Round 26: Bulldogs v Sea Eagles preview
Pride and passion all to play for, finals footy not so much
Sydney Olympic Park is the venue for this Sunday's round 26 match, with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs hosting the Manly Sea Eagles in the early afternoon as both teams turn their attention towards 2024. The Bulldogs are sitting in 15th, with their defensive woes largely to blame, whilst Manly have seen their finals hopes drift away only in the past few rounds despite their promising start to 2023.
This will be the second time these two sides come together in this season's NRL action, with Manly triumphing all the way back in round one. On the first weekend of March, a Sea Eagles team fresh off of a pre-season challenge victory put the sword through Canterbury-Bankstown, running away 31-6 in front of their home fans at Brookvale. A lot can change over the course of a season however, and without the vocal home crowd advantage, can the Sea Eagles make it 2/2 this season?
For the home side, it's been all about their defence letting them down this season. Having conceded 693 points this season, they have the worst defensive record of any team in 2023, and have conceded 70 more points than the Dragons in second place. Last week, the Bulldogs managed to get a respectable 24 points on the board against Canberra, but ultimately the Raiders were too good, running in six converted tries in front of their home fans to beat the Bulldogs by 12.
Minimal changes for Canterbury-Bankstown this week, with Jayden Okunobr dropped out of the 17 in favour of Kurtis Morrin on the bench. It will be the 23 year olds first appearance in the NRL since his sides' round 21 loss to Penrith.
Manly head into these final two weeks of the season ruing what could've been. Down in 12th and three points off the eight, the Rabbitohs bye this week (and therefore guaranteed two points) means that the Sea Eagles are officially out of the finals race. The nail in the coffin was their 29-22 loss to the Warriors last Friday in Auckland. Despite holding an initial lead, and a Jason Saab hat-trick helping them keep it at half time, Manly went scoreless in the second half as the Warriors showed their class.
Reuben Garrick has unfortunately suffered a fractured back, and will likely be out for the remainder of the season. Tolutau Koula has been named to start at fullback in his first start in a position other than centre in the NRL 17 this season. Brad Parker fills his vacated spot in the centres. Ben Trbojevic is back in the starting second row, so Kelma Tuilagi starts from the bench, forcing Josh Schuster out of the 17. Promising hooker Gordon Chan Kum Tong is set to make his NRL debut from the bench.
The Bulldogs have won just one of their past nine games against Manly.
Last meeting: Round 1 2023 - Sea Eagles 31 Bulldogs 6
Who to watch: Tevita Pangai Junior has announced his retirement at the end of the season, departing a $750k per year contract. He will try his hand at professional boxing, and as such has made many media headlines across the NRL world over the past week. He will see out the final two weeks with the Bulldogs, putting a close on a season headlined by a surprise NSW Blues debut. Pangai Junior will want to finish his rugby league career on a high, and will be sure to leave it all out there in his penultimate match this Sunday.
Manly's Gordon Chan Kum Tong is set to make his highly anticipated NRL debut off the bench this weekend. The young hooker has regularly been playing around 50 minutes per game for Blacktown in reserve grade, and his ascent to the NRL has been quite quick considering he didn't make his NSW Cup debut until round three this year. He has also led the Workers side out as their captain on a handful of occasions, adding to his bank of experience heading into his first NRL game.
Favourite: The Manly Sea Eagles are the comfortable favourites to take out the Bulldogs this weekend.
My tip: With nothing left to play for, it's really about which team cares the most. For me, that's the Bulldogs. Canterbury-Bankstown by 4.
