Round 8: Penrith v Manly preview
Panthers look to continue perfect start against resurgent Sea Eagles
Four weeks ago, the Sea Eagles played host to the Panthers in what was predicted to be an extremely lopsided match. The punters were proven correct, with Penrith easily disposing of Manly by 40 points.
At that point, the Sea Eagles were at the bottom of many predicted ladders, with the, Northern Beaches side seemingly in crisis.
Then Tom Trbojevic came back, and since his return Manly have won both their games by a combined margin of 70 points. It has seen the side skyrocket back into finals contention, however their opposition in both cases were extremely disappointing.
It's what makes this upcoming clash in Penrith all the more intriguing. They will provide the ultimate test for Manly and act as a true indicator of where the side is at.
As for Penrith, they remain the only team unbeaten through the first 7 rounds of the competition. While they have been getting results, they will be a little disappointed with their performances over the last two weeks, only just getting home against the Broncos and leaving it late against a scrappy Knights team.
The game is being played in Bathurst, and the Panthers will be keen to impress the locals there, especially considering their last outing in the regional town was a dismal 30-point loss against the Storm in 2019.
In team news, Apisai Koroisau has recovered from injury just in time to suit up against his former club. His inclusion at hooker sees Mitch Kenny drop back to the reserves. There are no other changes for Penrith, with Dylan Edwards making it through his first game back unscathed last week.
For Manly, Des Hasler has named the same 17 he did last Tuesday, however he made a host of late positional changes an hour before kick-off. It remains to be seen whether he does the same thing again.
Last meeting: Round 4 2021 - Sea Eagles 6 Panthers 46
Who to watch: The aforementioned Api Koroisau is a huge inclusion for the mountain men. A large reason for the success of the Panthers' attack in 2020, Koroisau has only played the 1 game so far this year and he had to leave the field due to injury 48 minutes in. The running and passing threat he poses to opposition defences make him a nightmare to contain, especially when his forward pack is able to get some momentum going. An aspect of his game which has evolved since re-joining Penrith is his defence, making a career high 1010 tackles last year at another career high efficiency rate of 95.4%
Tom Trbojevic is the obvious choice for the Manly side, however after an extremely poor start to the year Lachlan Croker has done well to reaffirm his position as the starting hooker for Manly. Throughout the first 5 rounds, Manly's attack looked dated and uninspiring, scoring just 47 points at an average of just over 9 per game and their only win coming against an equally poor Warriors outfit. While a lot of the improvement since then can be attributed to Trbojevic, Croker's willingness to run the ball has seen an increase in the amount of space the forward pack has to work with and resulted in a much more dynamic and efficient Manly attack. That said, Penrith's defence, conceding just 6 points per game, is going to be much harder to open up than that of the Tigers and Titans.
The favourite: Penrith are favoured by 14 and a half points over Manly this weekend.
My tip: While Manly are a much-improved side with Tom Trbojevic back in the fold, they won't be getting near the Panthers. Penrith by 16.
