Round 6: Panthers v Sea Eagles preview
Match of the round billing returns to Penrith
It's a battle of two of the NRL's biggest superstars as Nathan Cleary's Penrith Panthers return home to take on Tom Trbojevic's Manly Warringah Sea-Eagles from BlueBet Stadium to kick off an shortened Super Saturday.
The Panthers come into this one after a 53-12 masterclass against the Canberra Raiders. While they'll be the first to admit there were phases of the game that left a lot to points on the board, the attacking masterclass in the second forty was enough to suggest that there is still some hunger left to three-peat. Nathan Cleary continues to showcase his ability as the game's premiere seven, while the likes of Sunia Turuva, Zac Hosking and Izack Tago had their best games of the season. The major question for Ivan Cleary is how you can ignore the form of Hosking with Luke Garner set to return from injury in the coming weeks.
Heading into the clash with Manly, the major conundrum is how do you stop Tommy Turbo. Yes, it's easier said than done. But, when you look back a little to 2021 and the finals series. Melbourne and Souths showcased the best defensive mechanisms to shut down the Manly custodian. The first was to rush up hard on the Manly full-back, the second part was to push the full-back into designated parts of the field.
On the team front, Ivan Cleary has to make some changes. James Fisher-Harris is out with an MCL injury, with Matt Eisenhuth starting up front. Luke Garner and Liam Martin are still missing. The in-form Zac Hosking retains his edge role, with Scott Sorensen on the other edge. Soni Luke returns from the 11 day stand-down on the bench.
Manly were incredibly fortunate in their 32-32 draw with Newcastle in Mudgee. While their attack is getting back to 2021 levels, their defensive scheme is still very poor. Especially their left edge which was targeted several times by Newcastle on Saturday.
To beat Penrith, they'll have to go after Nathan Cleary early and provide effective kick pressure. If they can go after the form half-back in the game, they'll go a long way to victory. Another challenge is to win the forward exchanges, that task is easier with the absence of JFH, but they'll need to be ruthless for the full 80 minutes.
Onto team news, Christian Tuipulotu suffered a knee injury that will see him spend time on the sidelines, alongside Tolu Koula. Jason Saab makes an early return from an ACL injury. Josh Schuster returns at 5/8 replacing Cooper Johns. Karl Lawton is preferred over Tof Sipley on the bench with the latter returning to the reserves.
Last meeting: Round 1 2022 - Panthers 28 Sea Eagles 6
Who to watch: In a game where two superstars are already getting the high billing. The player to watch takes a different route. Fresh off a contract extension, Moses Leota faces the task of leading the Penrith pack against Manly. With the aforementioned absence of JFH, Leota was strong in his absence against Canberra playing a season high 47 minutes running for 162 metres, he's also tackling at a high efficiency of 97% so expect Leota to be in for another big one.
For Manly, we're going to be focusing on Lachlan Croker. Through a series of events we won't rehash. Croker was planted in the 9 jersey and hasn't looked out of place holding the firm spot for Manly through the last few years of instability at the club. Although, in recent times he is facing challenges from Kaeo Weekes and Gordon Chan Kum Tong for his jersey.
Last week he was caught out in defence missing 9 tackles against the Knights. With the challengers foot steps coming closer, expect a bounce back from Croker.
The favourite: Penrith are favourites with the bookies for this one. Penrith have a good recent record against Manly only losing two matches against the Sea Eagles since 2017 and only losing two matches against Manly at BlueBet since 2010.
My tip: The form the Panthers showed last week is a sign that they are getting back to their best no matter what way you look at it. If they can effectively nullify Turbo and target the weaknesses in defence which we know they can. This game will be over quickly, but we have seen a resilient Manly line-up come back at times this season and remain competitive throughout. Penrith by 10.
