The Sea Eagles, who defeated the Roosters in a gutsy 8 – 0 in round 4, headed into last week’s match against the West Tigers at Leichhardt Oval as they warm favourites.
$250 Manly Sea Eagles vs Cronulla Sharks betting FREE BET
However the Sea Eagles’ form reflected that of the weather – miserable.
The Tigers stormed the Sea Eagles early, running in four tries in the first 30 minutes of the game and setting up a margin that the Sea Eagles would not be able to reign in.
Manly finished on the wrong side of every stat at the end of the match and with the weight of possession favouring the home-side significantly, Manly had to make almost a staggering 130 more tackles during the match.
On the rare occasion they did have the ball, silly mistakes such as failing to find touch from a penalty, a drop-out kicked out on the full and spilling the ball on their own line, just invited the Tigers to register more points.
It was a very uncharacteristic performance by the Sea Eagles and one they’ll be keen to remedy in a strong way this week against the Sharks.
The Sharks scored their first win of the season over the erratic New Zealand Warriors last week, 37 – 6.
It was not surprising to see their win coincide with the return of halfback Jeff Robson, who after suffering an injury in the pre-season, hadn’t not played a competition game.
He had an immediate impact and enabled his halves partner Todd Carney to perform at his absolute best.
The win would provide some much needed good news at the club which has been involved in off-field dramas since the pre-season.
They face a tough challenge here though to ensure the momentum continues to roll as the Sea Eagles, who generally start well anyway, will come at all guns blazing as they attempt to put last week’s embarrassing performance behind them.
The Sea Eagles have dominated the Sharks, winning eight of ten games between the two sides, since 2008 with both game last year resulted in almost an identical score-line in favour of Manly (24 – 18 and 25 – 18).
Manly to extend their dominance further 1 -12.
Odds Comparison:
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| Manly Sea Eagles | 1.27 | 1.22 | 1.26 | 1.22 | 1.27 | 1.25 |
| Cronulla Sharks | 3.90 | 4.45 | 4.00 | 4.45 | 3.90 | 4.00 |
All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.
Teams:
Manly Sea Eagles:
Brett Stewart, Peta Hiku, Jamie Lyon, Steve Matai, David Williams, Kieran Foran, Daly Cherry-Evans, Josh Starling, Matt Ballin, Brenton Lawrence, Anthony Watmough, Justin Horo, Glenn Stewart. Interchange: James Hasson, Dunamis Lui, Jamie Buhrer, Jason King, Jesse Sene-Lefao
Cronulla Sharks:
Michael Gordon, Nathan Stapleton, Blake Ayshford, Ricky Leutele, Jonathan Wright, Todd Carney, Jeff Robson, Andrew Fifita, John Morris, Bryce Gibbs, Tupou Sopoaga, Wade Graham (c), Chris Heighington. Interchange: Isaac De Gois, Tinirau Arona, Sam Tagataese, Siosaia Vave
