Friday first NRL Round 2 match is between Manly Sea Eagles and South Sydney Rabbitohs with the opening kick to commence at 19:40pm. The game is to be played at Central Coast Stadium which see’s away team South Sydney Rabbitohs hold favouritism in the market. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between Manly Sea Eagles and South Sydney Rabbitohs.

WHERE AND WHEN: Central Coast Stadium, Friday 14 March 2014, 19:40pm

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Odds Comparison:

Manly Sea Eagles	2.70	2.70	2.75	2.70	2.70	2.65
South Sydney Rabbitohs	1.48	1.48	1.47	1.48	1.48	1.48

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

Preview:

The Sea Eagles inexplicably blew a 20 – 4 half time lead in their opening round of the season against Melbourne Storm last week.

For the first 40 minutes, Manly justified their favourite’s tag and were at their best, controlling the play and scoring four tries, including two to centre Steve Matai, to Melbourne’s one.

In the second half though, they were not the same side and the absence of Brett Stewart, who left the field just prior to the break with a hamstring injury, was clearly noticeable as Manly’s attack packed nowhere near the same punch.

All the Sea Eagles could muster against the Storm’s comeback was a penalty goal late in the game that locked the scores up at 22 all with five minutes to play.

In the end, it was Cameron Smith’s field goal in extra time that gave the visitors a miraculous win and the two competition points and left Manly Coach Geoff Toovey declaring “We’ve got a lot of improving to do.”
That’ll improvement will need to come quickly as this week they face Souths Sydney who in the opening round, could not have been more impressive against the reigning premiers Sydney Roosters, recording a dominant 28 – 8 win.

Form the opening whistle the Rabbitohs were in charge and only some poor errors whilst in possession of the ball and a try against the run of play to the Roosters, kept their opposition within reach at half-time, 6 – all.

After the break, the Rabbitohs continued to control the game but this time, without the errors, and posted three more tries, two of which were scored by Greg Inglis, taking his total for the match to three.

These two sides met three times last season, twice in the regular season and once in the preliminary final.

Souths won the home and away games by margins of eight and twelve points and got off to a flyer against the Sea Eagles in the final, only to be overhauled and defeated 30 – 20.

Sea Eagles lost all momentum when Stewart was off the field last week and he will be sorely as the home-side will need to be firing on cylinders to meet a strong Rabbitohs outfit that were strong in every department of the game last week.

The return of winger David Williams and forward Jason King will help the Sea Eagles but not enough to prevent Souths from recording their second win of the season.

Teams:

Manly Sea Eagles:

1. Peta Hiku 2. Cheyse Blair 3. Jamie Lyon 4. Steve Matai 5. David Williams 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 14. James Hasson 15. Dunamis Lui 16. Jamie Buhrer 17. Jason King 18. Jesse Sene-Lefao

South Sydney Rabbitohs:

1. Greg Inglis 2. Nathan Merritt 3. Beau Champion 4. Bryson Goodwin 5. Lote Tuqiri 6. Dylan Walker 7. Adam Reynolds 8. George Burgess 9. Issac Luke 10. Sam Burgess 11. Chris McQueen 12. Ben Te’o 13. John Sutton 14. Ben Lowe 15. Joe Picker 16. David Tyrrell 17. Luke Burgess 18. Joel Reddy 19. Kyle Turner

News:

tar-studded South Sydney can never have too many playmakers, says Issac Luke, the man who rules the ruck area for the Rabbitohs and has an enviable choice of options.

Hooker Luke is one of the game’s most dangerous dummy-half runners, but has plenty of attacking alternatives.

Halves Adam Reynolds and Dylan Walker and lock John Sutton are also creative forces, while superstar fullback Greg Inglis can be hugely influential when he injects himself into the play.

“GI can ball-play as well, to have that variation around the ruck as well as on the edge is good,” Luke said.

“You never can have too (many playmakers). I know a lot of boys like to get their hands on the ball and even the Burgess boys think they are playmakers as well.”

“I’ve got to worry about my job first. I’ve got to send it to whoever I think is going to be more effective with it, I’ll give it to.”

New Zealander Luke, who has denied speculation of a move to the Warriors, said a lot of hookers would be loving the increased speed of the game this season.

With Sutton moving to the forwards, Reynolds is re-evaluating his role in the team.

“It’s definitely made me think about my role a lot more,” Reynolds said.

“He (Sutton) did take most of the pressure off me last year and having young Dylan Walker (at five-eighth) there has been a breath of fresh air.

“I’m enjoying the test and I think our combination is definitely going to grow.”

Reynolds has a better idea than most of Walker’s capabilities as they both attended Matraville Sports High and he witnessed the development of the younger man.

“He was always trying to show up all the older boys and show off a fair bit there, so we had a little bit of rivalry at school which is always fun,” he said.