Machine-like Manly taste blood as Knights self-destruct Back where they belong, at Brookvale Oval and under siege, Manly are back where they will believe they belong; near the top of the table as one of the premiership pacesetters. Newcastle were one of the big winners out of the opening weekend, but they were given a lesson by Manly, who struck early, then monstered their opponents. Second-rower Anthony Watmough was superb, although the usual suspects such as centre Jamie Lyon weren't far behind him. Winger Jorge Taufua was the main beneficiary, scoring a treble thanks to Manly's dominance. Knightmare: Manly skipper Jamie Lyon bursts up field in a rampant display against the Knights on Sunday. The victory came with the shadow of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation growing darker over Brookvale. But with the microscope on them, it was clear that, like Cronulla a week earlier, they might benefit from having on-field problems rather than off-field ones. They would do what they do best; play football. And Manly happen to play it rather well. "We've got our job to do and that's what we're worried about," Lyon said. That's what we get paid to do. The Knights were poor, although they weren't aided by their own on-field events, losing centre Dane Gagai (ankle) and front-rower Willie Mason (calf) to injury. But coach Wayne Bennett refused to use those injuries as an excuse. "Your biggest fear, coaching the Knights, is which team gets off the bus," Bennett said. Whatever mistake we could make out there, we found a way to make it. They just simply wanted it more than we did. The team that played last week didn't play tonight. Their skipper Kurt Gidley could feel that from the opening set. "I think they kicked from over halfway first set, and then our first couple of sets, they were getting three blokes in the tackle, lifting us off the ground and taking us back," the halfback said. On both sides of the coin they were in front. The match was just five minutes old when Gagai, who scored two tries in the opening-round demolition of Wests Tigers, was bent backwards in a tackle. He played on in obvious discomfort but was eventually replaced after 16 minutes. By that stage, the Sea Eagles had scored two tries, the first to Taufua and then to Lyon. The Knights clung on for a while, and must have been thankful to only trail by 10 points at the break. The Sea Eagles also lost centre Steve Matai to a neck injury just before half-time. But the Knights buckled following the restart. A couple of offloads was all it took for the Knights to get jittery, and Watmough, who was immense, split the defensive line and ran 60 metres to score. Further tries to Taufua bookended some trickery from fullback Brett Stewart, and the whitewash was complete. The Sea Eagles have now gone more than two hours without conceding a point. Bennett, meanwhile, said the Knights needed to "hold our nerve" and achieve consistency. MANLY 32 (J Taufua 3 J Lyon B Stewart A Watmough tries J Lyon 4 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 0 at Brookvale Oval.