Round 22 North Queensland Cowboys v Manly Sea Eagles

[TITAN PETE]

SATURDAY

North Queensland Cowboys v Manly Sea Eagles at Dairy Farmers Stadium, 7:30pm (local). #NRLNQLMAN

COWBOYS: Matthew Bowen, Kalifa Faifai Loa, Brent Tate, Kane Linnett, Antonio Winterstein, Johnathan Thurston, Michael Morgan, Matthew Scott, Aaron Payne, James Tamou, Gavin Cooper, Glenn Hall, Dallas Johnson. Interchange (from): Anthony Mitchell, Ricky Thorby, Ashton Sims, Scott Bolton, Ray Thompson

SEA EAGLES: Brett Stewart, Jorge Taufua, Steve Matai, Jamie Lyon, David Williams, Kieran Foran, Daly Cherry-Evans, Jason King, Matt Ballin, Brent Kite, Anthony Watmough, Tony Williams, Glenn Stewart. Interchange (from): George Rose, Joe Galuvao, Darcy Lussick, Jamie Buhrer, Vic Mauro, Daniel Harrison, Dean Whare

[Rage]

Ben Blaschke NRL.com Wed, Aug 01, 2012 - 3:48 PM

North Queensland Cowboys v Manly Sea Eagles
Dairy Farmers Stadium
Saturday 7.30pm

It?s that time of year when every match takes on added significance for the finals contenders as they jostle for valuable position inside the top eight. But for North Queensland and Manly this week, there is much more than a simple top-eight berth up for grabs.

The Australian Rugby League Commission?s decision to scrap the controversial McIntyre system in favour of the model long used by the AFL provides far greater reward for finishing the regular season inside the top four ? as opposed to only the top two previously ? as well as forcing those sides ranked 5th to 8th to enter sudden-death territory from the outset.

So when it comes to making a run for the grand final, a top-four finish provides those sides with a huge advantage over the four that follow.

The Cowboys? loss to the Bulldogs last Saturday and Manly?s comeback win over the Warriors in Perth means that these two sides are now locked on 26 points (along with Brisbane) with the winner of this Saturday?s clash taking a huge step towards securing that top-four spot.

And what a battle it promises to be.

Despite going down 32-18 to the competition front-runners, North Queensland showed plenty of resolve in defeat and with key duo Johnathan Thurston and Matt Bowen in fine form they certainly have what it takes to give the competition a real shake this season.

They have also worked hard to make Dairy Farmers Stadium the fortress it has always promised to be, winning their past five on home soil.

Manly, though, are never easy to put away ? as they proved when they came from 18-0 down to stun the Warriors last start.

Consistency has been the Sea Eagles? problem of late but it?s no secret what the reigning NRL premiers are capable of. The recent return from injury of five-eighth Kieran Foran has made a huge difference, while Daly Cherry-Evans hit back from criticism over his contributions of late with a number of telling touches against the Warriors (including two late tries to snatch the win).

However, they will need to lift from their last away start, when they were belted 32-6 in Newcastle.

North Queensland has named the same side that lost to Canterbury last week although coach Neil Henry is yet to make a final decision on whether to bring halfback Ray Thompson, who is 18th man, into the starting side at the expense of Michael Morgan. Thompson has been cleared to make his return from a shoulder injury.

Fullback Brett Stewart makes his return to the Manly side at the expense of Dean Whare ? the NSW Origin custodian overcoming a hamstring injury to take his place.

His brother Glenn will play his 150th NRL game this week and will be pleased to do so alongside Brett ? the pair boast a 67-25 winning record when playing together for the Sea Eagles.

Back-rower Anthony Watmough has been named although he will need to beat his dangerous contact charge at the judiciary on Wednesday night to take his place.

Keep an eye on Manly either side of half-time: they have scored the most points (78) and conceded the fewest (23) in the five-minute periods either side of the break this year.

Watch Out Cowboys: Manly?s long-kicking game is a key feature of their successful strategy in recent times so it is vital that the Cowboys cut down the time their halves have with the ball late in the tackle count. The Sea Eagles rank second for total kick metres this season with 12,238 at 644 per game ? Daly Cherry-Evans leading the way with 6618 metres.

Danger Sign: The Sea Eagles should look to attack North Queensland up the middle because the Cowboys have struggled to defend in centre-field at times this season. While their edge defence has been solid in 2012, they have conceded 20 tries through the middle ? the second-worst record in the NRL behind only Penrith (21).

Watch Out Sea Eagles: Manly can expect to have their mental fitness tested this week with North Queensland the masters of exposing lazy defenders and players making poor reads in the defensive line. The Cowboys rank first in the NRL for total decoy runners used in 2012 with 744 (by comparison, the side with the least decoy runs, the Roosters, have used just 206) and also lead the way for support runs with 749. Watch for Matt Bowen to follow his big men around the park all night looking for a split in Manly?s defence.

Danger Sign: North Queensland?s wingers should be putting their hands up for their inside men to kick to late on the tackle count this Saturday given Manly?s struggles against the cross-field bomb. The Sea Eagles rank second last for cross-field bombs defused with just 23 of 53 successfully caught at 43 per cent.

