AAMI Park, Friday 21st September.
This should be a beauty! Despite both clubs playing it down, there is no denying there is a lot of bad blood and deep history between these two sides. In the 2007 Grand Final, Melbourne inflicted a 26 point defeat (34-8) on Manly but only twelve months later, the Sea Eagles exacted their revenge in dominating style, recording an emphatic 40-0 victory. The rivalry has continued ever since and hit fever pitch in the round 25 of last year’s regular season when Adam Blair and Glen Stewart ignited an all in brawl on their way to the Sin Bin.
This year, the sides have met only the once, back in Round 15 and although both sides scored four tries apiece, Melbourne, off the boot of Cameron Smith, edged to hard earned victory 26-22. Manly entered the finals as the leading Premiership contender but in a very physical encounter in Week 1 of the finals – against Minor Premiers Canterbury, they sustained several injuries and a narrow defeat (16-10). That loss had them taking on the Cowboys last week and despite several contentious refereeing decisions clouding the final result, Manly were the better side and accordingly, registered a 22-12 victory.
Melbourne, who finished the season in second position on the ladder, have had an easier time of things in comparison, easily accounting for South Sydney (24-6) in the first week of the finals and in the process, gaining home ground advantage for this clash and more importantly, last week off.
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Despite their recent clashes, Geoff Toovey the Sea Eagles coach, claims they are in a better position physically than last week. This is due to the fact the Steve Matai will return from suspension and Manly Captain and Matai’s centre partner Jamie Lyon, who carried a calf injury into last week’s match, came through unscathed. If that’s the case, they can improve on last week’s performance and having won two of their past three clashes against Melbourne at AAMI Park, will hold no fears about heading south.
The Sea Eagles have registered 94 first half points in the past five weeks compared to 20 points in the second half of the respective matches so expect them to start with all guns blazing however, how much petrol will they have in the tank for the second half given the past two weeks and the fact that Melbourne will be fresh.
The Storm is an impeccably well drilled team and have the best defensive record in the competition. The week off will have done no harm to their chances here and they’ll be totally prepared for Manly’s early onslaught and, having scored an average of 26.5 in the past five wins, should have enough ammunition to finish stronger.
MELBOURNE 1-12 @ $2.80