Round 13: Sea Eagles v Warriors preview
Two sides who sit outside the top eight have a Saturday night battle on the Northern Beaches of Sydney as the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles play host to the New Zealand Warriors at Brookvale Oval.
Having been considered one of the contenders in the pre-season, the Manly Sea Eagles have had plenty of things go against them this season as they come into the contest sitting in 11th position on the ladder having won just one of their past six matches. The Sea Eagles form has been pretty patchy and a fortnight ago, they looked as if they were going to pull off an upset against the Eels but ended up falling short.
The Sea Eagles last week were comfortably beaten 28-8 up against the Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park last Thursday night. Questions had been asked about the form of the Storm and with more key players out, it was expected that the Sea Eagles might have a chance but they were comprehensively outplayed by the Storm. If Manly wanted to prove they weren't a one-man team after losing Tom Trbojevic for the season, they barely made anybody question whether they can contend this season.
Unlike a lot of sides this week, Manly have actually gained strength in their line-up with the returns of Marty Taupau, Jason Saab and Karl Lawton from injuries in suspension although they have suffered a major loss with captain and halfback Daly Cherry-Evans called up for State of Origin duties.
Another side that has struggled significantly this season has been the New Zealand Warriors who are looking to avoid a fifth straight loss. The Warriors have been in most of their contests this season, but poor decision making at times and some poor coaching at times has cost them games as they come into the contest in 12th position with just four wins to their name.
The Warriors started the stronger of the two sides last week against the Knights as they ran out 12-0 leaders inside 20 minutes only for their opponents to bring the scores level. Decision making wasn't a strong point for the New Zealanders as ill-discipline hurt them significantly and with poor dummy half passing and a number kicks going out on the full, the Warriors struggled big time as they went down 24-6.
Not affected by State Of Origin, the Warriors have been strengthened with the returns of Wayde Egan into the hooker role and as well as Bayley Sironen who returns to the side on the bench. The Warriors though have lost Viliami Vailea through injury with Rocco Berry named in the side to replace him. Jack Murchie is named at lock despite being ruled out of last week's contest with Category 1 head injury symptoms.
Last meeting: Round 9 2021 - Sea Eagles 38 Warriors 32
Who to watch: Shifted into the halfback role this weekend, Kieran Foran will have to play as the lead play make for Manly this week in the absence of DCE. There has been question in recent times on whether the Kiwi international is past his peak but this weekend is a good opportunity to show he can still lead a side around and help Manly with two very big absences.
There are so many words that can describe Shaun Johnson's game… sadly for the Kiwi superstar these words lately are more associated with negativity than positivity with some of the performances in recent weeks. Having plenty of hype pre-season on his return, Johnson has failed to live up to them and he needs to improve on last weeks dismal performance with reports his spot could be on the line in coming weeks.
The favourite: The Sea Eagles have won all three of their home games at Brookvale this season which helps elevate them to favourites.
My tip: This is a game that has the potential to be a thriller or potential to be absolute rubbish at times with the form of both sides. It's hard to go past Manly this week despite missing DCE because there is still a stronger line-up than for the Warriors. The Warriors need to find big improvement and I don't think they can find it especially against Manly at Brookvale. Manly by 14.
