The third game set down for Good Friday sees the Manly Sea Eagles host the Cowboys on the Central Coast.

Special Offer: $650 Manly Sea Eagles v Nth Queensland Cowboys FREE BET

Manly enjoy playing at the Central Coast Stadium having won four of their last five games there including a 14 – 12 win over Souths in round 2 of this year.

After a poor loss to West Tigers in round 5, the Sea Eagles wasted no time in putting that effort behind them, opening up the scoring in only the 2^nd minute last week against rivals the Sharks.

Again it was centre Steve Matai who was first to score (for the third time this season) registering his eighth try of the season, followed by three more for the home-side in the first half who took a commanding 20 – 0 at the break.

Manly took their foot off the accelerator in the second half as the game deteriorated in conditions that made handling difficult. Both sides scored a try apiece in the second 40 to  make the final score-line 24 – 4.

Whilst the Sea Eagles now sit on four wins for the season, their opponents this week, the North Queensland Cowboys, conversely suffered their fourth loss when defeated by the under-rated West Tigers 16 – 4 on Saturday.

It took 27 minutes for the first points to be scored and they were registered by Cowboys Centre Brent Tate. The Tigers opened their account just minutes before halftime and took a slender 6 – 4 lead into the break.

The Tigers then scored again early in the second half and sealed the victory in the 75^th minutes whilst the Cowboys were disappointing in not being able to add to their first half tally.

It’s the fourth time this season the Cowboys have failed to register more than 16 points in a match which is a worry when looking at their playing roster’s capabilities.

The Cowboys’ two wins have come in the opening round against Canberra and in round 5 against a poor and uncharacteristic Newcastle side. As was the case for the majority of last year, things are just not clicking for the Cowboys at the moment like we know they can.

They might not get the opportunity to find an answer to their problems this week either as they’ve lost their last five to Manly by an average margin of 20 points.

It all points to a comfortable Manly win here but for some better value then they head-to-head, Steve Matai or Cheyse Blair to open the scoring for Manly might be the way to go.

TIP: SEA EAGELS -8.5

Odds Comparison:

Manly Sea Eagles	1.41	1.48	1.44	1.48	1.41	1.42
Nth Queensland Cowboys	2.90	2.75	2.85	2.75	2.90	2.90

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

Teams:

Manly Sea Eagles:

1 Brett Stewart, 2 Jorge Taufua, 3 Jamie Lyon (c), 4 Steve Matai, 5 Peta Hiku, 6 Kieran Foran, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans, 8 Josh Starling, 9 Matt Ballin, 10 Brenton Lawrence, 11 Anthony Watmough, 12 Justin Horo, 13 Glenn Stewart Interchange: 14 James Hasson, 15 Dunamis Lui, 16 Jamie Buhrer, 17 Jason King, 18 Jesse Sene-Lefao

Nth Queensland Cowboys:

1 Michael Morgan, 2 Matthew Wright, 3 Brent Tate, 4 Kane Linnett, 5 Curtis Rona , 6 Johnathan Thurston (c), 7 Robert Lui, 8 Matt Scott (c), 9 Rory Kostjasyn, 10 James Tamou, 11 Gavin Cooper, 12 Jason Taumalolo, 13 Tariq Sims Interchange 14 Ray Thompson, 15 Joel Riethmuller, 16 Ashton Sims, 17 Scott Bolton, 18 Glenn Hall