South Sydney coach Michael Maguire says he is wary of a Manly side coming off a record NRL loss ahead of Friday night’s encounter in Gosford.

The Sea Eagles surrendered a record Brookvale Oval lead in round one against Melbourne when they led 20-0 after 30 minutes before going down 23-22 in golden point extra-time.

The loss has stung the Sea Eagles with forward leader Anthony Watmough declaring the effort “wasn’t up to NRL standard”.

The Rabbitohs were arguably the most impressive team in round one with their 28-8 win over premiers the Sydney Roosters but Maguire has cautioned his troops as to the bounce-back factor as they ready to face last year’s grand finalists in successive weeks.

“Melbourne are a team that have shown for a long, long time they are always in the game and so are Manly,” Maguire said.

“It was probably very unlike a Manly team but I know they will come out fired up this week and we have to be sure we are well and truly on our game.

“In that first half last week Manly were on fire. They put a number of great plays on, they showed their capabilities and no doubt they will again.

“If that loss happened to be us, we would be stung too, so we know they will be well and truly up for a game.

“They are always dangerous.

“They have been a quality team for a long time and they have been performing at a high level for a long time and been involved in Grand Finals for a while now.”

Brett Stewart (hamstring) is a significant omission for Manly for the Bluetongue Stadium clash.

Pita Hiku will take his spot at fullback.

David Williams (knee) returns for Manly alongside prop Jason King, who has overcome a shoulder injury.

Souths are unchanged from the 17 that took the Roosters to task.