Sydney Roosters v Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Rabbitohs lose foot, thighs and ears as Panthers continue season from hell
104 mins ago | Rhys Sullivan
Roosters v Sea Eagles preview
It wasn't the start that either of these teams were expecting, now one of these ‘star' teams will begin the season with two losses and no wins to their name.
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles liked their chances against a Nathan Cleary-less Penrith; however, they were quickly proven wrong as the Panthers picked up from where they left off. The Sea Eagles did well to trail by a single try at the half time break, but they failed to conjure any second half points as the Panthers strolled through for three tries in the second half.
Manly's defence was poor, missing 16 more tackles than their opponents whilst turning the ball over twice as often as the Panthers. It follows a particular defensive trend for Manly since the start of last season. Against the top three from 2021 (Melbourne, Penrith, Souths), the Sea Eagles were a dismal 0-6, scoring just 80 points and conceding a baffling 204 points. To the eye, it looks like Manly's attack are over-reliant on scoring long range tries and Tom Trbojevic. Penrith were able to limit Trbojevic's effectiveness and as a result, took a lot of the sting and unpredictability out of the Sea Eagles attack. Last season, Manly showed what they can do to the teams below them on the ladder, but if they are to take the next leap up, they're going to have to start performing and winning against the best clubs in the competition.
The Sea Eagles have made only one change for their clash on Friday night, with 19-year-old Tolutau Koula dropping out of the 17 as Dylan Walker returns to the side.
Looking to this weekend, Manly should watch how the Newcastle Knights defended against a strong Sydney Roosters side. The Knights tried to limit Luke Keary and Sam Walker's time on the ball and doing so put pressure on the two halves to distribute the ball quickly. However, I'm sure the Roosters will try this exact tactic with the likes of Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans.
The Sydney Roosters will be infuriated by their poor outing against the Knights on Saturday. Credit to the Knights for taking down Trent Robinson and his Roosters, but they'll be out for revenge this Friday. They'll need to be more clinical this weekend, with two of Newcastle's first three tries coming directly from dropped balls. In fact, they'll need to be more clinical all over the park as the 2019 Premiers failed to break the line at any stage during the game and broke a mere 13 tackles in comparison to the Knights 35.
The clubs' leaders, such as James Tedesco and Luke Keary will take the onus upon them to deliver the two points for the Eastern Suburbs this Friday. Both had lacklustre games on Saturday afternoon, with neither excelling, albeit it was Luke Keary's first game in almost 12 months. Another leader who will be fired up to take on the Sea Eagles is Victor Radley. Radley, concussed after just 26 minutes on Saturday lines up against the New South Wales 13, Jake Trbojevic, in a mouth-watering contest. Victor's absence for most of the game stunted the Roosters attack who were suddenly without one of their best ball players. Radley's game is crucial for the Roosters attack as he takes the ball deep into the line, creating spaces around nearby defenders for his teammates to take advantage off. He's been named to start this week, after just playing 26 minutes before coming off on Saturday in an unchanged line up from their clash on Saturday.
Last meeting: Finals Week 2 2021 - Sea Eagles 42 Roosters 6
Who to watch: Well, it's hard to look past these two Dally M Medallists when you look at the team list and given their team's performances last week, you could expect fireworks from these two. James Tedesco and Tom Trbojevic, New South Wales teammates and arguably the two best fullbacks in the game line up against each other on Friday night.
Firstly, Tedesco will be putting Round 1 in the back of his mind, after his dropped ball in the 12th minute led to Dane Gagai scoring in his return match for Newcastle whilst giving his side the lead. Tedesco finished with just 150 run metres and failed to break the line at any stage against the Knights. However, don't expect this to be a trend for Tedesco, who has broken the line 70 times in his 91 appearances for the Roosters whilst averaging 201 run metres per game. ‘Teddy' will be back to his best and with bragging rights on the line between the two rep teammates, he'll be hunting for chances.
His opposite number, Tom Trbojevic again had a relatively quiet game despite assisting a try, breaking the line once and running for 157 metres. Although, when you compare this with his performances from last year, it leaves a little to be desired. Trbojevic is in a similar boat to Tedesco, both underperformed ‘to their standards' in Round 1 and very rarely do these players underperform for long. We saw what Trbojevic can do during the 2021 season and hopefully from a viewing perspective he delivers. If both players can turn it on for Friday night's blockbuster, we could witness an incredible game.
The favourite: The Roosters are slight favourites heading into Friday's clash but this game could honestly go either way. Their 2021 head to head clashes prove this (Round 1 - Roosters 42 point win & Semi Final - Manly 36 point win). This is an important match as no premiership contender wants to start the season 0-2 so both teams will be fired up and raring to go.
My tip: As mentioned earlier, I could see this game going either way. It's hard to judge these teams after one round and given the lack of points these two teams scored, we don't really have a clear idea on each side's respective attack. I'm going to back it to be a close game with the Sydney Roosters coming home as winners. Sydney by 4.
1. James Tedesco 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Billy Smith 4. Joseph Manu 5. Paul Momirovski 6. Sam Walker 7. Luke Keary 17. Siosiua Taukeiaho 14. Drew Hutchison 10. Lindsay Collins 11. Angus Crichton 12. Sitili Tupouniua 13. Victor Radley 14. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 9. Connor Watson 15. Fletcher Baker 16. Nat Butcher 18. Kevin Naiqama
1. Tom Trbojevic 2. Jason Saab 3. Brad Parker 4. Morgan Harper 5. Reuben Garrick 6. Kieran Foran 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 16. Sean Keppie 9. Lachlan Croker 10. Martin Taupau 11. Haumole Olakau'atu 12. Ethan Bullemor 13. Jake Trbojevic 14. Dylan Walker 15. Karl Lawton 17. Taniela Paseka 19. Andrew Davey 19. Toafofoa Sipley
Referees: Ashley Klein; Sideline Officials: Jon Stone, Phil Henderson; Video Referees: Steve Chiddy;