Match Centre

Round 15: Sea Eagles v Cowboys preview

Friday night Rugby League heads to the Northern Beaches of Sydney as the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles look to bring themselves back into the NRL top 8 in their clash against the North Queensland Cowboys who want to keep themselves within reach of the top two.

The Sea Eagles have had arguably the most up and down season of any team in the competition so far with 7 wins and 7 losses from their 14 games so far in 2022 to go with a for & against of just minus 2. 

The Maroon and whites come into the contest off two big victories including last week's 30-4 victory over the Wests Tigers.

The Sea Eagles - minus their captain Daly Cherry-Evans - found themselves in a battle during the first half last week at Campbelltown when they could only manage a 6-4 lead at the break. Second half favoured Manly has they dominated to run out big winners scoring 24 unanswered points.

Captain Daly Cherry-Evans returns after missing the clash last week with a quad injury, this moves Kieran Foran back to five-eighth with Josh Schuster returning to the bench. Ben Trbojevic moves back to the reserves bench.

One of the most in-form teams in the NRL, the North Queensland Cowboys have been the most in form team in the competition outside of the Defending premiers Penrith who were the only team to beat the Cowboys in the past 9 matches.

Last weekend, the Cowboys dominated the St George Illawarra Dragons at home with a 31-12 victory over the Red ‘V' in Townsville last week. The North Queenslanders were dominant during the opening 40 minutes last week as they were able to open up a 20-6 lead at half-time.

The second half was more of a contest but the Cowboys just showed their class in the contest to ultimately run out 19-point winners.

The Cowboys have mixed news on the injury front with the positives being cult hero Reuben Cotter returning after State Of Origin 1 along side Jeremiah Nanai who returns from Origin duty. The return of Cotter has seen Coen Hess move back to the bench.

The negatives though for the Cowboys is that they have lost Tom Gilbert to an eye injury and more seriously Helium Luki to an ACL injury. Nanai replaces Gilbert whilst Connelly Lemuelu comes into the starting side.

Last meeting: Round 25 2021 - Cowboys 18 Sea Eagles 46

Who to watch: One of the most talked about players in the competition at the moment regarding potential State of Origin selection is Manly big man Haumole Olakau'atu who has been in dominant form and has found himself in a representative battle between playing for the Blues or for Tonga. 

Despite the focus, the big man has the power to tear the Cowboys apart if they're not on their game.

Reuben Cotter has become a cult hero of many NRL fans as the tireless big man has shown that he only has one gear and that's full throttle.

Cotter made his origin debut last week and didn't look out of place both with strong runs and then desire in defence. The previously unheralded big man will be important for the Cowboys in defence again.

Favourite: Given their form over recent months, the Cowboys are the strong favourites for victory.

My tip: It's hard to look past the Cowboys, their form in recent weeks as been as close to perfect as possible. Manly are yet to lose a home game and whilst they will give the Cowboys a contest, there is just something about the North Queensland defence that can withstand the Manly attack. Cowboys by 6.