After being officially ruled out of the finals race last weekend against the Bulldogs, the Manly Sea Eagles will be playing for nothing but pride when they host the 1st placed Melbourne Storm at Brookvale Oval on Saturday night.
Last Time Out
The Storm fell to just their 4th loss of the season on Monday night against a rampant Raiders side, who flexed their premiership muscles with a dominant 22-8 victory. The Storm’s rock solid defence has formed the foundation of their season, however it took the Raiders just 47 seconds to score the fastest try of the season, which impressively started with a spread of the ball within their own half. The Storm had no answers for the barnstorming runs of the likes of Joseph Leilua, Shannon Boyd, and Josh Papalii.
Manly put up a strong fight against the 4th placed Bulldogs, taking the game into extra time, however they agonisingly lost after a grubber bounced through Tom Trbojevic’s legs and back into Josh Reynold’s arms for the match winning try. The Sea Eagles lost one of their key stars, with NSW representative Dylan Walker succumbing to a season ending shoudler injury.
Key Battle
Two years ago Daly Cherry-Evans filled in as Cooper Cronk’s State of Origin replacement when the latter fell to injury, and although Cherry-Evans form has dropped significantly since then, Saturday night will feature the battle between two quality halfbacks. Cronk has always been known for his ability to put tries on a platter for his outside men, however in 2016 he has had a knack of crossing the line himself, with his four pointer against the Raiders being his 11th of the season, compared to DCE’s 4. Cronk also has 17 try assists compared to Cherry-Evan’s 10, however with the Sea Eagles having nothing to lose, DCE could thrive on the back of some carefree football.
Prediction
The Storm weren’t quite their usual self against the Raiders on Monday night, however they are yet to experience back to back defeats in 2016. Manly are sure to enter this game with nothing to lose, and as a result will chance their arm in an attempt to crack Melbourne’s defence, however the ladder leaders should have too much strike power for their dejected opponents.
Storm by 8
