Rd 25:Sea Eagles vs Bulldogs

[J-Storm]

The 'Dogs will just be missing too much with the players out. Had they only lost 1 of those players it may be a lil' different. I'd prefer to see the 'Dogs win but I'll take Manly in a close match, by 8...

[Hoppy2007Dragons]

i'd Prefer the dogs to win to help the Dragons top 4 chances but i think manly will pull this one off by 8.

[SuperCliffy#01]

Manly by a couple of point, this will be a pearler of a game.cya. :win:

[Titanium_BD1103]

It's game day... so here's the game day articles...

From: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

Bell making most of career move
By Margie McDonald
August 25, 2006

MELBOURNE is sitting on top of the ladder but Manly centre Steve Bell has no regrets about leaving Storm at the end of last season.

While his former teammates have gone from strength to strength, including an unbeaten run of 11 wins until last weekend, the move north has done wonders for Bell ... and he isn't talking about just the warm weather.

"I think of them on mornings like this at training when I'm not wearing a beanie ... or when I'm out swimming or surfing and not freezing my **** off," Bell said in 22C sunshine at North Narrabeen this week.

It took some courage to leave the club where the Queenslander spent five seasons after making his debut in 2001.

"It was a whole new world coming to Sydney," he said.

"I didn't know what to expect and knew no one here. It was just my wife and baby girl with me. But it's all worked out very well."

It has indeed.

Bell made his Origin debut for Queensland this year, and he has scored 12 tries in 14 games for the Sea Eagles, which helped propel the seasiders into clear third spot and a chance to secure a finals match at Brookvale Oval.

He is the team's second highest try-scorer behind fullback Brett Stewart (19), despite a fractured cheekbone in Game II of the Origin series which forced him to miss eight rounds.

Bell returned to action in round 23 against Newcastle.

And he will have his hands full tonight as Sonny Bill Williams has been named in the centres for the injured Willie Tonga.

Manly has the unenviable schedule of facing teams No.2 and No.1 - the Bulldogs and Melbourne - in the final two rounds of the regular season.

But the Sea Eagles believe that run home allows them to gauge how close they are to the benchmark sides before the finals start on September 8.

"Well, if you're playing finals I suppose you'll end up playing them at some time, so we'll get a taste of what needs to be done," Bell said.

"It'll be a good yardstick to see where we're at."

He simply can't wait to play his old teammates again.

"I rang a couple of my mates (at Storm) this week and they didn't ring me back ... so I'm not sure what that means; they must be busy," he said with a smile.

Bell is not surprised Melbourne has done so well this season after also losing Matt Orford to Manly last spring.

"I knew they still had enough talent down there to play well each week," he said.

"I thought they'd be up there ... maybe not No.1, but in the eight."

O'Meley vows to lead Bulldog pups forward
Stuart Honeysett
August 25, 2006

BULLDOGS enforcer Mark O'Meley has declared it is time for him to step up and take control of the club's depleted forward pack, starting with tonight's showdown against Manly at Brookvale Oval.

O'Meley signalled his intentions yesterday after a horror week at Belmore has seen the loss of Roy Asotasi (knee), Willie Tonga (knee) and Tony Grimaldi (neck) to injury and Willie Mason to suspension.

"I've had the luxury of sitting back off Mason, who's had such a great year, and Roy, so with those two out I've got to roll up my sleeves and help these young fellas out," O'Meley said. "This year I've tried to take a bit more of a backwards step because we've had such a great pack and you don't have to be so instrumental and you don't have to be the player yelling and barking orders.

"You just sort of sit back and you know yourself when you've got to do something when the game is in the balance, whereas now you've got to try to inspire the young blokes. The responsibility is a little different."

O'Meley will have his work cut out for him when the workload Asotasi and Mason have contributed this season is taken into account.

Both players feature in the NRL's top 20 for hit-ups, with Mason making 312 and Asotasi 286. They are also runaway leaders at their club in terms of metres gained, with Mason thundering to 2699m and Asotasi 2600m.

Asotasi (1082) and Mason (1030) rank in the top four at the Bulldogs for minutes played in the forwards this season, behind captain Andrew Ryan (1536) and Reni Maitua (1464).

O'Meley, who has 246 hit-ups, 1965 metres and 772 minutes to his name, said he would bank on support from Ryan to help show the way for the less experienced brigade, including Dallas McIlwain, Brad Morrin and Jarrad Hickey.

"Andrew Ryan and myself have just got to help the young blokes when it's tough and when the game's in the balance by pointing them in the right direction and just letting them know how important is the next run, the next tackle, the next set," O'Meley said.

The loss of troops could not have come at a worse time for the second-placed club, which was starting to build momentum for the finals and was favourite to add another premiership to its trophy cabinet.

However, it was not all doom and gloom after Sonny Bill Williams (knee), Nate Myles (leg) and McIlwain (shoulder) made it through the final session.

The club is so confident all three players will take the field against the Sea Eagles there was no 18th player training with the team as a precaution yesterday.

Williams, who sat out last Friday night's game against the Broncos with a jarred knee, said he was confident of getting through the entire game.

He also said he would prefer to play in the forwards but was happy to be in the run-on side replacing Tonga in the centres after being used as a strike weapon off the bench in the latter half of the season.

Manly has its own problems with inspirational captain Ben Kennedy sidelined with a knee injury.

But props Jason King and Brent Kite have said they won't underestimate their opponents tonight. That position was reinforced by coach Des Hasler yesterday, who said the depth at the Bulldogs was reflected in the fact Williams was being promoted to a starting spot.