Johnathan Thurston v Kieran Foran: The rivalry between Australia and New Zealand is rekindled with Test playmakers Thurston and Foran going head to head in a scintillating battle. Their styles couldn?t be more contrasting ? Thurston is renowned for his freakish array of skills while Foran is a tough and relentless competitor ? but the success of their respective sides sits firmly in their hands.

Where It Will Be Won: The battle up front will be epic. Manly?s forward pack is their great strength, with all six starting forwards having tasted State of Origin and their back-row of Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough and Tony Williams all a part of Ricky Stuart?s NSW squad this season. The Cowboys boast three forwards with Origin experience including arguably the best starting props in the NRL in James Tamou and Matt Scott.

The History: Played 18; Sea Eagles 11, Cowboys 7. North Queensland lead 5-4 in games played at Dairy Farmers Stadium; however Manly have won five of their past seven total clashes.

The Last Time They Met: North Queensland won?t have forgotten the pain they felt when Manly eliminated them in week one of the 2011 finals series with a stunning 42-8 thrashing at the Sydney Football Stadium.

A clash that looked set to go right down to the wire when the Cowboys took an 8-0 lead into the half-time break instead turned out to be the visitors? nightmare as they leaked seven second-half tries to crash out of the premiership race.

And it was Johnathan Thurston who went from hero to villain either side of half-time. Thurston looked set to lead his side to a huge upset win when he put Willie Tonga over in the 28th minute, but a mistimed inside ball early in the second half set Manly on their way with William Hopoate pushing over wide on the right to kick-start Manly?s surge.

Incredibly, it wasn?t until the 56th minute that Manly took the lead for the first time when Kieran Foran threw a stunning pass for Brett Stewart to cross but from there the floodgates opened. Anthony Watmough made it 18-8 when he capitalised on a fortunate bounce to score untouched in the 63rd minute while Stewart, Jamie Buhrer, Hopoate and Matt Ballin all added four-pointers inside a hectic final 10 minutes.

The Cowboys missed a whopping 52 tackles and made just 1232 metres to Manly?s 1541.

Brett Stewart was a standout for the eventual premiers with two tries, four tackle-breaks and 174 metres while Jamie Lyon produced a game-high 11 tackle-breaks.

Match Officials: Referees ? Shayne Hayne & Gerard Sutton; Sideline Officials ? Russell Turner & Paul Holland; Video Referee ? Steve Clark.

The Way We See It: With so much to play for, this promises to be a thrilling encounter with both sides capable of pouring on the points. However, playing at home and having produced a number of impressive displays in recent weeks, it?s hard to go past North Queensland here. They will be looking to make a statement following their embarrassing defeat at the hands of Manly in last year?s finals series. Cowboys by six points.

Televised: Fox Sports 2 ? Live 7.30pm.

*Statistics: NRL Stats

[Rage]

By Ian McCullough AAP Wed, Aug 01, 2012 - 9:36 PM

Manly's push for a top-four NRL finish has been boosted by the NRL judiciary's decision to downgrade Anthony Watmough's dangerous contact charge on Wednesday.

Watmough was hit with a grade two dangerous contact charge for a chicken-wing tackle on Warriors fullback Kevin Locke in Perth last Saturday.

The NSW and Test back-rower pleaded guilty to the offence, but as a grade one charge, and risked a two-match suspension if he failed to persuade the three-man panel of Michael Buettner, Royce Ayliffe and Sean Garlick that the incident was not serious enough to warrant a ban.

But he will be free to face North Queensland on Saturday after his counsel Nick Ghabar successfully argued that Watmough's challenge was less dangerous than three comparable incidents that merited grade two punishments.

Peter Kite, for the NRL, claimed it was a player's duty to realise what is dangerous to an opponent, and Watmough continued to push on Locke's arm as the Kiwi Test star resisted.

He likened the incident to the ones by Travis Burns on Masoe Masoe in Penrith's recent win over the Sydney Roosters, which was a grade two, and grade one charges against Dragons utility Beau Scott on Ben Pomeroy of Cronulla and former Panther Masada Iosefa on Joel Monaghan of Canberra two years ago.

But Ghabar said Watmough's tackle was less dangerous than the other three and the panel took just over 15 minutes to agree.

"He didn't use an arm-bar on player Locke and he was able to free himself from the tackle," Ghabar said.

"We agree the arm is an unnatural position, but the player was not injured and able to continue playing."

Earlier in the evening, Ghabar was unable to convince the panel that Burns' intentional high contact charge should be downgraded to reckless contact.

The Penrith five-eighth's season is over after he was found guilty for a challenge on Sydney Roosters prop Martin Kennedy and slugged with a nine-game suspension.

The ban is in addition to the three games he'll miss after pleading guilty to a chicken wing tackle on Mose Masoe in the same game.

Burns was sent off in the 71st minute of the round 20 clash at Centrebet Stadium when he leapt up and caught Kennedy across the face with his right arm.

He'll be free to play in round five of next season should the Panthers play two trials before the start of next season.

