Round 11: Sea Eagles v Sharks preview
Sea Eagles and Sharks hope to bounce back from their not-so-magic round tens
Round eleven will come to a close on Sunday afternoon when the Manly Sea Eagles face off against the Cronulla Sharks. Brookvale Oval is the backdrop for the clash between two sides that have shown sparks of brilliance in 2023, but have struggled with consistency. Manly have just dropped outside the top eight, while the Sharks are only just hanging onto the top four by a thread, so there is a lot to play for at Brookie.
The Sea Eagles head into this game with a lot of work to do. Despite a promising start to the season, punctuated by their pre-season challenge triumph, Manly are now on the precipice of a third straight loss. In their past two weeks they have seen defeat against the Gold Coast and struggled through a poor defensive effort against the high-flying Broncos at Magic Round.
The 32-6 loss in ‘The Cauldron' last week shows that Manly are not a top of the table team in 2023, however they will certainly still have their aims set on getting through a few weeks of finals football. The Sea Eagles need a big effort to turn their fortunes around, and with an easier stretch of games coming up heading into their second bye of the season, this could be the period where Manly string some wins together.
Manly has named the same 17 that suffered that tough defeat last week. Josh Schuster is nearing a return from some quad issues.
The Cronulla Sharks headed to Magic Round riding high on a three game winning streak, with the inconsistent Dolphins blocking their road to a fourth. In Wayne's (maybe) 900th game, Cronulla couldn't get the result that they were heavily favoured to do. In fact, the Sharks were blown out of the water in severe fashion early on, and never looked like beating the NRL's 17th team.
The 36-16 loss is certainly a tough one for Cronulla to cop. Just as everyone was getting excited about a club that suddenly was holding serious premiership potential, they now have to deal with a loss to the inexperienced Redcliffe Dolphins side. How the Sharks bounce back this week will be a good indicator of just how deep they can go in season 2023.
Cronulla's captain Dale Finucane will regain a starting spot, with Cameron McInnes making way by shifting to the bench.
Despite Manly going down against Cronulla in their past two match-ups, the Sharks have won less than 29% of the 96 clashes between the two clubs in first grade. Cronulla will still be confident of getting their third win in a row against the Sea Eagles.
Last meeting: Round 23 2022 - Sea Eagles 6 Sharks 40
Who to watch: Cooper Johns will start in the halves alongside DCE for Manly this weekend, in his 7th NRL game of the season. The 23 year old has a real shot of nailing down this halves spot, with Josh Schuster dealing with injury and fitness struggles. Expect Johns to come out with a point to prove.
On the other side for Cronulla in the 6 jersey is Matt Moylan. Moylan certainly has a lot more experience than his rival opposition position, and he will want to show the importance of that this weekend.
Favourite: The away side are the firm favourites to bounce back from their disappointing Dolphins performance last week by recording the win this Sunday over Manly.
My tip: This game really depends on which side is ‘on'. We know that both teams can play good footy, and it's hard to pick either with any confidence. However, the spark that Manly started the season with seems to have gone out a little. Cronulla by 10.
