Sea Eagles v Eels preview

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Parramatta Eels
Brookvale Oval - Sunday 4:00pm

Traditional foes with very different agendas.

Manly's late season surge has taken no prisoners - next on their menu are rivals Parramatta who took Brad Arthur and Anthony Watmough - but haven't translated that into their own success. For the Eagles this game is all about winning and winning well - they're stuck in a tussle with the Dragons and Bulldogs for the last couple of spots in the eight and will need to improve their differential to ensure they're a chance of playing deep into September. Making matters worse for the home side in this one is that they face the high-flying Roosters and finals-bound Sharks in the final fortnight. They need to make a statement on Sunday at Brookvale.

Parramatta are, as seems to be a regular occurence at this time of year, focusing on next season. Worse still, a significant loss in this one and victories from the bottom three have the blue-and-gold army worried about an unlikely but potential wooden spoon for yet another year. While they have some exciting changes coming next year (Kieran Foran, anybody?), the Eels season has gone from bad to worse this year, perhaps typified by last Saturday's capitulation to the Roosters after leading comfortably at halftime.

Last meeting: Round 1 2015 - Parramatta Eels 42 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 12

Who to watch: They don't call Brett Stewart the Prince of Brookvale for nothing. He loves scoring at his home ground (more than 80 tries and the current record holder for tries at the ground, to boot) and his running game is second to none at the northern beaches venue. With the side close to full strength and the forward pack digging in, "Snake" will be keen to get his name on the scoresheet again against Manly's greatest rivals.

All eyes are on the Semi Trailer for Parramatta. He's locked in a tight tussle with Canterbury's Curtis Rona to be crowned the top tryscorer in 2015 - a race Rona leads by one after scoring in the 'Dogs win over South Sydney on Friday night. His ability to storm over out wide is all the rage at Parramatta, even if it hasn't been enough to save their season.

The favourite: Manly are strong favourites for some very obvious reasons in this Sunday showdown.

My tip: It's hard to see anything but a Manly win but Parramatta will dig in, at least for a little while. Manly to finish strong. Sea Eagles by 10.

1. Brett Stewart 2. Jorge Taufua 3. Jamie Lyon 4. Steve Matai 5. Peta Hiku 6. Kieran Foran 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Jake Trbojevic 9. Matt Ballin 10. Josh Starling 11. Feleti Mateo 12. Justin Horo 13. Blake Leary
Interchange: 14. Jesse Sene-Lefao 15. Michael Chee-Kam 16. James Hasson 17. Ligi Sao 18. Brenton Lawrence

1. Reece Robinson 2. Semi Radradra 3. William Hopoate 4. Ryan Morgan 5. Bureta Faraimo 6. Corey Norman 7. Luke Kelly 8. Junior Paulo 9. Isaac De Gois 10. Tim Mannah 11. Manu Ma'u 12. Tepai Moeroa 13. David Gower
Interchange: 14. Pauli Pauli 15. Darcy Lussick 16. Peni Terepo 17. Daniel Alvaro

Referees: Ben Cummins, Alan Shortall; Sideline Officials: Michael Wise, Adam Reid; Video Referees: Bernard Sutton, Luke Patten;

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