The Silvertails Preview: Round 10 The Manly Sea Eagles v The Brisbane Broncos

lsz

First Grader
Staff member
by @KeithSheldon

After a week off the Silvertails preview is back, and Manly have spent the week off licking their wounds after a thumping from the North Queensland Cowboys. We were injury decimated and the Cowboys crushed us, they never really left second gear that whole game. But now some of our troops are back and hopefully we can put up a better game against the other Queensland based dominant club. Despite the fact that this is a home game we are moving it to Brisbane, or as I like to call it KeithSheldonville. So whilst some people have a problem with moving this game, I certainly don’t.

Meanwhile the Broncos had also spent the weekend recovering from a loss, with their narrow 30-28 loss to the Sharks. Cronulla raced ahead, and the Broncos pulled it back but not enough and lost narrowly. But now they are heading back home to battle us in the double header.


Team Lists:
The Manly Sea Eagles:

1. Brett Stewart
2. Matthew Wright
3. Jamie Lyon
4. Steve Matai
5. Brayden Wiliame
6. Dylan Walker
7. Daly Cherry-Evans
8. Darcy Lussick
9. Matt Parcell
10. Nate Myles
11. Lewis Brown
12. Martin Taupau
13. Jake Trbojevic
14. Blake Leary
15. Addin Fonua-Blake
16. Brenton Lawrence
17. Siosaia Vave
18. Tom Symonds
19. Pita Godinet

The Brisbane Broncos:
1.
Darius Boyd
2. Corey Oates
3. Jack Reed
4. James Roberts
5. Jordan Kahu
6. Anthony Milford
7. Ben Hunt
8. Josh McGuire
9. Travis Waddell
10. Jarrod Wallace
11. Sam Thaiday
12. Matt Gillett
13. Corey Parker
14. Herman Ese’ese
15. Jai Arrow
16. Joe Ofahengaue
17. Kodi Nikorima

An injury to Glenn and the suspension of Blair means Thaiday and Wallace move into the starting side which brings Ese’ese and Arrow onto the bench.

For us, the return of Stewart brings Godinet onto an extended bench along with Leary, who is in for what I assume is a potential injury to Symonds. However there are rumours of Stewart, Parcell and Jake Turbo all being late withdrawals. One of these days we will have our strongest side on the park… one of these days.


Analysis:
Okay this is going to be short and sweet, I am a very busy human being these days with university work and actual work and what have you. Anyway Boyd is an overrated chode. Ee see it whenever he is up against a decent fullback, he is completely outplayed. He is a glorified winger and Stewart will hopefully be fully healed and ready to outclass this guy.

Their halves of Milford and Hunt (aka the Milfhunters which is the best name for a halves combo I have ever seen) who are a very capable halves pairing. However the thing with Hunt is that he is basically Chris Sandow except slightly more likable. He just has games where he is useless. The big difference between the two is Hunt has a decent team that can pick up the slack Sandow had…. yeah. However Milford is one of the form players of the comp, he is a ridiculous talent and is making the people shouting for him to move positions last year look dumb. Meanwhile we have DCE who had his best game of the year against the Cowboys and Dylan Walker, who is essentially a homeless man’s Milford. I think a lot of this game will depend on if Hunt has a good game or if DCE steps up once again from his game against the Cowboys.

Travis Waddel is a sham of a first grader, and Nikorima struggles to play more than 30 minutes. Parcell outclasses these two. McCullough is a huge loss of the Broncos.

The forwards are a very important battle. With Glenn and Blair out a lot of defensive starch is erased from that side. I think we might have a chance to outclass them now forwards wise. McGuire is the only prop in that side that has played over 60 first grade games, with Wallace, Ofahengaue and Ese’ese all very inexperienced, and experience means a lot for props. I think their bench props of Ofahengaue and Ese’ese looks especially fragile, and should allow us to dominate up the middle for 40 minutes.

The Brisbane second row rotation is the best in the league, even with Glenn out a combination of Gillett, Parker and Thaiday is quite strong. And Jair Arrow looks like Corey Parker 2.0, so whilst Glenn’s loss is big it isn’t really that huge. It will be tough for Taupau, Leary, Brown and Turbo to compete against these guys.

As for the backs, Reed is horrible but the rest of the Broncos backs are great. Meanwhile Wiliame is bad, Wright is ehhhh, Matai is good and Lyon is showing his age. I think we are outclassed here significantly. But you know I have to wonder, what the hell is up with Wiliame? He plays really well in trials, NSW cup and rep games but for some reason he just falls apart in first grade, I don’t understand how that works.


Conclusion:
Fun Fact: Manly have a 100% winning record in games KeithSheldon attends, with the current tally at 5. Can they make it 6 games, or will their finally be a blemish in the record? Well I think if all of Parcell, Turbo and Stewart were playing we would sneak a win, but I can just tell at least one of them won’t pass the fitness test. So I think the Broncos will get up here just, by about 6 points in a close contest.

Photo credit: Rugby League Week
 
Team P W L PD Pts
2 2 0 36 4
2 2 0 26 4
2 2 0 23 4
2 2 0 19 4
2 2 0 12 4
2 1 1 13 2
2 1 1 10 2
2 1 1 3 2
2 1 1 0 2
2 1 1 0 2
2 1 1 -14 2
1 0 1 -20 2
1 0 1 -24 2
2 0 2 -8 0
2 0 2 -17 0
2 0 2 -22 0
2 0 2 -37 0
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