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[manlyfan76]

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NRL Finals Preview: Manly Sea Eagles v Canterbury Bulldogs
By The Roar | 19 Sep 2014
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The Manly Sea Eagles will travel the short distance to Allianz Stadium on Saturday night to face the Canterbury Bulldogs at home in the 2014 NRL Finals.



Few have given an injury-depleted Manly side a chance of winning this game – this rings particularly true considering the 40-24 thrashing handed down by the South Sydney Rabbitohs last weekend. If Souths hadn’t switched off in the last 20 minutes, the margin certainly would have been more.

This underdog status, however, might favour the Sea Eagles. Statistically the Bulldogs had a less impressive defensive regular season than Manly, who produced a more effective offensive performance 2014.

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» Full match information, team lists

Looking at the team stats tells an interesting story about the two sides.

While the Bulldogs have made the second most total runs this year (4044) slightly more than Manly (3937), the Sea Eagles capitalised on their runs more effectively, creating 111 line breaks to the Bulldogs’ 87. Last week, however, proved a different story, with the Bulldogs’ backs, in particular Tim Lafai, dynamic in attack.

They also got their short passing game in the forwards back, with man of the match James Graham particularly impressive with ball in hand.

The Sea Eagles (90) have scored 14 more tries than their Canterbury counterparts (76). Defensively, the Bulldogs missed only 595 tackles in 2014 – the third lowest in the competition, whereas the Sea Eagles missed 698 – 103 more than Canterbury in total.

With Canterbury completing more offloads (251) than Manly (227) it can be inferred that the Sea Eagles have been more clinical in attack.

They will have to get that back this week, but scoring points has not been the Sea Eagles problem of late. If they can prevent the Bulldogs’ attacking threats, they will go a long way to winning this game.
For Manly, they must not dwell on past successes, or focus too much on the very recent past. While a second place finish is indicative of early season success, the injury and suspension-hit Sea Eagles will need to remember that winning way from earlier in the season to get over the line here.

Third-string hooker Jayden Hodges has been named despite leaving the field last week in a neck brace. To compound Manly’s forward pack problems, Origin back-rower Anthony Watmough has been suspended for one week – cited for a dangerous throw on Greg Inglis.

Captain Jamie Lyon received the same charge for his part in the dangerous tackle, however his clean record has seen Lyon avoid a suspension. Manly will also provide Hodges and Matt Ballin with an extended period to prove their fitness.

With the suspension to Watmough Manly have moved Tom Symonds to the second row, and shuffled Dunamis Liu to the lock position from the bench. James Hasson will move to the bench. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, look rejuvenated after a 28-4 defeat of the Melbourne Storm – the side that defeated Canterbury in the 2012 Grand Final.

Moreover, the Bulldogs’ hulking forward pack has shown positive signs in recent weeks. Origin half Josh Reynolds was also impressive last week, returning to his prior form and running the ball with vigour. But with arguably the best offensive back seven in the competition it would be irresponsible for Canterbury to write off Manly.

It will most likely be the Bulldogs forward pack however, that limits the Manly backs – as it has done in the past the old adage of ‘doing the hard yards down the middle’ will win this one for the Bulldogs.

Last Five Meetings
Winners Score Home/Away Date Season
Bulldogs 23 – 16 ANZÂ Stadium 05 Jul 2014
Sea Eagles 32 – 10 Brookvale Oval 06 Jun 2014
Bulldogs 30 -32 Brookvale Oval 14 Jun 2013
Sea Eagles 6 – 20 ANZ Stadium 05 Apr 2012
Bulldogs 16 – 10 ANZ Stadium 07 Sep 2012
Teams
Manly Sea Eagles
1. Brett Stewart
2. Jorge Taufua
3. Steve Matai
4. Jamie Lyon
5. Peta Hiku
6. Kieran Foran
7. Daly Cherry-Evans
8. Jason King
9. Jayden Hodges
10. Brenton Lawrence
11. Tom Symonds
12. Justin Horo
13. Dunamis Lui

Interchange: Jesse Sene-Lefao, Cheyse Blair, James Hasson, Josh Starling.

 

[Eagles2nv]

Wow, with Jorge on the sidelines it's just DCE and BJ as the remaining players.

I suppose that was always going to be the case when Bozo ran a clean out of the club and players were nearing retirement.

