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Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Melbourne Storm Sunday 4:05pm at 4 Pines Park, Brookvale / Cammeraygal

Manly Look To Continue Boom Brookie Form Against Faltering Storm

While the last week or so has probably been the most tumultuous period for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles since the exact same thing happened a decade ago, they were able to somewhat ironically grind their way to an extremely boring win against Parramatta last Sunday.

Manly's showing against the Eels couldn't have been more different to their first two, replacing the fireworks of rapid tries and opportunistic attack with a more tradesman-like shift of bend-but-don't-break defence which allowed them to deconstruct the frustrated opposition line with ball in hand later in the piece.

Granted, they weren't exactly going against a team of all stars, but it was refreshing to see Manly forced into a dogfight and emerge with the two competition points. It's a style of play this iteration of the team has struggled with, too often allowing their edge in talent to be superseded by an unfavourable gulf in effort and execution.

Such a tune up has come at exactly the right time for the Silvertails, set to face a Melbourne side that in their most recent start showed a vulnerability to that very same genre of game plan, losing 14-8 to a gritty Dragons outfit.

It's been a fine start to the year for the Storm, cruising to a big win over the Eels first up before splitting 6-point results against Penrith and St George Illawarra. While they currently sit with a comfortable 2-1 record, I highly doubt Craig Bellamy will be thrilled with the quality of his team's performances. They won big in Round 1 against an Eels side which has yet to lead for a single second of game-time so far, before limping over the finish line at home off a bye against a Panthers side at their lowest point of the last five years. Their attack, which they've been able to hang their hat on basically throughout their existence, was terrible against the Dragons as they only managed 8 points despite dominating field position.

None of this is to question the long-term prospects of the Storm this year. They have reigning Dally M medallist Jahrome Hughes to return to an already stacked spine and the prospect of them finding their groove is a matter of when, not if. However, when looking at this weekend's matchup in isolation, it's more than fair to raise questions on their ability to get the better of a Manly side who at every point of their games at home have been either unstoppable or cruising.

The elephant in the room is that Tom Trbojevic will once again be missing for the Sea Eagles. Usually, this is as big a loss as any in the competition, but this year Manly have looked uncharacteristically comfortable without their champion custodian, their last two wins coming despite little to no impact from "Turbo". Their front row stocks are again thinned after losing Josh Aloiai to a shoulder injury, allowing Nathan Brown to start at prop for the first time since Round 24 last year and Tof Sipley to come back onto the bench.

For the Storm, Lazarus Vaalepu comes onto the bench for Marion Seve in their only change.

Last meeting: Round 12 2024 - Sea Eagles 26 Storm 20

Who to Watch: The silver lining to Trbojevic going down is it gives Lehi Hopoate another chance to get some minutes in at fullback, where he has always impressed given the opportunity. It was this corresponding fixture against the Storm last year where Hopoate made his NRL debut, impressing with a line break assist, try assist and four tackle breaks en-route to a 26-20 win over the eventual grand final losers. He assisted another try in his one start there this year against the Raiders, and he'll be looking to add to his tally against a Melbourne outfit who have been found wanting on the edges in defence a few times this season. There's been scuttlebutt that life after DCE may bring about a reshuffle to Manly's spine that includes Hopoate making the number 1 on his jersey a permanent fixture, a prospect which only adds weight to the quality of his performances over the next few weeks.

For the Storm, Stefano Utoikamanu was heralded as a potential buy of the year candidate virtually as soon as it was announced he was heading south to Melbourne. It's early days, but so far, he has done nothing at all to even come close to warranting those claims, showing the same passive and lacklustre attitudes that were the subject of much scrutiny when he was on the perpetually underperforming, overanalysed Wests Tigers. While his poor performances may be less noticeable to the media when he's dressed in purple instead of orange, one man who Utoikamanu certainly can't hide from is Craig Bellamy, who would not be at all impressed with the big fella's mediocre 9 runs for 67 metres to go along with an 89% tackling efficiency, the lowest number of any Storm forward against the Red V. Utoikamanu was signed by Melbourne for a reason and at his best is a State of Origin front rower. For his own sake and the Storm's, he better start playing like it soon, and what better place to start than at Brookvale on Sunday against a depleted Sea Eagles forward pack.

Favourite: The Storm are 5-point favourites over the Sea Eagles at the time of writing.

Tip: The Storm will put up the biggest fight of any visiting team at Brookvale so far this year, but I don't think it'll be enough for them to get back into the winner's circle. Sea Eagles by 8.

1. Lehi Hopoate 2. Jason Saab 3. Tolutau Koula 4. Reuben Garrick 5. Clayton Faulalo 6. Luke Brooks 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 17. Toafofoa Sipley 9. Jazz Tevaga 10. Siosiua Taukeiaho 11. Haumole Olakau'atu 12. Ben Trbojevic 13. Jake Trbojevic 8. Nathan Brown 14. Jake Simpkin 15. Corey Waddell 16. Ethan Bullemor 18. Aaron Schoupp

1. Ryan Papenhuyzen 4. Grant Anderson 3. Jack Howarth 21. Moses Leo 5. Xavier Coates 6. Cameron Munster 22. Jahrome Hughes 8. Stefano Utoikamanu 9. Harry Grant 10. Josh King 11. Shawn Blore 12. Eliesa Katoa 13. Trent Loiero 7. Tyran Wishart 14. Bronson Garlick 15. Alec MacDonald 16. Tui Kamikamica 17. Lazarus Vaalepu

Referees: Grant Atkins; Sideline Officials: Jon Stone, David Munro; Video Referees: Kasey Badger;