TipResumen

MANLY SEA EAGLES

Manly finally showed some fighting grit last weekend away to the Cronulla Sharks, coming from behind to win in golden point, courtesy of a DCE field goal. This was a great spectator match with a tit for tat scoreline that finally saw the Eagles edge the Sharks 32-33. Shaun Lane had a very good game last week, bagging a couple of Tries and running the ball hard, he is now the leading try scorer for the club this season and it is a shame that he is to leave Manly at the end of the season. Along with Lane, many forwards really stood strong against Cronulla, Fonua-Blake, Taupau, Trboyevic and Thompson all played very well and ran with real purpose, it was this platform set by the forwards that gave the outside backs space to score plenty of points against the Sharks that has been very tough to score against this season. For Manly, this could not have come at a better time as they continue their push to avoid the Dreaded Wooden spoon, the only club to have never been awarded the worst prize in sport. Manly are unchanged from last week.



CANTERBURY BULLDOGS

The Dogs managed a first for this season last week, in recording back to back victories. What’s more a rare victory against a top 8 side eventually beating the Broncos 36-22 with a 5 try to 4 effort. The Bulldogs started the game well and lead into HT 14-12, after the break everything seemed to click and Canterbury pulled away to lead 36-12 only for Brisbane to score a couple of late tries. With back to back Victories the Bulldogs fan’s will be hoping the trend continues to finish the season on a high. To do this their halves must continue to utilise the backline, this is only possible though if the Forwards perform as they did in the past couple of weeks. Will Hopoate will return to where he first started in first grade at Manly, he will still have admirers from the Manly side but you can be sure the home crowd will not give him any favours. Klemmer and Marshall-King return to the starting line up in the only changes for the Dogs. THE BETTING VERDICT Manlys record at home is not good this year winning just 3 of 10 in season 2018, something that is very un-Manly like. The Bulldogs away record happens to be even worse claiming just 2 from 10 on the road. Considering the positions on the table 14th v 13th it is unusual that they both come into the match as last round winners so confidence will be growing in both camps. The hidden drive to stay away from the spoon is also a major driver for both coaches and clubs. As a result I am expecting a close fought contest. Current odds have Manly as favourites $1.67 to $2.25 which would probably be reversed if the game was to be at the Dogs home ground. Handicap betting is 3.5 points and combined points 42.5. Make no mistake, both sides could win this and the margin could easily be over 10 points for either side. With this uncertainty I would therefore look at a combined points option. If you look at some recent games involving both sides the Sea Eagles have had combined points of 65, 52 and 80 points, the Bulldogs have had 58, 22, 20 points. 4 out of 6 games were well over the 40 point margin. The last time these two met was last season in round 24, final score, 30-16 to the Dogs. With both sides likely to throw the ball around, fairly poor defensive records and two good goal kickers I suggest going over 42.5 points in this one