Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Friday night from Allianz Stadium and a
chance to progress in this year’s title race. The resurgent, resilient and very
fortunate Cronulla Sharks travel to the home of Sydney Rugby League to face
what will be a very angry Manly squad. They failed to trouble the scorers last
week against the chooks and if they think things might open up this week,
they'll be in for a rude shock. The sharks will likely be without Todd Carney
and this will see them surge even further towards the grind.
Get ready for a dour 80 minutes; this will
go down to the wire. The Sharks will play bash-up footy and will try to win
this with sheer aggression. Their forward pack is built for such times and with
the loss of Todd Carney, will rely even more than usual on their big men. Manly
will counter act this with their own version of toughness, but eventually will
have more class out wide. DCE and Kieran Foran step up and the Eagles win
behind their halves and skipper Jamie Lyon. A ripper.
My tip: Manly 18-12
Melbourne Storm v Newcastle Knights
Semi Final 2 comes to you from AAMI Park
in Melbourne as the Knights travel south to face the Storm. If you thought the
Roosters v Manly match in week 1 was a defensive battle, there may not even be
a line break to speak of in this one. Newcastle suffocated the Bulldogs out of
existence last week and whilst the Storm may offer more in attack to test the
visitors this week, the Knights are proud of their identity and will stick
strong.
If the Premiership winning combinations forged
by Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater are to crack this Knights
defence, they'll need some help from Gareth Widdop. Melbourne struggled to
finish in the red zone last week and they'll be tested in this area again with Widdop
still working on his cohesion with the storm three quarter line. Craig Bellamy will
ensure they have it all worked out this week, especially against his old mentor
in Wayne Bennett. A beauty.
My tip: Melbourne 13-6
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