No way out as Manly Sea Eagles choke battling Bulldogs Manly's strong start to the season continues, the Sea Eagles beating Canterbury 20-6. Canterbury's Josh Jackson is crunched by a pair of Manly defenders during last night's win by the Sea Eagles at Homebush Stadium. Picture: Mark Evans Source: The Australian GEOFF Toovey maintains it's always tough to come away with a win against Canterbury at ANZ Stadium. Last night it turned out that the only thing that was tough was the Sea Eagles' impregnable defence. Manly's impressive start to the season continued when it dominated last year's grand finalist to register its fourth win of the season. What was more impressive was the fact it was nearly the third time this season the Sea Eagles have held a team to nil. The Bulldogs saved face when captain Michael Ennis grabbed a late try but that shouldn't take anything away from Manly's performance. It has conceded only five tries after five rounds and holds the record of all 16 teams for the best defence in the NRL. "Again I thought our defence was first-class," Toovey said. It's terribly difficult (to hold a team to nil) - they're all quality teams. One try today, but the boys were a bit tired. I think we finished third (for defence) in the regular season last year so that's nothing to be sneezed at. Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran said: "We're putting a lot of effort into it during the week at training and it's something we really want to pride ourselves on this season. I think we're doing an OK job of it at the moment. Things aren't just happening for the Bulldogs and it won't get any easier next round when they face the Sydney Roosters and Sonny Bill Williams at Allianz Stadium. As it stands, last year's grand finalist has one win from five games. There are still ample rounds left to turn things around and the club has too many good players to be written off as a title threat but a top-four finish is definitely getting further away. "One from four, I can assure you we're back under the radar again," coach Des Hasler said. I thought we were off tonight. I thought we were a bit poor, particularly in the first half. Manly were too good for us tonight and were the better side. Hasler bristled at suggestions that Tony Williams had been disappointing. The man known as T-Rex arrived at Belmore from the Sea Eagles with a reputation as a devastating ball-runner but he may as well be extinct. Last night he made eight runs for 51m. "I haven't heard too much of it (criticism)," Hasler said. (His form's) steady. New club. Give him time. The Bulldogs' night got off to a poor start when lock Greg Eastwood was forced to withdraw before kickoff because of personal reasons. Their pack was already depleted with Sam Kasiano missing through injury and James Graham through suspension. Things didn't get much better when the game started. Manly was dominant early and it wasn't long before it capitalised on that pressure, with Brett Stewart throwing a long cut-out pass for Jorge Taufua to grab the first try. The Sea Eages had to wait a while for their next try but it was definitely worth it. Stewart picked up a loose pass off the ground and somehow managed to brush off some tired defence from Canterbury before setting sail upfield. Captain Jamie Lyon loomed up in support and even though there were five Bulldogs around him he somehow managed to elude them with a series of dummies before diving over the line to extend the lead to 12-0. A knock-on from Josh Morris just before half-time proved costly when Cherry-Evans put in a clever kick down the short side for Taufua to grab his second try. Replays showed he had done a great job to ground the ball before going into touch. Lyon landed the conversion to put the Sea Eagles in front 18-0, leaving the Bulldogs needing a miracle to turn things around in the second half. It didn't happen. MANLY 20 (J Taufua 2 J Lyon tries J Lyon 4 goals) BULLDOGS 6 (M Ennis try T Lafai goal) at ANZ Stadium.