King hoping for Manly improvement

Manly veteran Jason King says the team’s execution let them down in Saturday’s shock defeat to Gold Coast.

The Sea Eagles led 8-6 midway through the first half but went on to concede three more tries to fall to a 26-14 loss.

“I thought our preparation was good for the game,” co-captain King said after the game.

“Our talk was spot on, our communication was good leading up to the game.

“(But) as you saw we didn’t execute, our intensity was down.”

The match marked King’s 200th appearance in a Sea Eagles jersey but the 31-year-old prop is already focussed on improving for Friday night’s blockbuster against Canterbury.

“I’m sure we’ll have a look at it over the next few days, but it certainly wasn’t a good performance,” he said.

“We all know that, we lost, we lost at home, something we haven’t done in a while, so that’s disappointing in itself.

“No doubt over the next week the coaching staff and the players will really analyse and break down the game and identify the areas that we need to improve in the game, because obviously that was nowhere near good enough tonight.”

Meanwhile forward Darcy Lussick will miss the match against the Bulldogs after taking an early guilty plea for a dangerous throw charge on Titans winger David Mead.

The match at ANZ Stadium, which will see coach Des Hasler face the Sea Eagles for the first time since his tumultuous departure from Brookvale in the off-season, is sure to be a fiery affair.