Tough road trip awaits Manly in Flegg

The chance to keep their faint Jersey Flegg finals hopes alive will be the driving factor in the road trip to Shellharbour this Saturday for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

With five rounds remaining, the Sea Eagles sit four points out of the top five in ninth place ahead of the round 22 clash against the sixth placed Dragons on 24 points. The top five teams contest the finals.

The Sea Eagles let slip a good chance to move up the ladder with a 22-16 loss to the fourth-placed Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Pointsbet Stadium last Sunday.

After soaking up some early pressure on their line from the Sharks, the Sea Eagles jumped out a 10-0 lead after 15 minutes on the back of some slick play from five-eighth Latu Fainu.

A well time short pass from Fainu sent prop Connor Cromarty for the first try before another great cut out pass sent winger Cameron Brown over for the team's second.

Leading 10-6 at half-time, the Sea Eagles extended the lead by 10 early in the second half before the Sharks hit back to take an 19-16 lead after 54 minutes. The home side then scored 13 minutes from full-time to snatch a six-point victory.

Following Saturday’s away match against the Dragons, the Sea Eagles have a very tough run home, taking on competition leaders the Sydney Roosters away, third-placed Penrith at home, the Dragons again at home, and then the second-placed Bulldogs away.

The Sea Eagles will be boosted by the return of skillful hooker and goal-kicker Jamie Humphreys from a hamstring injury.

The clash against the Dragons kicks-off at Ron Costello Oval, Shellharbour, on Saturday at 1.30pm.

See the Manly team here