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For the second time this season, the Manly Sea Eagles have beaten the Canberra Raiders in golden point, with Daly Cherry-Evans putting in a man of the match performance at Lottoland.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Manly Sea Eagles 21
Canberra Raiders 20
It’s a battle of two sides trying to cement a place in the top eight when the Manly Sea Eagles host a Canberra Raiders side out for revenge. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 2pm (AEST).
The Sea Eagles came from behind on the road just over a month ago to beat the Raiders in Canberra, with the difference two points.
It was a back-and-forth, high-quality sort of game and we should expect more of the same here.
Both sides come into the match just about in the clear when it comes to players backing up from State of Origin, with Jake Trbojevic playing lock for Manly and dangerous second rower Josh Papalii backing up for Canberra.
The Sea Eagles will be the fresher of the two sides though, having had the bye last week. Unfortunately, they are still without the dynamic fullback Tom Trbojevic, and that’s a major cause for concern.
Despite that, they caused an upset without him leading into the bye away from home against the Gold Coast Titans, running up an impressive 30 points.
Manly’s defence has been the measuring stick this season though, the club sitting with the sixth best record in the competition so if their attack fires as well they could well get back to where they were earlier in the season – being closer to the top of the table.
The two key players for the Sea Eagles are Daly Cherry-Evans, who’s kicking game has been strong this season, as well as Apisai Koroisau out of dummy half. He has caused opposition defences headaches all season long and if the Raiders don’t improve, it could be a long afternoon.
If Manly have over-achieved in 2017 to be well ahead of where many pundits had them, the Raiders have underachieved. They are hanging onto a spot in the top eight, but look nothing like the side who made it to the preliminary finals in 2016.
Their reliance on Joey Leilua and Jordan Rapana is clear, with the dangerous duo Canberra’s first choice weapon every time they touch the ball. Aiden Sezer’s kicking game has been inconsistent and Blake Austin hasn’t had anywhere near the impact he had last season.
While they were without Josh Papalii last week, who has arguably been their best player this season, they came up against a Sydney Roosters side missing five Origin stars and almost found a way to get beaten.
Even though they pulled the win out of the fire, it was less than convincing. Still, the expectation is that the Raiders will turn it around and go on a run at some point and this match might suit them down to the ground to do just that.
Prediction
No Tom Trbojevic and a Sea Eagles side coming off a win is a perfect recipe for the inconsistent Raiders to turn on their lethal attack and run up a score.
Raiders by 10.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the match from 2pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment below.