Manly Sea Eagles website

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles will be looking to get back on the winners list when they take on the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Saturday night.

After going into last week’s clash with a real chance of topping the table, Manly now find themselves in 5th place, however still just one win off first.
And with the Toyota Cup ladder becoming more and more congested, every win will be vital from here until the end of the season.

South Sydney is another team who find themselves in that dog fight at the top of the table. They have won their last three, including a tense win in Townsville two weeks ago to put themselves in second place.

Souths have been known to claim big scalps in 2010. They have beaten three of the other four clubs which surround the on the ladder, including the Sea Eagles back in Round 8.

Beating Manly though is nothing new for the young Rabbitohs, with the maroon and whites having only once come up triumphant against South Sydney in five clashes.

This match will also further test the Sea Eagles defence. While they easily posses the best defensive record in the Cup, Souths have placed some big scores on their opponents in recent weeks.

While the Rabbitohs attack started slowly this season, it has begun to fire in recent months, regularly posting scores of above thirty.
Much of that success with ball in hand has been due to their playmaker Adam Reynolds, a former Under 17 New South Wales representative now in his second year of the Toyota Cup.

At halfback, Reynolds has been the key behind much of the Rabbitohs well directed attack close to the line in recent weeks, while his kicking game is amongst the best in the competition for metres made.

It is not just with just ball in hand that Reynolds is vital to the red and greens either, with his tough defence also being a key to his game.

Reynolds has made the second most tackles for the Rabbitohs this season, averaging a little under 24 per match, while his accurate goal kicking leaves him as the most important player in the Rabbitohs side.

Manly however, posses a strong attacking weapon of their own in halfback Garry Riccardi.

The young halfback has regularly been one of the Sea Eagle’s best this season, having already set up a total of 19 tries, including three against the Titans last week.

It is not just close to the line where Riccardi comes into his own though. In recent weeks Riccardi has more than doubled the NRL average for kicking metres, and last week kicked an astonishing 576 metres.

This kind of play has often been the sole responsibility for the Sea Eagles getting down the field, and eventually allowing himself to set up the huge amount of tries he has.

Riccardi will be further inspired this weekend with news that Trent Hodkinson will be moving on from the first grade squad, allowing for further progression into senior sides next year for the young star.

The Sea Eagles will be looking heavily to Riccardi to not only nullify the brilliance of Reynolds, but to indeed better him and in turn place more points on the bored.

This will be a big clash for the young Sea Eagles, a win is very much needed to keep pace, and indeed push them to the top of the ladder, while a loss could see them drop out of the top 6.

Sea Eagles fans are therefore urged to get in early and support their future stars in what promises to be an enthralling battle. Kickoff is at 5:15pm.