Last week Manly won their eighth match from their past nine with a comprehensive victory over Melbourne, 28 – 8.
The win saw Manly leapfrog Melbourne into third spot on the ladder, courtesy of a superior for and against.
The Sea Eagles were at their best and dominated from the opening whistle, signally to all other finalists that they are in dangerous form at precisely the right time of year.
Their right-hand side attack created plenty of head-aches for the normally staunch Melbourne defence.
Penrith, who had lost four in a row, salvaged some hope of making the finals with good wins over New Zealand and Brisbane in rounds 23 and 24 respectively.
The Panthers couldn’t maintain the run though and last week were defeated in 34 – 14 by Canterbury effectively ending their 2013 season.
They’ll have nothing to lose here but throwing caution to the wind is not the way to beat Manly.
They have to be ground away at, like South did and the Panthers will struggle, as they did against Canterbury last week, to produce that kind of game.
TIP: MANLY 13 +
Odds Comparison by NRL odds:
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 |
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 |
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| Manly Sea Eagles | 1.18 | 1.16 | 1.19 | 1.16 | 1.18 | N/A |
|
Penrith Panthers
|
4.85 | 5.25 | 4.85 | 5.25 | 4.85 | N/A |
Teams:
Manly Sea Eagles:
Peta Hiku, Tom Symonds, Jamie Lyon (c), Steve Matai, David Williams, Kieran Foran, Daly Cherry-Evans, Brenton Lawrence, Matt Ballin, Brent Kite, David Gower, Justin Horo, Glenn Stewart. Interchange: Richie Fa’aoso, James Hasson, Jesse Sene-Lefao, George Rose.
Penrith Panthers:
Lachlan Coote, Josh Mansour, Brad Tighe, Dean Whare, David Simmons, Isaac John, Luke Walsh, Sam McKendry, Kevin Kingston (c), Nigel Plum, Lewis Brown, Sika Manu, Ryan Simpkins. Interchange: James Segeyaro, Clint Newton, Jeremy Latimore, Mose Masoe, Nathan Smith (one to be omitted).
Referees: Adam Devcich, Phil Haines.
