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Eden Park plays host to the 2011 NRL grand final rematch as the New Zealand Warriors clash against the Manly Sea Eagles. Join us for live scores and blog from 12:00pm AEDT.
Under new coach Brian McClennan, the Warriors open their account in season 2012 against a Manly side that outplayed them in last year’s premiership decider.
After beating the Melbourne Storm in the preliminary final, New Zealand were unable to rise to the occasion on grand final day as the Sea Eagles recorded a 24-10 victory, despite a late show from Shaun Johnson and Feleti Mateo.
With grand final defeat still lingering in their memory, the Warriors will need to become a more consistent and methodical outfit if they are to beat Manly today, let alone win their maiden NRL premiership.
Playing in a cauldron such as Eden Park against the reigning premiers should give the Warriors enormous incentive to showcase their premiership credentials in the opening round of the 2012 season.
Manly on the other hand are coming off a World Club Challenge defeat to the Leeds Rhinos and will need to click into gear quickly if they are to keep a dangerous Warriors outfit at bay.
As reigning premiers however, the Sea Eagles will be primed for a big performance today and will be keen to demonstrate that they remain premiership contenders without former coach Des Hasler.
Prediction
This has the potential to be the match of the round given that both sides possess some wonderful attacking players capable of sparking this match to life.
The Warriors and Sea Eagles are each well served in the halves department, with James Maloney and Shaun Johnson running the show for New Zealand, while Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans orchestrate the play for Manly.
With both pairs of halves capable of tearing apart defences, whichever team wins the battle upfront will most likely emerge with the two competition points.
If the Warriors forwards begin to dominate, expect both Johnson and Maloney to feed off the offloads provided by lock Feleti Mateo, who will look to keep the ball alive at every opportunity.
A fit and firing Mateo will provide Johnson and Maloney with ample opportunities to create the second phase play necessary that will bring try scoring machine Manu Vatuvei into play.
The equation is the same for Manly. If the likes of Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough and Jason King dominate upfront, the Warriors will find it immensely difficult to contain the ball playing skill and speed of the Sea Eagles backline.
Evans and Glenn Stewart in particular represent the biggest threats to New Zealand’s defence when on the back foot, as both are experts at producing passes that allow the likes of Jamie Lyon, Steve Matai and Brett Stewart to break the line and score points.
Although Manly has won seven of its past eight matches against the Warriors, this should be an entertaining affair and one that could go down to the wire. With both teams fairly evenly matched, New Zealand may just have enough firepower to beat Manly at home.
Warriors by four.
Are the Sea Eagles about to begin an early-season Premiership hangover today or is it the Warriors who will take time to gel? We’ve got live lunchtime NRL from 12.00pm AEDT and every minute of it will be covered right here. Join us from the kick-off and if you’re watching, don’t hesitate to give us your thoughts, opinion and predictions in the space below.