[Rage]

Ian McCullough AAP Fri, Aug 03, 2012 - 3:33 PM

Former coach Des Hasler used to revel in underplaying the strengths of his Manly team, but frontrower George Rose says the 2012 Sea Eagles are most definitely flying under the radar.

Victory for the premiers over North Queensland in Townsville on Saturday will see them leapfrog the Cowboys and move into fourth spot on the NRL table.

Hasler's Canterbury and South Sydney are receiving all the plaudits at the top of the ladder, with Brisbane and Melbourne's lack of form also coming under scrutiny.

And this has allowed the sixth-placed Sea Eagles to creep almost unnoticed towards the top four, something that suits Rose and his mates.

"We've been a bit down the ladder, but we know a couple of more wins will give us a good finishing spot at the end of the season," Rose told AAP.

Anthony Watmough's successful downgrading of a dangerous contact charge at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday and the return to fitness of Brett Stewart means Sea Eagles coach Geoff Toovey will be able to pick a full-strength side.

It will be the first time since round one that Toovey has had all of his stars available and Rose said they'll all be needed for what he considers the hardest roadtrip in the NRL.

"I think it is (the hardest), because they are such a great side, it is a fair (distance) trip as well and weather-wise Townsville is very different to Sydney at the moment," he said.

"I am sure it will be a lot warmer than it is down here and we haven't trained in the heat for a few months.

"They also have some forwards who are playing great footy. Their Aussie reps Matt Scott and James Tamou are two of the real form frontrowers in the comp.

"It is going to be a big test for us to contain them."

The trip to North Queensland comes on the back of a stirring come-from-behind win against the Warriors in Perth last week.

Trailing by eight points with seven minutes remaining, two Daly Cherry-Evans tries sealed a memorable victory, but Toovey has warned his men they need to improve against the Cowboys and their always dangerous fullback Matt Bowen.

"He's in great form at the moment and has been hot to trot," Toovey said.

"He's a great athlete, has great speed, you can't coach speed, and he is a player people want to watch and we have to be very mindful of him."

[TITAN PETE]

Manly edge Cowboys to crash NRL top four
SMH
August 4, 2012 - 10:29PM

Manly leapfrogged North Queensland into the NRL top four after grinding out an 8-6 win in Townsville on Saturday night.

Both teams were stoic in defence in the tight contest, where a Jamie Lyon penalty proved to be the difference.

The Sea Eagles now jump over the Cowboys and Brisbane into fourth spot, but will need to wait until the Broncos play Canberra in the national capital on Sunday to see if they can stay there.

The Sydney team started strongest and looked to have grabbed the first try of the night in the 11th minute when Tony Williams pounced on a Kieran Foran grubber.

But the video referee judged Anthony Watmough had impeded Cowboys defender Glenn Hall.

After an extended period of possession, the defending champions eventually opened the scoring on 25 minutes, Foran skipping past a slipping Dallas Johnson from the scrum base.

The try seemed to spark some life into the Cowboys attack and they had two scoring opportunities in as many minutes from the boot and stunning run by fullback Matt Bowen.

Starting off the second half as they finished the first, the Cowboys came out strongest in the second half.

Kane Linnett took advantage of a miscommunication between David Williams and Daly Cherry-Evans, the Manly pair not making any attempt to catch a Bowen bomb in the 52nd minute.

The ball bounced off Cherry-Evans' leg and Linnett beat the two Manly players to put the Cowboys on an even pegging.

Manly looked to have taken the lead again through Brett Stewart, after the fullback fought his way across the line in the 63rd minute, but the video referee again intervened saying centre Steve Matai had impeded Brent Tate.

But the Sea Eagles did take the lead four minutes later, Cowboys back-rower Gavin Cooper penalised for being offside in front of the posts and Lyon opted to kick the two points.

The Cowboys had a chance to score at the death, but were penalised for being offside while trying desperately to get across the tryline.

Manly will have to see whether the match review committee charges Darcy Lussick with a high elbow on Ashton Sims in the 45th minute, while Matai went off the field injured in the 67th minute with an ankle injury.

The Cowboys have their own injury concerns, with starting halfback Michael Morgan leaving the field with a shoulder injury in the 71st minute.

Manly coach Geoff Toovey was proud of his team's defensive effort, especially when the penalty count was eight to two against them at one point.

"I'm really proud of our boys and how they defended and it was worthy of a semi-final and I think both sides will probably be there hopefully at the end of the year," he said.

Captain Jamie Lyon agreed that the intensity was up to semi-final standard and was the level they needed to be hitting with four matches remaining.

"That's the football you've got to play at this time of year if you want to play in the semis and play against the good sides you have to play that grinding game every week and it's good we got back to that grinding way I think," Lyon said.

Cowboys captain Matt Scott said they had frustrated themselves in attack, not playing at their best in a game they were capable of winning.

"We had too many dropped balls and the ends of sets weren't quite on the money so I think that was the issue, we need to put a bit more pressure on them to tire them defensively and the joy comes off the back of that," he said.

Toovey said injury concerns to Steve Matai and Anthony Watmough were not serious while Henry didn't believe the shoulder injury to halfback Michael Morgan would require scans.