inexcusably drop an elbow into his head.

It was so obvious that there were audible moans from Parramatta players as Gerard Sutton blew his whistle and upon seeing the replay, put Sivo on report and sent him to the sin bin. At the time there were 11 minutes to go and the Eels were down 20-18 but following his sin bin, Manly attacked the side where he would have been defending if not for his costly mistake and scored two easy tries to seal the win. And his brain snap left embattled Eels coach Brad Arthur furious.

"It's dumb, isn't it?" Arthur said after the game. "It's 20-18 We're in front four tries to three. 11 minutes to go. Tackle four they put a kick up and hopefully, we get the ball back."

While Eels captain Clint Gutherson also couldn't hide his frustration. "It was just stupid," he said.

"We were in the game. It's 10 minutes left, we just got Will back on. Last tackle, catch the ball. We give ourselves a chance. Silly things at the moment are really hurting us. Just missed tackles, penalties against us. Can't do that in NRL games, it doesn't matter who you're playing."

The brain snap could ultimately cost Sivo a place in the Eels outfit moving forward. The winger missed the start of the Eels' season when he was banned for three matches after a high shot on Gold Coast’s AJ Brimson in the pre-season.

After scoring a double in his return match, Arthur dropped the 30-year-old Fijian due to his work ethic and his return to Parramatta's first-grade team couldn’t have ended worse. His days at Parramatta may now be numbered with a host of young backs at the club.

with AAP