Manly’s Turbo-charged rise up the ladder hit an unexpected hurdle against Canberra but the Sea Eagles will be heavily favoured to get things straight back on track against a disrupted Dragons line-up.
Fullback Tom Trbojevic is highly unlikely to back up from Origin, given the three-day turnaround, but St George Illawarra will be without prop Paul Vaughan and a minimum of three other players following the Shellharbour COVID breaches.
The Dragons have between two and four matches to schedule the one-game bans handed out to the 12 players who attended the party at Vaughan’s home and it will be up to coach Anthony Griffin to decide how to distribute the pain.
Manly missed the chance to edge closer to the top four with their unexpected loss to Canberra and the forwards in particular will be keen to make amends after being comprehensively outpointed by the Raiders pack.
The seventh-placed Dragons will be looking back, not forward, at the mass of teams desperately trying to get themselves into the finals conversation.
Team news
Sea Eagles: Superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic may well be rested after Origin III but skipper Daly Cherry-Evans will be keen to back up and play another starring role as he did against the Cowboys two days after Origin I.
Jake Trbojevic is a chance to return from a hip injury in a massive boost for Des Hasler’s men while Josh Schuster (calf) is also a chance.
Bench forward Toafofoa Sipley suffered a shoulder injury against the Raiders and will be monitored.
Dragons: The club will decide on Tuesday which four players serve their one-game suspension for breaching biosecurity rules.
Skipper Ben Hunt and forward Tariq Sims will be determined to back up from Origin and help out their undermanned team.
Warriors forward Jamayne Taunoa-Brown has joined the club on a loan deal for the month of July so he’ll come straight in to bolster the pack.
Key match-up
Reuben Garrick v Tyrell Sloan: Reality hit the high-flying Sea Eagles winger hard when he was standing in for superstar teammate Tom Trbojevic against the Green Machine and the competition’s leading point-scorer will be keen to put the bad memories behind him. Sloan, on the other hand, gets another chance in the top side after impressing on debut against the Raiders in round 15. The slightly built teenager scored a try and showed himself unafraid to chance his arm in attack.
Stat attack
The Sea Eagles have struggled mightily against the Dragons in recent years, winning just twice in their past nine outings against the joint-venture club. And only two of those seven losses has been close – 12-4 in 2015 and 12-10 in round six of the 2019 season – with the rest floggings by an average margin of 27.8 points with a lowest Dragons score of 32.
Head to NRL Pick’Em and get pickin to win a share of $100,000 cash every week!