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Celebrate the NRL’s financial windfall this week with an early taste of finals footy – join us for NRL live scores and blog as the Sea Eagles take on the Broncos from Fortress Brookvale at 7:30pm AEST.
This is the oldest of all possible rivalries for the Broncos and it’s their last chance to send a message to the rest of the competition that there’s life in the old stallion yet.
For Manly, another solid showing in front of their home fans against a desperate fellow finals contender will confirm their looming presence as the team to be feared in the run home.
Manly have flexed their premiership-defence muscle recently with convincing wins over Newcastle and Souths. Before that, they scraped home against a gallant Cowboys and the luckless Warriors.
Brisbane’s form has been building as well. In the same period as Manly’s four straight wins, the Broncos have crashed out of matches to Parramatta, Canberra and the Bulldogs as well as narrowly missing out on an upset win against the resurgent Storm last start.
Can Brisbane muster the spirit they need for one last charge in their third successive match against genuine Premiership contenders? Or will the heartbreak of squandered early leads against the Dogs and the Storm render them impotent in this one?
In Brisbane’s favour is the likely return of young guns Josh McGuire and Alex Glenn. They’re also counting on Manly’s shorter turnaround and the fact the Sea Eagles limped over the line with an empty bench in their last outing.
However, Manly may as well have an extra player on the field when playing at home and they rightly fear no team when doing battle for their home fans.
Their superstar halves and fullback are in deadly form and up front Brent Kite, Joe Galuvao and Tony Williams continue to pound out big metres in a sustained late-season surge.
The last time these teams met in round 10, Manly came from behind right on full time to snatch the game from Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium in a particularly galling match for Broncos fans.
“If Corey Parker had kicked just one goal!” they howled to the heavens on that occasion.
Before that of course was Manly’s elimination of Brisbane in week three of season 2011’s finals series. In fact, Manly have fairly dominated the Broncos in recent seasons, winning six of their last eight clashes.
Two desperate teams with equally desperate reasons for a win in this one means that Round 25 is set to explode on Friday night. Can the Broncos hold onto their hard-earned spot in the top 8 with a win? Ditto the Sea Eagles, but for a top 4 berth?
Prediction
The Broncos are traditionally not a team that lets a few bad results dampen their will to win and they’ll sense that this is their do-or-die moment.
However, they are coming up against rock-hard opposition here and the futile efforts of recent weeks will have drained just enough out of them to allow Manly to scrape home in a close one here.
Manly by 4.
Join us at 7:30pm AEST tonight for live score updates and debate on our live blog, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you’re watching or following along.
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