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Manly Sea Eagles vs Newcastle Knights: NRL live scores, blog

9th June, 2017
Kick-off: 6pm (AEST)
Venue: Lottoland, (Brookvale Oval), Manly
TV: Live, Fox League
Online: Live, Foxtel Go, Foxtel Play and NRL Digital Pass
Betting: Sea Eagles $1.21, Knights $4.60
Overall record: Played 47, Sea Eagles 30, Knights 17
Last meeting: Round 21, 2016 - Sea Eagles 36 defeat Knights 16 at Brookvale
Last five: Sea Eagles 5, Knights 0
Record at venue: Played 17, Sea Eagles 15, Knights 2
Referees: Ashley Klein and Jon Stone

Manly Sea Eagles
1. Matthew Wright 2. Jonathan Wright 3. Dylan Walker 4. Brian Kelly 5. Akuila Uate 6. Blake Green 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Brenton Lawrence 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. Martin Taupau 11. Frank Winterstein 12. Curtis Sironen 13. Jake Trbojevic
Interchange: 14. Lewis Brown 15. Lloyd Perrett 16. Jackson Hastings 17. Addin Fonua-blake 18. Jarrad Kennedy 19. Shaun Lane 20. Cameron Cullen 21. Tom Trbojevic

Newcastle Knights
1. Dane Gagai 2. Ken Sio 3. Joe Wardle 4. Peter Mata'utia 5. Nathan Ross 6. Brock Lamb 7. Jaelen Feeney 8. Daniel Saifiti 9. Danny Levi 10. Josh Starling 11. Sione Mata'utia 12. Lachlan Fitzgibbon 13. Mitchell Barnett
Interchange: 14. Luke Yates 15. Josh King 16. Tyler Randell 17. Jacob Saifiti 18. Brendan Elliott 19. Jacob Gagan 20. Trent Hodkinson 21. Pauli Pauli
The Sea Eagles are thin on talent this season. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Expert
9th June, 2017
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The Manly Sea Eagles could run up a score if they are able to play for the full 80 minutes when they host a struggling Newcastle Knights outfit at Brookvale. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 6pm (AEST).

The Sea Eagles came out of the gates firing last week against the Canberra Raiders, running up 20 points in a dominant first half display.

While they faded and dramatically went off the boil in the second half, having to settle for a Daly Cherry-Evans field goal in golden point, the key for them is now reciprocating the first half for a full 80 minutes week in and week out.

In a lot of ways, it’s been a weird sort of season for the Sea Eagles, who have just struggled to be consistent from week to week. They have impressed at times, especially in attack but it’s all fallen apart too often.

However, they have now won a few on the trot and without Tom Trbojevic, it seems they may have turned a corner, moving into the top eight with seven wins from 12 games.

Trbojevic may be due for a return this week as well, named on the reserves and not culled 24 hours before kick-off. Even without him though, Cherry-Evans, alongside hooker Apisai Koroisau have been the key men, while Jake Trbojevic and Martin Taupau have been among the form forwards in the competition.

Newcastle, on the other hand, have struggled as many expected they would in 2017. In saying that, they are far from the side we saw in 2016, who regularly got handed beatings week in and week out.

After picking up their second win of the season in Round 10 over the Raiders, they have lost a few on the trot, including a blowout against the Storm last weekend, where they had 40 points put on them.

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Their defence was torn to shreds by the veterans leading Melbourne around the park, and again Newcastle were caught out, having so little in the way of experience.

While Dane Gagai has been the key man for them, proving dangerous with the ball in hand, he just hasn’t been able to carry a forward pack getting dominated more often than not.

With Manly’s strength in the forwards, the way this one could play out is pretty ugly – essentially, Manly could average 60 or 70 metres a set and be on the attack more often than not due to their dominance up front.

Casting aside all the talk about form, Manly have won an incredible 15 of 17 at Brookvale between the two sides, including all of the last six.

Prediction
Manly will win this – question is, by how much? Newcastle will probably hang in early, but the Sea Eagles should skip away comfortably in the second half.

Sea Eagles by 18.

Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this Round 14 game from 6pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments throughout the course of the coverage.

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