Manly Sea Eagles Website

This Sunday the Sea Eagles travel to Homebush to take on the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium. Both teams are currently on 8 competition points.

A win for either will go a long way to them consolidating a top eight spot as gaps are starting to appear on the NRL ladder.

It’s always a tough battle when these two traditional rivals meet. Make sure we get out there Sea Eagles fans. Let’s help our boys get back on track in 2010.

The form:

Before Monday night’s defeat to the Titans, the Sea Eagles had won four games straight.

Against the Titans, the Sea Eagles dominated through their forwards, as they have all season. They play an aggressive, very physical brand of football and have proven to be hard to stop once they get a roll on down the middle of the park.

The Rabbitohs have won four of their last five matches and currently sit on equal points will the Sea Eagles. With the added size and skill in their forward pack and John Lang’s tutelage, they appear to be the real deal in 2010. Their off season recruiting was done with great purpose; the likes of Dave Taylor and Sam Burgess adding extra grunt and a high level of skill.

Last round, Souths were slow starters against the Raiders. They were outplayed in the first half of the match, and found themselves down by 24 – 6 at the break. They showed great character, however, and fought back to claim victory.

Souths’ go forward and creativity relies much on Isaac Luke and his vision from dummy half. He has been in outstanding form in 2010 and appears to be the Bunnies’ go to man in attack. On occasion when Souths are in the opposition danger zone, rather than getting into dummy half, Luke will stand at second receiver to create something on the left hand edge.

The analysis:
These two sides possess two of the biggest and most aggressive packs in the NRL, so the battle between the forwards will be crucial to the outcome of this match, especially that of the back rowers. Watmough, Rodney and Stewart have been in outstanding form during the opening two months of the competition, getting through a ton of work both in attack and defence. All of them look dangerous when carrying the ball to the line, and could create havoc for the Rabbitohs’ edge defenders.

Souths have plenty of back row fire power of their own. English recruit Burgess possesses great footwork and skill when taking on the line. He doesn’t mind making a few big hits to inspire his teammates either. Dave Taylor is slowly finding his feet and seems to be growing in confidence every week, as is Ben Lowe.

Leading up to this Sunday’s match, the Sea Eagles need to work on getting the simple things right. They need to focus on creating mounted pressure by playing out sets of six, rather than trying to score on every play. If they can force the Bunnies to defend repeat sets, the mistake or lapse in concentration will come. To achieve this, their kicking game needs to improve on last week’s effort. Although the Sea Eagles scored two tries from kicks, they did not find space in behind and turn the Titans around often enough.

Some Souths players will get some extra special attention also. Rhys Wesser is susceptible to a few errors and could find himself looking into the clouds all Sunday afternoon also. Sandow better have his tackling fuel on Sunday as “Choc” could look to use him as a speed hump throughout the match.

Despite having a lot of success attacking oppositions’ right hand defence, the Sea Eagles could target Souths’ left hand defence especially if Sandow shifts to defend inside Collin Best who is known for having poor reads in defence and is up against Jamie Lyon.

The last time they met:
Round 22 of 2009: The Sea Eagles went down to the Rabbitohs by 22 – 36 at Brookvale Oval.

The stat:
The Sea Eagles have scored 172 points and conceded 120 points so far this year. In first half efforts they have outscored opponents 128 – 28, whilst in second half efforts they have been outscored 44 – 92.
The player facts:
• Josh Perry made the most metres for the Sea Eagles for the second week in a row with 139m from 14 runs.
• Anthony Watmough made 8 tackle busts and 1 line break against the Titans.
• Kieran Foran took two try assists from the Titans game, making his tally 9 assists for the season.

The Odds
Centrebet have Manly at $1.63 to win going into the match, against Souths who are on $2.25.

ANTHONY WATMOUGH vs. SAM BURGESS
Who could look past this head-to-head? Two of the most dominant second rowers at any level of the game, Anthony Watmough’s and Sam Burgess’ performances will be pivotal to the outcome of this Sunday’s important clash.

ANTHONY WATMOUGH
“Choc” Watmough has been in relatively good form this season. Despite not making as many tackle busts and line breaks as last season, he is still the Sea Eagles top metre eater with 854m already this year. He has had to change his game a little this year with the departure of Matt Orford, but is slowly forming a strong combination with Kieran Foran.

He is getting back to his best form as was evident by his first run against the Titans in the opening minute of the match. Look for him to direct a lot of his running towards Sandow is his attempt to create line breaks and get over for his first four pointer of the season.

SAM BURGESS
Sam Burgess has been a revelation for the Bunnies so far this year, and is starting to live up to the expectations as potentially the best buy of 2010. He is a tall, solid back rower with plenty of skill and footwork to trouble any opposition defence.

Look for the big Englishman to produce a big hit on one of the Sea Eagles big men to establish an early dominance for his side.

Conclusion
It should be a great clash between two of the best young second rowers in the business. No doubt everyone will be on the edge of their seats, in anticipation for when these two power houses first collide on Sunday afternoon.