Roar Guru
The Manly Sea Eagles are coming off a heavy defeat and need to improve tenfold if they hope to beat the in-form Canterbury Bulldogs. Join us for live scores and commentary from 7.30pm AEST.
Manly failed to turn up against Brisbane last week, going down convincingly 36-10 at Suncorp Stadium. Despite missing Anthony Watmough, Glenn Stewart and Daly Cherry-Evans through injury, Manly still had a side capable of challenging the Broncos.
It was Brisbane however, minus Justin Hodges, who blew Manly off the park, playing an up-tempo game for the full 80 minutes against a Sea Eagles side that had no answers.
It was the Sea Eagles worst performance of the season and they will be keen to get back on track at home against competition leaders the Bulldogs.
Canterbury are coming off a bye and approach tonight’s match against Manly missing two of their best players through injury and suspension. Josh Morris and Josh Reynolds are both out and their absence could prove telling against a Manly outfit welcoming Cherry-Evans back.
Apart from a first-round collapse to Melbourne, the Sea Eagles haven’t lost a game at Brookvale and generally fire at home. The Bulldogs though will be no pushovers though. Their defence has been outstanding and they will be primed for an arm wrestle. With Reynolds and Morris missing however, they may lack the firepower needed to beat the Sea Eagles.
A lot of pressure will be placed on Trent Hodkinson’s shoulders and if he fails to fire, the Bulldogs may struggle to penetrate Manly’s defence.
At home, the Sea Eagles should get back to winning ways, but only if they improve significantly on last week’s poor effort against Brisbane.
Manly by 12.