Sea Eagles v Wests Tigers preview

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Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Wests Tigers Friday 6:00pm at 4 Pines Park, Brookvale / Cammeraygal

As far as the Wests Tigers are concerned, and that includes their predecessors Balmain and Western Suburbs, Manly at home are damn near insuperable. 

Since 1965, those three entities combined have a total of 10 wins and 2 draws from 76 visits to fortress Brookie. Even today, with the evenness of the competition, Balmain still has more wins at 4 Pines Park than the Wests Tigers (for the record Balmain won 4 times there from 1965-1999, the Wests Tigers have had 3 wins since 2000).

60 years of woe is hard to ignore. So to is the Wests Tigers recent form which has seen them lose all of their last 5 games, scoring just 74 points, but conceding an alarming 152 points. It must be said though that their last 2 games have seen them become vastly improved, losing 18-14 to Penrith and last week going down 16-12 to second placed Canberra.

The Tigers will go into this game and at least their next 4 without classy young fullback Jahream Bula, who suffered a hamstring injury last week. Heath Mason who has been playing in the halves for the past few weeks will cover for Bula, just as he did at the tail end of last year. Mason did a tremendous job then and will be much more than serviceable again here. It will see Jerome Luai shift to his preferred five-eighth position, with young halfback Latu Fainu donning the 7 jumper. Livewire rake Tallyn Da Silva returns to the bench in what looks like an effort by the Tigers to field a side that will run the Manly side ragged.

Manly's form has been, to coin a phrase, all over the shop this year. They were impressive in their 26-10 win over Penrith, especially given they came into the match having lost their last 3 games. But they then lost to the Sharks, strolled to a comfortable win over the Cowboys, got spanked by the lowly Eels, then belted the Broncos 34-6. The last two weeks has seen the Sea-Eagles let struggling sides Newcastle and Gold Coast score wins over them.

Jazz Tevaga moves into the starting hooker role, with Lachlan Croker sidelined with concussion. Powerhouse back rower Haumole Olakau'atu will also be out for a month with a shoulder injury. Corey Waddell will cover his place in the run-on side. Two former Tigers in Jake Simpkin and Michael Chee-Kam will fill the two vacant bench places.

Interestingly too, it seems impressive youngster Lehi Hopoate's form has been too hard to ignore any longer and he has been handed the fullback duties, pushing Tom Trbojevic into the centres.

Last meeting: Round 25 2024 - Wests Tigers 34 Sea Eagles 26

Who to watch: Don't be surprised if the Tigers target Tom Trbojevic, especially given as he will be defending the edge with classy ball-player Adam Doueihi  and prolific finisher Sunia Turuva on the wing. The Tigers have also put Jack Bird into the back row, which could well be purely to put pressure on Daly Cherry-Evans, whose form has been down on his usual sublime standards. The plan being to put more playmaking duties and pressure on Manly five-eighth Luke Brooks, something the Tigers know all-too-well is something he has regularly struggled to handle.

Manly will be injecting Lehi Hopoate into the attack plenty, with the clear intention of having him and Tom Trbojevic performing identical duties on either edges. Given the Tigers edge defence of late has had a tendency to not commit themselves to the ball-player when defending their own line, this approach could well prove to be the key to Manly piling on a bootload of points. Manly's bench suggests they are going to try and power through the Tigers middle which is going to make this a very interesting clash.

Favourite: Manly will be the favourites for this clash and rightfully so, however they aren't exactly dominant favourites. Their see-sawing form and the Tigers improving consistency and competitiveness has now ensured they aren't the easy beats anymore.

My tip: The Tigers can definitely score a much needed victory here. Manly's edge attack looks superior. And their home record against this club(s) cannot be ignored. But I'm an idiot. Or a genius. We'll know on Friday night. Wests Tigers by 8.

1. Lehi Hopoate 19. Jason Saab 3. Tolutau Koula 4. Tom Trbojevic 5. Reuben Garrick 6. Luke Brooks 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Matthew Lodge 9. Jazz Tevaga 10. Siosiua Taukeiaho 11. Corey Waddell 12. Ben Trbojevic 13. Jake Trbojevic 14. Jake Simpkin 15. Ethan Bullemor 16. Nathan Brown 17. Toafofoa Sipley 18. Michael Chee Kam 20. Clayton Faulalo

1. Heath Mason 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Adam Doueihi 4. Starford To'a 5. Jeral Skelton 6. Jarome Luai 7. Latu Fainu 8. Terrell May 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. Fonua Pole 11. Samuela Fainu 12. Jack Bird 13. Alex Twal 14. Tallyn Da Silva 15. Alex Seyfarth 16. Sione Fainu 17. Tony Sukkar 18. Luke Laulilii 19. Charlie Murray

Referees: Gerard Sutton; Sideline Officials: Chris Sutton, Phil Henderson; Video Referees: Kasey Badger;