NRL Preview for Cowboys clash

Author: Wayne Cousins
Timestamp: Wed 30 May 2018, 04:03 PM

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles will get their first taste of life without the Trbojevic brothers during Origin time at Lottoland on Thursday night.

The selection of proud Manly juniors Jake and Tom Trbojevic in the NSW Origin team has long been spoken about and their opportunity to play together for the first time for the Blues comes at the Melbourne Cricket Ground next Wednesday.

The brothers will miss the crucial clash with the North Queensland Cowboys at Lottoland in a match that will see both sides affected by Origin selection.

The Cowboys will be without full-back Michael Morgan and second-rower Gavin Cooper and Coen Hess following their selection in the Maroons side.

Prop Matt Scott will also miss the game after being found guilty of a shoulder charge by the NRL judiciary last night.

However despite the quality of players missing, the Sea Eagles and the Cowboys will still field plenty of strike power across the park, with the key match-up at half-back.

Manly Captain and half-back Daly Cherry-Evans will be out for a big game after being overlooked by the Queensland selectors.

Cherry-Evans has been in superb form for the Sea Eagles and will be keen to get over the top of former Maroons half-back in captain Johnathan Thurston, who will play his final game at Lottoland before retiring at the end of the season.

Manly will also welcome back hooker Api Koroisau from suspension with the crafty number's nine creativity sorely missed in last Friday night's one point loss to the Canberra Raiders that ended a two game winning run.

Sea Eagles Coach Trent Barrett said his side was 'shattered' about the result last weekend as it looks to stay in touch with the top eight.

The Sea Eagles currently sit in 12th place on eight points, six points behind the eighth placed Wests Tigers. The Cowboys are in 15th place on six competition points.

"If we don't win tomorrow night, it is going to make it extremely difficult at the back end of the season,'' Barrett said.

"We can't look too far ahead but we need to start winning pretty quickly and start stringing some wins together."

The Sea Eagles will also be looking to build on their two wins from four matches at Lottoland this season.

Manly's last win at their spiritual home ground was against Canberra in round four in March.

Furthermore, Manly have managed just one win from five matches played against the Cowboys at home since 2003.

As for Thurston, he has played three times at Manly's home ground for three victories.