The South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly Sea Eagles clash in Friday night football at ANZ Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7.30pm (AEST).
Manly come into this clash off a rare win having last week defeated the Tigers 30-20. Souths had the bye following their mauling at the hands of the Tigers.
Souths make two changes from their last match, welcoming back Greg Inglis and Tim Grant, with Jason Clark and John Olive dropped to make way for the pair.
Manly remain unchanged from the side that won last week.
The two sides have played 151 times in their long history, with Souths having won 71 games, Manly 77, and three draws.
Souths are sitting a comfortable sixth at the moment – not bad considering they’ve had to play a fair chunk of this season without halfback Adam Reynolds.
Manly meanwhile remain stuck to the bottom of the ladder as they struggle to turn their season around.
The Rabbits were surprisingly off against the Tigers two weeks ago. They struggled to build pressure, dropped a lot of ball and their normal stone-wall defence was easily broken down by an energetic Wests.
Souths were, however, without Greg Inglis. The big man adds a lot to the side and if his Origin performance from just over a week ago shows he’s getting back to his match-winning best.
The key to Manly’s win last week were the performances of young forward Jake Trbojevic and five-eighth Kieran Foran. Foran played perhaps his best game of the season, while Trbojevic impressed with his defensive work, upending bullocking Tigers lock Martin Tapau a number of times.
Prediction
It’s hard to go past Souths. Their last outing was embarrassing and they’re unlikely to put in consecutive poor performances.
They have the size and halves to control the match and if Greg Inglis decides to, he can break the game wide open.
Souths by 14.
steveng
Roar Rookie
He got injured in the first half and didn't play for the rest of the game, which was a pity because Luke couldn't kick any of the conversions that were from the sideline (which we didn't expect him to do anyway). Stewart was good in patches but he still needs more match practice to get his fitness up and some of his plays were a bit rusty as well. But all in all Souths were much better than in previous games and they looked like they were trying some new plays with offloads and not just one up as usual plays, this was enlightening to see for all us fans. Inglis was outstanding and he really showed why he is the captain and why he inspires Souths so much, without him Souths are lacking allot of the attacking flare that they have. And also Sutton was outstanding as usual.
Joel Erickson
Roar Guru
While I don't agree with Bob, I also don't agree with you. The Bunnies stuck their legs out at both of those grubbers, so that's definitely played at. Also, there's a reason that Cecchin sent it upstairs as no-try, but the video ref can't rule on a forward pass in that situation. While the process was correct, Cecchin probably should have just gone with his gut feeling and ruled a knock on.
BrumbyJack
Guest
Didn't catch the game. Can someone please inform when Reynolds came off? And whether he made it back on the park? Great to see Isaac Luke and Glenn Stewart back. Was Stewart good against his old club?
steveng
Roar Rookie
You have to be kidding! The penalty count and the repeated 6 tackles that the refs gave to Manly from DCE and Foran just kicking the ball into the Souths players legs on the 5th, and Souths players not playing at it, Manly should have won this game by at least 15 points. That try was ok and even if that try wouldn't have been given Souths would have still won.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Very good game from both teams although the Eagles dropped too much ball. They threw a heap at the Bunnies but the defence was outstanding. The Matai hit on Tyrrel has to be the hit of the year so far ! G Burgess back to his best tonight, Glen Stewart very strong in defence whilst Keary and Sutton were great leading the team. Aaron Gray looks a very good young player and keeps notching up the tries. The Bunnies were very hungry tonight and need to see that every week if they won't to give there title defence a crack.
Marco
Guest
Where are all the Souths supporters these days? Not much of a game but what a poor turnout.
Joel Erickson
Roar Guru
Manly's attack is fine, they just faced an elite defence tonight. Souths had answers for just about everything.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
FULL TIME Souths 20 Manly 8 Comprehensive in the end from Souths. Missed Reynolds but Sutton and Keary picked up the workload. Souths' defence held Manly for large portions of the match and the Sea Eagles seemed out of ideas at times. Manly remain rooted to the bottom of the table after that loss while Souths have temporarily climbed into the top 4. Geoff Toovey will be left scratching his head after that game. The Sea Eagles had plenty of changes but poor handling cost them and Souths were too good when the chips were down.
jamesb
Guest
Souths too good tonight. If Manly don't improve there attack, they'll collect their first spoon.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
79min Souths 20 Manly 8 Forward pass from DCE to Horo
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
78min Souths 20 Manly 8 Penalty Manly. Taufua falls over and Ballin knocks on from dummy half but it's a penalty for crowding the play the ball.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
77min Souths 20 Manly 8 Chip kick from DCE sees Souths knock the ball on and Manly get the ball on halfway.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
Knock-on stands.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
74min Souths 20 Manly 8 Knock-on from Manly but they're checking it.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
73min Souths 20 Manly 8 Manly get 2 penalties in a row and they're a couple of metres out from the line.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
72min Souths 20 Manly 8 Gray goes down the flank on the last but puts a foot out and Manly get the ball back.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
68min Souths 20 Manly 8 TRY onfield call. Inglis knocks the ball back in field but it appears his left foot has been planted on the dead ball line. NO TRY from the video ref
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
66min Souths 20 Manly 8 Kick too deep from Foran and Goodwin fields the ball easily in his own in-goal. Luke Burgess then pinged for a high tackle 40m from his own line and Issac Luke takes off. Souths are only 20m from the Manly line.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
65min Souths 20 Manly 8 Penalty to Manly, ball pops out and Taufua is let off the hook.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
63min Souths 20 Manly 8 Kick is good.