Pre Game thread: Manly v Sharks [Week 1 Finals, 2019]


MATCH PREVIEW


Sea Eagles v Sharks: Hasler turns to T-Rex; Gray in for Ronaldo
With injuries galore, do Manly have the personnel to overcome Cronulla and make a dent in the finals?

The Sea Eagles have lost both starting back-rowers in Joel Thompson (broken arm) and Curtis Sironen (foot), while star fullback Tom Trbojevic can only watch after undergoing surgery last week for a ruptured pectoral.

Add in the fact that prop Martin Taupau is set to miss the clash unless he conjures a miracle at the judiciary, having incurred a grade-three high tackle charge against the Eels last round, and Manly are firmly up against it in this sudden-death final.

But the Sea Eagles have defied the doubters all year with Des Hasler back at the helm, rebounding from a 15th-place finish in 2018, and they're sure to scrap hard in front of their home faithful.

Cronulla, on the other hand, boast a relatively clean bill of health and have built some momentum in the back end of the year. Fullback Matt Moylan is still sidelined with a hamstring issue but coach John Morris otherwise has a full complement available for selection after an impressive victory in their must-win quasi-finals clash against Wests Tigers in round 25.

The Rundown
Team news
Sea Eagles: With their forward stocks rocked by injury and suspension Des Hasler has pulled a T-Rex out of his hat. Former Sea Eagle Tony Williams has not played NRL since round eight last year but the club have been granted an exemption to add the 30-year-old to their 21-man squad and he is expected to play. A huge assignment for Sean Keppie in just his second NRL game as he moves into the starting side to replace Marty Taupau (suspension). Corey Waddell comes into the starting side for Taniela Paseka (knee) while Jack Gosiewski returns from a knee injury to fill the hole left by Curtis Sironen (foot). The two new faces on Hasler's bench are Haumole Olakau'atu and Toafofoa Sipley.

Sharks: Aaron Gray comes in on the wing to replace the suspended Ronaldo Mulitalo. In the pack, Aaron Woods has been promoted to the starting side after a big effort off the bench last Sunday and
Andrew Fifita reverts to the bench.


Key Match up
With Tom Trbojevic out, Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans's importance in attack only increases on the big stage. For the Sharks, Chad Townsend needs to provide a steady hand and guide the team around to free Shaun Johnson up to provide a spark of magic.

For the Sea Eagles to win
There's no doubting that Manly are courageous but that will count for little if they hurt themselves. Hasler lamented errors at crucial stages in last week's defeat to Parramatta, so simply holding the pill and capitalising in attack - especially with limited firepower - could be enough to secure the win.

For the Sharks to win
Like Manly, the Sharks play a forward-heavy style around senior middle men Andrew Fifita, Matt Prior, Paul Gallen and young buck Braden Hamlin-Uele. With Taupau likely to miss the clash, the Sharks will go a long way towards winning if they steamroll Manly from the get-go.

Brett Kimmorley says
Not having Tom Trbojevic and Marty Taupau really hurts Manly. Addin Fonua-Blake and Jake Trbojevic are going to have to take a lot of the go-forward work and do a lot of the ball-playing. The key for Manly is Daly Cherry-Evans and the two dummy-halves, which means Cronulla can afford to tighten up a bit defensively and control the momentum in the middle, and that's a huge part of stopping Manly. The Sharks' left edge attack with Wade Graham is a huge threat and they ride in with great confidence from a wonderful second 40 minutes last week under pressure. The Sharks love fighting over a bone and there's a lot of motivation to keep the momentum going for a legend in Paul Gallen. Sharks by 8

Stat Attack
Field possession will be integral and Manly may have a trump card with the boot of Cherry-Evans. The Manly skipper leads the NRL with four 40/20 kicks this year.

And another thing ...
The Sharks have an awful record on the northern beaches. They are winless at Manly's home ground since 2008, with six losses in that time and just six wins from 47 visits in the club's 52-year history.
 
We're in with a shot if we can just hold onto the ****ing ball. Rugby league is a difficult game to play when you keep handing the other team possession. Defending your line is all well and good, but we don't want to be doing it all game. Again. Oddly enough, rugby league is a surprisingly easy game to play if you control possession and tire the other team out. We've been down on confidence and forgetting to play to our strengths. Des has a big job ahead of him to turn the ship around, but I'm not prepared to say he and our team can't do it. As a famous garden gnome once said, "Blow that whistle, ref!"*

(*Unless of course the ref is Matt Checchin or Henry Perenara, in which case it's, "For ****'s sake, stop blowing that whistle, ref!")
 
Ron E. Gibbs said:
We're in with a shot if we can just hold onto the ****ing ball. Rugby league is a difficult game to play when you keep handing the other team possession. Defending your line is all well and good, but we don't want to be doing it all game. Again. Oddly enough, rugby league is a surprisingly easy game to play if you control possession and tire the other team out. We've been down on confidence and forgetting to play to our strengths. Des has a big job ahead of him to turn the ship around, but I'm not prepared to say he and our team can't do it. As a famous garden gnome once said, "Blow that whistle, ref!"*

(*Unless of course the ref is Matt Checchin or Henry Perenara, in which case it's, "For ****'s sake, stop blowing that whistle, ref!")
Click to expand...
The period with Turbo and DCE out during the year, we were doing the simple things well with 80%+ completion and great general and on line defence. We will ge back to this on Saturday but expect us to jump out the gates and try to blow them away early - if we get them on tilt we bag 2-3 tries, we will hold on, if we get thwarted then it will be an arm wrestle and could go either way and possibly a refs call will decide it. Don’t see this blowing out for either side.
 
Little Grubber Kick said:
https://www.nrl.com/operations/the-officials/match-officials/matt-cechin/

Matt Cecchin

Age: 44

Occupation: Commercial Manager

First Grade Games: 445 (279 Referee & 166 TJ)

Destroyed Manly Sea Eagles: 14 (8 Referee & 6 TJ)

Favorite Player: Cameron Smith

Favorite Official: Turd Greenstein
Click to expand...
By the look of things he also loves the Sharks :banghead:
upload_2019-9-10_21-20-7.png

https://afltables.com/rl/misc/Matt_Cecchin.html
 
mickqld said:
Did anyone give the Warriors a chance against the Raiders last weekend. I know different scenario here but don't think for 1 minute that we aren't a chance here. We are.
Click to expand...

The bookies didn't give them.much of a chance, however the Warriors still had a good intact side and Raiders rested a few players, so the result should have been closer than the betting showed.
 
Nuts said:
When we played the Sharks at their home ground we were without Turbo, Suli, DCE and no one gave us a chance, final score against a full strength Cronulla side 24 -14.
Click to expand...
Not exactly full strength; They were missing Woods, Graham, Johnson and also Moylan who might be back. Plus we had our best possible forward line - that pretty much won us the game.
Without the experience of Siro and Thomson in the back row we will be tested when the ball gets moved around and spread wide. Hopefully no one attempts to read the play and see what happens this week - we need to shut it down early before our backs get turned around and burnt.
 
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