Check out the match preview and prediction for the round 19 clash between the Sea Eagles and Knights.
MATCHDAY NEWS
MATCHDAY SCHEDULE
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Vs Newcastle Knights
Venue: 4 Pines Park, Sydney
Date: Sunday July 14, 4:05pm
MATCHDAY TEAM NEWS
Sea Eagles: 1. Tom Trbojevic 2. Jason Saab 3. Tommy Talau 4. Reuben Garrick 5. Lehi Hopoate 6. Luke Brooks 7. Jamie Humphreys 8. Toafofoa Sipley 9. Jake Simpkin 10. Josh Aloiai 11. Haumole Olakau’atu 12. Karl Lawton 13. Nathan Brown 14. Clayton Faulalo 15. Gordon Chan Kum Tong 16. Ethan Bullemor 17. Corey Waddell 18. Caleb Navale 19. Aaron Schoupp 20. Dean Matterson 21. Ben Condon 22. Aitasi James
Knights: 1. Fletcher Sharpe 2. Krystian Mapapalangi 3. Dylan Lucas 4. Thomas Cant 5. Greg Marzhew 6. Will Pryce 7. Jackson Hastings 8. Daniel Saifiti 9. Phoenix Crossland 10. Leo Thompson 11. Tyson Frizell 12. Kai Pearce-Paul 13. Adam Elliott 14. Jayden Brailey 15. Jacob Saifiti 16. Brodie Jones 17. Mathew Croker 18. Jack Hetherington 19. Jack Cogger 20. Kyle McCarthy 21. Riley Jones 22. Thomas Jenkins
Referee: Grant Atkins
Embed from Getty ImagesMATCHDAY PREVIEW
Manly come into this off the back of a morale boosting Golden Point win against the Cowboys in Townsville, while the Knights landed a hard-fought win against the Raiders in the nation’s capital.
Manly did well to self-right the course of their season after winning two of their last five – including a dour 14-0 loss to the Rabbitohs in round 16 – that looked to send them out of finals contention.
It’s eighth playing ninth on Sunday and both sides welcome a host of players coming into the squads, with four players missing respectively. Daly Cherry-Evans and Jake Trbojevic are missing for Manly in Origin camp, while Tolu Koula is sidelined with Ben Trbojevic, who is ruled out due to a head injury. That means Tom Trbojevic shifts to fullback, Karl Lawton comes in at loose, and Jamie Humphreys fills the big boots of DCE at 7. To complete the line up Lehi Hopoate takes the wing spot with Tommy Talau shifting to centre.
For the visitors Kalyn Ponga, Dane Gagai, and Bradman Best are all away for Origin, while Enari Tuala is out injured with a lower leg issue. The young gun Fletcher Sharpe replaces Ponga at fullback, while Krystian Mamapalangi gets a start at wing, with Dylan Lucas shifting off the bench and out a spot to centre, and Thomas Cant comes in to the other centre spot. Other returnees for the Knights include Phoenix Crossland and Adam Elliot pushes Mat Croker on the bench to occupy lock.
Manly are favourites and Humphreys will need to step into his role with confidence for them to get over the line as such, while Sharpe has a similar job of trying to meet the level of the Knights talisman who is out for Origin. Sharpe is far better placed to do this and could be ripe to help spring an upset over the Sea Eagles, who have struggled in this fixture lately – winning only two of the last five as the home team.
A similar steely determination as last week from the Knights pack would put them in pole position to do so, with defensive machine Jake Trbojevic missing from a very strong Manly pack. That said, Manly should be able to grind out a win with their strength in depth at home – where they have won seven of their last ten games.
Head-to-head stats can be found at Number Crunch Stats.
MATCHDAY PREDICTION
Check out all the NRL Predictions here.
Sea Eagles by 4 points.
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