 

[Eagles2nv]

I suppose those wondering were are they now (and too lazy to google):

1. Brett Stewart - Retired
2. Jorge Taufua - Current (injured)
3. Steve Matai - Retired
4. Jamie Lyon - Retired
5. Peta Hiku - Wolves (ESL)
6. Kieran Foran - Warriors (Bulldogs next season)
7. Daly Cherry-Evans - Our Captain
8. Jason King - Retired (NRL - General Manager of Elite Competitions)
9. Jayden Hodges - Mackay Cutters (Season Ending Injury in Rd1)
10. Brenton Lawrence - Current (Final Season)
11. Tom Symonds - Huddersfield (ESL)
12. Justin Horo - Catalan Dragons (ESL)
13. Dunamis Lui - Raiders

Interchange:
Jesse Sene-Lefao - Castleford (ESL)
Cheyse Blair - Storm (Season Ending Injury)
James Hasson - Wakefield (ESL)
Josh Starling - Knights

 

[Top End Eagle]

Send Lafao is playing pretty well in the ESL. Wouldn't mind giving him another crack at the eagles for the right price, would suit the style of secondrower play the team uses now.

 

[COMMANDER]

What a great effort that was, almost pulled it off even with the third string forward pack.

 

[manly al]

I mentioned in a previous post that that was one of the most gutsiest and determined efforts that i have seen from a Manly side , considering the injury and suspension difficulties at the time . There were some actual game day changes however, as i clearly recall that Chase Blair definitely started in place of Jorge and Daniel Harrison took the field as the run on hooker . Down 14 - 0 early . bravely fought their way back and yes , almost pulled it off with only that extra time Trent Hodgo field goal clinching it for the Dogs . Epic final and again a great effort by a weakened Sea Eagles.

 

[HoldenV8]

Don't remind me of that bloody game. Josh Reynolds getting away with being over 5 metres offside and being allowed to tackle Snake who was attempting a field goal in golden point.....and both Sutton and Cummins ignoring the touchie who was telling them about the offside. It should have been a penalty 15 metres out almost right in front of the posts which Killer could have kicked in his sleep. Instead Hodkinson kicked a bloody field goal and our season was over.

 

[Chip and Chase]

Didn't they also get a scum feed in an attacking position because the ball hit one of the refs ?? They may have even scored from the set....my memory is a bit hazy

That offside play by Reynolds was a joke. Refs too gutless to blow a penalty for fear of deciding the game by their action.....as it turns out their inaction decides the outcome anyway.

 

[manly al]

Didn't they also get a scum feed in an attacking position because the ball hit one of the refs ?? They may have even scored from the set....my memory is a bit hazy

That offside play by Reynolds was a joke. Refs too gutless to blow a penalty for fear of deciding the game by their action.....as it turns out their inaction decides the outcome anyway.

Yeh , the Dogs did get a lucky call when the ball hit the Ref, think it was in almost the Dogs quarter as well , not sure if the Dogs scored after that but it certainly did not help Manly - one of a few of some Sus calls against Manly during the game

 

[HoldenV8]

The rule is that if the ball hits the referee, the team in the attacking half get a scrum feed. On that occasion the ref got it wrong and awarded the team in the defending half to have the scrum feed.

 

[Crusher_Cleal]

I was there, we definitely should have won.

 

[Pittwater Legend]

Tooves really had a way of getting the team punching way above its weight. 2014 will always be a season that could have been. We were all set to win the minor premiership before Ballin and Buhrer both suffered season ending injuries at the close of the season. Foran also faded very badly in the end. Oh and we were ripped off horribly for the 2nd year in a row during the finals

 

[sheridanstand78]

That game to this day haunts me. It was the end of an era and our wonderful and successful team started to break up, Gifty was injured and forced out by the cap, Whatmough, Foran where either signing or about to join the whinging Worms, it was hard to cop, 16-0 down in no time against the Dogs, down and out with no recovery in sight. I remember the turning point in that game. Josh Jackson did a chicken wing on Lawro and he promptly smashed him and got ten in the bin, in that period we withstood their attack and hit back at them and dominated the 2nd half and got level with ten to go. What was very cruel was the Dogs got a huge slice of luck when an innocuous sixth tackle grubber hits the ref and they got a brand new set of six and kicked a field goal to get ahead, DCE got us level and then in golden point, DCE and the team were denied a clear cut penalty when Josh Reynolds was at least 5 metres offside and the refs didn't have the bottle to ping him for that, DCEs kick went dead and on the back of the ensuing set of 7 , Hodgko broke our hearts. I remember feeling so empty, we did not deserve to lose like that as we fought so hard to get back into the game. I crave the day we get a crack at the Dogs in a final again, we so owe them!!! This is a big event for this young team. The Panthers will be formidable and this is all about getting some vital experience moving forward, Great opportunity for them!!