Manly got the infamous win in the opening match of round 1 in Las Vegas, beating Souths 36-24.
South Sydney had won the previous 7 matches against Manly by an average margin of 14.5 points.
South Sydney Rabbitohs Form
South Sydney’s season has began to swing in the right direction with three consecutive wins after beating the Broncos in round 15, 22-12.
The Rabbitohs were conceding 34.8 points per game in the opening 10 matches of the season, reducing that number to less than half at 16.66 OPPG over the past 3 matches played.
South Sydney’s attack has also looked more dangerous since Jack Wighton has come into the halves and Leatrell Mitchell has been back in form, averaging 36.66 points, much improved from the 16.2 points per game in their opening 10 matches.
Credit needs to be given to Ben Hornby as interim coach, settling into his role and beginning to get the best out of his key players.
South Sydney Rabbitohs Team News
Latrell Mitchell and Cameron Murray will represent NSW and will miss this week’s match.
Jye Gray will fill in at fullback, as young gun Liam Le Blanc comes in on the bench for the Rabbitohs.
Manly have been a disappointment in my books this season after a good start to the year they have fallen back into their trap of inconsistency that makes their games hard ones to pick.
They have been a much better team at home winning 5 of 6 matches at 4 Pines Park, but are 2 from 7 playing outside of Brookie.
The Sea Eagles are conceding an average of 27 points as the away team, compared with an average of 18.3 points conceded per game at Brookvale Oval.
Losing Tom Trbjovevic makes things difficult for them, but to be fair it isn’t the only reason and changes need to be made if they want to be playing in September.
Manly Sea Eagles Team News
Daly Cherry-Evans, Jake Trbojevic and Haumole Olakau’atu will represent their respective states and will be out this week.
Rueben Garrick and Taniela Paseka will also miss Manly’s match against Souths due to injury.
Larl Lawton will play in the halves, while Aaron Schoupp and Aitasi will come into the side. Corey Waddell will come into the starting side in the backrow. Caleb Navale and Ben Condon come onto the bench.
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