Friday third NRL Round 7 match is between Manly Sea Eagles and Nth Queensland Cowboys with the opening kick to commence at 7.40pm local time. The game is to be played at Central Coast Stadium which see’s home team Manly Sea Eagles hold favouritism in the market. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between Manly Sea Eagles and Nth Queensland Cowboys.

WHERE AND WHEN: Central Coast Stadium, Friday 7.40pm

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.

Preview:

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

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.

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

News:

Manly’s Brenton Lawrence has North Queensland’s Test bookends Matt Scott and James Tamou squarely in his sights ahead of Friday’s round-seven clash in Gosford.

Despite the Cowboys’ indifferent start to the NRL season under new coach Paul Green, Scott and Tamou’s go-forward has been relentless.

Tamou has topped more than 100m in each of the six games so far, while Scott has only fallen short of the mark in their big round-five win over Newcastle when he ran for 96m.

Sea Eagles prop Lawrence has been arguably the most-improved NRL player over the past two seasons and is relishing the chance to come up against the Kangaroos’ duo.

“If you look at their pack, they have two Test forwards there in the front row, so they are not a team you can turn your back on,” he said.

“When you are playing, you want to play against the best. There is no better test than playing against two Test props.

“I am really looking forward to it and hopefully we can get on top of them.

“They play direct, they are strong and they just keep coming.

“That is the thing about a good rugby league player – they never seem to stop.”

Perennial finals contenders Manly have enjoyed a 4-2 start to the season and sit fourth on the premiership ladder, while the Cowboys’ slow starts have continued. They are 2-4 and in 12th spot.

Assistant coach Terry Matterson said it was time the Cowboys kickstarted their season.

“Manly are a big challenge for us; they have been a good team for a number of years now,” he said.

“The season is getting on and we have to turn our close losses into wins.”

Veteran prop Jason King returns for Manly with Jesse Sene-Lefao moving to 18th man, while back-rower Gavin Cooper is set to play for the Cowboys after overcoming a knee injury.

Kane Linnett (leg) is in doubt for the Cowboys. Javid Bowen is likely to come into the North Queensland side if the Scottish centre is ruled out.