Manly Warringah Sea Eagles will be looking to keep building momentum in the run home to the finals against the Wests Tigers at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
Coach Des Hasler’s men sit in sixth place on the Telstra Premiership ladder on 22 points with 10 wins from 17 games.
The Sea Eagles are two points behind the fifth placed Sydney Roosters and four points clear of the seventh placed St George-Illawarra Dragons with seven rounds remaining of the regular season.
The Wests Tigers sit in 12th place on 14 points with six wins from 17 matches.
Here is a look at some of the key points for the Sea Eagles-Tigers match.
The Last Encounter
Saturday night’s match will be the second clash of the season between the two clubs.
Three tries in five minutes saw the Sea Eagles record a crushing 40-6 victory over the Wests Tigers at Bankwest Stadium in the Round Seven Anzac Day match at Bankwest Stadium in April.
The win made it three straight victories for Manly who built on an 18-6 half-time lead to cruise home with 22 unanswered points in the second half. Captain and half-back Daly Cherry-Evans scored two tries in the win.
Match Highlights: Wests Tigers v Sea Eagles
The troops are returning
Manly welcome back Cherry-Evans and brilliant full-back Tom Trbojevic after both were rested from last week’s 32-18 win over St George-Illawarra Dragons.
Jake Trobjevic is set to play his first game since suffering a glute injury in the 50-18 win over the Cowboys at 4 Pines Park in round 14.
Prop Josh Aloiai will be itching to go in his return from a wrist injury after last playing against Penrith in Bathurst in round eight.
Match: Sea Eagles v Wests Tigers
Round 19 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
away Team
Wests Tigers
Team Lists
Backs
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Fullback for Sea Eagles is number 1 Tom TrbojevicFullback for Wests Tigers is number 1 Daine Laurie
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Winger for Sea Eagles is number 2 Jason SaabWinger for Wests Tigers is number 2 David Nofoaluma
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Centre for Sea Eagles is number 3 Brad ParkerCentre for Wests Tigers is number 3 Fetalaiga Pauga
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Centre for Sea Eagles is number 4 Morgan HarperCentre for Wests Tigers is number 4 Tommy Talau
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Winger for Sea Eagles is number 5 Reuben GarrickWinger for Wests Tigers is number 5 Ken Maumalo
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Five-Eighth for Sea Eagles is number 6 Kieran ForanFive-Eighth for Wests Tigers is number 6 Adam Doueihi
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Halfback for Sea Eagles is number 7 Daly Cherry-EvansHalfback for Wests Tigers is number 7 Luke Brooks
Forwards
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Prop for Sea Eagles is number 8 Taniela PasekaProp for Wests Tigers is number 8 Stefano Utoikamanu
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Hooker for Sea Eagles is number 9 Lachlan CrokerHooker for Wests Tigers is number 9 Jacob Liddle
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Prop for Sea Eagles is number 10 Martin TaupauProp for Wests Tigers is number 10 James Tamou
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2nd Row for Sea Eagles is number 11 Haumole Olakau'atu2nd Row for Wests Tigers is number 11 Luke Garner
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2nd Row for Sea Eagles is number 12 Josh Schuster2nd Row for Wests Tigers is number 12 Luciano Leilua
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Lock for Sea Eagles is number 13 Jake TrbojevicLock for Wests Tigers is number 13 Thomas Mikaele
Interchange
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Interchange for Sea Eagles is number 14 Dylan WalkerInterchange for Wests Tigers is number 14 Joe Ofahengaue
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Interchange for Sea Eagles is number 15 Josh AloiaiInterchange for Wests Tigers is number 16 Tukimihia Simpkins
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Interchange for Sea Eagles is number 16 Sean KeppieInterchange for Wests Tigers is number 17 Moses Mbye
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Interchange for Sea Eagles is number 17 Toafofoa SipleyInterchange for Wests Tigers is number 20 Alex Seyfarth
Reserves
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Reserve for Sea Eagles is number 18 Mosese SuliReserve for Wests Tigers is number 18 Michael Chee Kam
Match Officials
- Referee: Ashley Klein
- Touch Judge: Todd Smith
- Touch Judge: Darian Furner
- Senior Review Official: Steve Chiddy
Last updated:
The big men
Look out for big games from Manly props and former Wests Tigers players Taniela Paseka, Martin Taupau, and Josh Aloiai.
Players always ‘lift’ against their old clubs and enjoy nothing better than getting one over their old outfit.
Paseka has been in damaging form this season in the NRL, averaging 119 metres and 26 offloads.
Taupau continues to lead from up front with his hard running and offloads while Aloiai will bring plenty of aggression in his first game back.
Points galore
Manly wingers Jason Saab and Reuben Garrick along with full-back Tom Trbojevic have been on a tryscoring roll this season.
Saab has crossed for 16 tries in 17 games, Trbojevic 14 tries in nine games, and Garrick 14 tries in 17 games.
Tigers winger David Nofoaluma has scored 12 tries in 17 games and last week became the joint-venture club’s all-time leading tryscorer.
Garrick is the premiership’s leading pointscorer with 198 points. The 24-year-old needs just 10 points to become the 13th player for Manly to break 500 points for the club. He is also bout to enter Manly’s top 10 list of players to have scored the most points in a season.
The Run In
The Sea Eagles have won four of their last five games, racking up over 50 points in their big wins over Canterbury-Bankstown, Gold Coast, and Nth Qld.
Match Highlights: Bulldogs v Sea Eagles
They head into the Tigers match with a last start 32-18 win over St George-Illawarra Dragons on the Gold Coast.
Wests Tigers have won two of their past five matches, including suffering three straight heavy leaves to South Sydney, Melbourne, and Parramatta.
The Tigers will take some confidence from their 42-24 win over the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium last Sunday.
The Venue
The Sea Eagles haver won nine of their 19 matches at Suncorp (47.37%) with the Wests Tigers winning eight from 16 matches (50%)
Manly recorded their biggest ever win at Suncorp in round 10 this year with a 50-6 win over the Brisbane Broncos.
Head-to-Head
Last 5 games
Rd 7, 2021: Manly 40 d Wests Tigers 6, Bankwest Stadium
Rd 17, 2020: Wests Tigers 34 d Manly 32, Brookvale
Rd 22, 2019: Sea Eagles 32 d Wests Tigers 12, Brookvale
Rd 1, 2019: Wests Tigers 20 d Manly 6, Leichhardt Oval
Rd 24, 2018: Wests Tigers 22 d Manly 20, Campbelltown Stadium
Biggest wins
Sea Eagles: 34 points, Rd 7, 2021: 40-6 at Bankwest Stadium
Wests Tigers: 26 points, Rd 4, 2003: 38-12 at Brookvale
Tickets
Tickets to Saturday's double header are available at Ticketek.