Rabbitohs v Sea Eagles preview

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South Sydney Rabbitohs v Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Friday 7:55pm at Industree Group Stadium, Gosford / Darkinjung

Souths, Manly look to steady ship on the Coast after poor Round 7 performances.

These two sides met in last years preliminary final, and were clearly among the best four teams in the competition when they did so. This season, while both putting on some respectable performances and showing glimpses of 2021's magic at times, it is fair to say that Souths and Manly are not currently genuine contenders for the premiership.

This is backed up by last Round's performances. Manly were finished after about half an hour, conceding 6 tries in the first forty, with 5 of them scored or assisted by a monster in human form, also known as Siosifa Talakai. Despite a spirited effort in the second half that saw some respectability added to the scoreline, the Gullies went down for their first loss since Round 2.

The Rabbitohs continued their tradition of keeping games against the Tigers much closer than they should be, although this time Tom Burgess couldn't bail them out as the joint venture sunk South Sydney with a final minute field goal courtesy of club legend Luke Brooks. It was a terrible result for Souths, who have now lost to two non-contending teams in the Broncos and Tigers.

Considering all this, there is clearly no hope of the Rabbitohs or Sea Eagles making a premiership push, it's basically season over for the both of them with a best case scenario of maybe a week two finals exit.

Or is it?

On the surface, things may seem bad, however if you look a little deeper there is actually a lot of reason for positivity.

For Manly, sure they got romped in the first half against one of the greatest individual 40 minute performances of all time. They were then able to rally and win the second half 22-0, with young gun Koula neutralising Talakai with his opportunity in the centres. They also have one of the roughest injury/suspension tolls in the league, with Olakau'atu, Aloiai and Schuster missing for last week and this week as well as superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic.

In recent weeks, Manly have shown us that they have the ability to handle the lesser sides and go with the better ones for periods, even with all the obstacles. It is at the very least proof of some building blocks for genuine success.

It certainly hasn't been a pretty few weeks of footy for Souths. Since they put arch-rivals the Roosters to the sword in Round 3, they've been seen past by Penrith, scraped home against the Dragons, looked shaky against the Dogs and lost to the Tigers.

There is one main reason for this patchy month; they simply can't stop making errors. They lead the league in errors made with 99, a whopping fourteen more than the Roosters in second place with 85, and over the last 3 weeks are averaging over 14 per game. Needless to say, it is hard to put points on the board, and therefore win games, when you can't hold on to the ball.

This makes it even more impressive that in the last 3 weeks, Souths have been able to score 24, 36 and 22 points respectively while winning 2 out of 3. As frustrating as the errors are, you'd much rather be completing at 70% and scoring tries than completing at 90% with a directionless attack.

The fact they only lost to the Tigers by a field goal, despite making 13 more errors than them while also having to finish the game with 14 men, should provide some encouragement to fans of the Red and Green.

All of that being said, they don't hand out premierships for encouraging signs and promising building blocks. If either side wants to come close to contending this year, they need to start somewhere, and what better platform than a statement win in prime time against last years prelim final opponent?

The Rabbitohs are a game behind Manly and are only in 8th on for and against, making it slightly more important for them at this stage, however Manly will want to avoid falling into the scrap heap currently taking place below them on the table while also keeping the pace with Easts.

Last meeting: Finals Week 3 2021 - Rabbitohs 36 Sea Eagles 16

Who to watch: It will be interesting to see what Isaiah Tass can do with his first opportunity to start a first grade match in the centres. The suspended Taane Milne hasn't been setting the world on fire recently for Souths, last week making 9 tackles and missing two while being the only Rabbitohs outside back to not record a tackle break. His performances open the door right up for Tass to potentially lock down the centre spot for the immediate future, or at least give Demetriou a selection headache when Milne is available again. Tass debuted against Canterbury and only played 17 minutes off the bench, however he was able to score a try, break the line and make 4 tackle breaks during that time. He will be looking to continue the trend of opposition centres dominating Manly's edge defence.

From a suspended centres replacement to a dropped centres replacement, Tolutau Koula has been superb this year for Manly in his first season getting a taste of the top grade. After Morgan Harper was left at sea last week in the first half against Cronulla, Des got the hook out and put young Koula on the job, one which he did with tremendous poise, not allowing Talakai to have nearly the same impact in the second forty. While his number weren't mind blowing (6 runs for 52 metres and 3 tackle breaks), Koula has certainly not looked out of place whenever he has been called upon by the Sea Eagles, and with Harper already dropped due to form this is a golden opportunity for him to put in another impressive performance to cement his spot as Manly's starting centre. Him and the aforementioned Tass have been named opposite each other, however you never know where they'll line up on the field until they get out there.

The favourite: Souths are 3.5 point favourites over the Sea Eagles in this one.

My tip: A genuine toss of the coin job this one. It's a shame both sides will be without their star fullbacks. You can make a case for both of them, I'll make it for Souths; despite all the errors, they have still either won or been in every game bar the Panthers one. If they hold the ball, they'll get past them, and I'll back them to do so considering it's probably been a point of emphasis at training all week. Souths by 8.

1. Blake Taaffe 2. Alex Johnston 3. Isaiah Tass 4. Campbell Graham 5. Josh Mansour 6. Cody Walker 7. Lachlan Ilias 8. Tevita Tatola 9. Damien Cook 10. Thomas Burgess 11. Keaon Koloamatangi 12. Jai Arrow 13. Cameron Murray 14. Siliva Havili 16. Davvy Moale 19. Jaxson Paulo 18. Shaq Mitchell 18. Trent Peoples

1. Reuben Garrick 2. Jason Saab 3. Brad Parker 4. Tolutau Koula 5. Christian Tuipulotu 6. Kieran Foran 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Sean Keppie 9. Lachlan Croker 17. Toafofoa Sipley 11. Karl Lawton 22. Josh Schuster 13. Jake Trbojevic 10. Martin Taupau 12. Ethan Bullemor 16. Dylan Walker 15. Ben Trbojevic 18. Kurt De Luis

Referees: Grant Atkins; Sideline Officials: Chris Sutton, Wyatt Raymond; Video Referees: Chris Butler;