Sea Eagles v Bulldogs preview

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Brookvale Oval - Friday 7:35pm

The Bulldogs come into this game as favourites, in no small part due to their performance last week against the Eels. While the Parramatta side suffered damaging injuries at key periods of the game, the Bulldogs never really allowed them opportunity to get settled.

Aidan Tolman and James Graham were fantastic, and when your interchange bench has big guys like Sam Kasiano, Dave Klemmer and Frank Pritchard, there was really no relief for the Eels. Off the back of this, Bulldogs back three Brett Morris, Curtis Rona and Sam Perrett all scored doubles in a 32-12 victory.

The Sea Eagles, on the other hand, scraped their victory in round 2 against the Storm, and have been nothing but unsettled so far this season. With the news that both Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans will be leaving the club, at least some of the question marks can be erased. Whether or not this stabilises the Sea Eagles side remains to be seen.

Battles between these two sides have traditionally been fought in the forwards, but with the loss of Anthony Watmough and Glenn Stewart, the Sea Eagles pack looks considerably less imposing. The addition of Luke Burgess and Willie Mason bring some size and aggression, but they still give away a lot in size to the Bulldogs pack.

Both sides have named unchanged squads for this match, although Feleti Mateo will start in jersey #6 this week - the position he impressed in last week.

Trent Hodkinson for the Bulldogs will play his 100th match in the NRL.

Last meeting: Semi Finals 2014 - Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 17 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 18

Who to watch: The performance of Manly's Daly Cherry-Evans will be one to watch. Without his halves partner Keiran Foran, much of the Sea Eagles structure in attack comes down to him. If the Bulldogs can shut him down, they'll go a long way towards winning the game. That's not to say Manly don't have other threats in attack, Brett Stewart and Jamie Lyon and both more-than capable playmakers, but Foran's omission is an important one.

The Bulldogs have superstars all over the park, but it's their props we're interested in this week. Up against a smaller Sea Eagles pack, the Bulldogs forwards should be dominant, and after the starting front row's stats last week (both running for over 150 metres), we should be in for a real display.

The favourite: The boys in blue and white are favoured in most markets, and the punters seem to agree, with the vast majority of money going their way.

My tip: It's hard to go past the Bulldogs in this one. While Manly may come into this game buoyed by their close win against the Storm, and unshackled from at least some of their off-field nuisances, the Bulldogs simply have too much firepower across the park. Bulldogs by 8.

1. Brett Stewart 2. Cheyse Blair 3. Jamie Lyon 4. Steve Matai 5. Peta Hiku 6. Feleti Mateo 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Luke Burgess 9. Matt Ballin 10. Willie Mason 11. Jamie Buhrer 12. Tom Symonds 13. Dunamis Lui
14. Jesse Sene-Lefao 15. Blake Leary 16. Jake Trbojevic 17. Ligi Sao 18. Justin Horo

1. Brett Morris 2. Curtis Rona 3. Josh Morris 4. Timoteo Lafai 5. Sam Perrett 6. Moses Mbye 7. Trent Hodkinson 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Michael Lichaa 10. James Graham 11. Josh Jackson 12. Tony Williams 13. Greg Eastwood
14. Sam Kasiano 15. David Klemmer 16. Frank Pritchard 17. Tim Browne 19. Lloyd Perrett

Referees: Matt Cecchin, Henry Perenara; Sideline Officials: Jeff Younis, Nick Beashel; Video Referees: Bernard Sutton, Luke Phillips;

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