"We're not falling for that trap," Hasler said. "When players are missing, your backs are to the wall and players come in and they lift.

"So if anything it makes them more of a risk because the players who come in will lift even more.

"They're a good side. They've got plenty of depth and they have players who play a really confrontational and hard-hitting grind-out type of footy."

[Titanium_BD1103]

From:www.smh.com.au

Forward-thinking Folkes has it covered
August 25, 2006

WHEN a succession of injuries to key players derailed the Bulldogs' NRL campaign last year, coach Steve Folkes started formulating a contingency plan for 2006.

He hoped he wouldn't have to implement it but, after last Friday's clash with the Broncos, the league gods have forced his hand. Centre Willie Tonga is gone for the season and Souths-bound prop Roy Asotasi will only wear the Bulldogs jersey again if the side qualifies for the grand final. Both suffered knee injuries.

Folkes's plan was to have ready, willing and able replacements to assume the responsibilities of more experienced players if things went awry. Rather than immerse fringe first-graders such as Brad Morrin, Jarrad Hickey and Dallas McIlwain in the company of the club's stars, Folkes sent them to premier league for some hard work.

"Folkesy sent me down to Premier League and said he wanted me to get my fitness up because if anything happened to one of the guys later in the year, he might need me to play a lot more game time," Morrin said.

If the work Morrin has put in over the last few weeks has paid off, it will show tonight when he, along with McIlwain and Hickey, comes off the bench against Manly at Brookvale Oval.

"I found it hard, I had to get used to playing tired again," Morrin said. "In first grade, they pull you off before you get tired so you are not a weakness. When I went back to Premier League, after 15 minutes I started to put my hand up and that's not what you want to be doing. The time I spent down there definitely helped me ? "

Jamie Pandaram

Belmore buzz is building at Brookie
August 25, 2006

Tonight the NRL's most hated club hosts the side with the most hated fans. And the crowd will love it, writes Andrew Stevenson.

BACK in the bad old days before the salary cap, Manly Warringah, cashed up by the clink of coins flowing into its leagues club, had a sure-fire recipe for success - buy the heart and soul out of whoever stood between you and the premiership.

It worked a treat. Manly were happy to cripple Souths in 1971, and the following year dressed up former Souths stars prop John O'Neill and centre Ray Branighan in the maroon-and-white strip to win the club's first premiership.

Next it was Western Suburbs' turn. As Manly secretary Ken Arthurson, with the signatures of Les Boyd, John Dorahy and Ray Brown in his pocket, boasted in 1980: "We had to cripple Souths in the early 1970s to win a premiership and if that has to happen to another club, I'll do it again."

That time it didn't quite work but, like Faust, Manly's pact with the devil came at a price. The club earned the scorn of every league fan in the country - a scorn that crusted and scabbed with the success that came to Brookvale for so many years.

The incredible run of four premierships between 1972 and 1978 eventually came to an end but the chequebooks stayed open and Manly continued to plunder an international a year.

Old memories die hard, and the contempt survived Manly's hard times when, under the guise of the Northern Eagles, they came within a whisker of financial disintegration. It's something to be proud of, suggested new Manly chief executive Grant Mayer.

"The word Manly evokes emotion in every person you speak to with the vaguest knowledge of rugby league," he said. "If people are talking about them and thinking I'd love to see my team smash them - and if that drives another person through the turnstiles - that's a positive for the club."

The contest of negative and positive emotion promises to be a heady brew in the stands at Brookvale tonight, as the most hated club hosts the Bulldogs, the club with the most hated fans. That it's No.2 playing No.3 only increases the drama.

Last Sunday, Manly almost filled Brookvale Oval when they played the Rabbitohs, bumping along the bottom in 15th place, and tonight the club is hoping it might be able to put up its first full house sign since the NRL began in 1998.

No wonder co-owner Max Delmege is smiling. "It's very exciting for the loyal supporters ? it's very big," he observed.

It's the biggest yet for the self-confessed Eagles tragic. "I've been involved there for five years and it's the biggest game in that time. I don't pray too often but I just pray to God we win," he said.

It's worked before, Delmege claimed. In July, Manly were being pasted 24-6 by the Panthers. It was time to go on bended knee.

"I knelt down in the garage because we were so far behind and all of a sudden the phone rang and we were 26-all," he claimed, of the match won 32-30 by Manly.

Poet laureate to the peninsula, Tom Keneally said there's a buzz about Manly again. Manly sides of recent years have tended to fold upon conceding a start. "There is a confidence now when you go to a Manly game you're going to see a contest - particularly at Brookie. You're not going to see a surrender," Keneally claimed.

Despite making the semi-finals last year, Manly still bled points when they lost. Six times teams put more than 25 points on them, including a 68-6 trouncing at the hands of Cronulla. Not so this year. When they've been beaten it's inevitably been close, with a 32-10 loss away to Brisbane their worst of the season.

The Bulldogs - even without the menacing presence of Willie Mason (suspended) and the injured Roy Asotasi - still project an imposing presence, one that will be much harder to repel without Manly's own injured leader, Ben Kennedy.

Keneally said: "There are few sides we'd rather beat - it's the forces of civilisation against the bull-thingys."

But the taunt comes with strong praise. "Despite their off-field troubles, they have a culture of victory, of never lying down. It is very rare they are put to the sword," he said. "When we were in the doldrums I said to Turvey [Steve Mortimer], 'What I admire about you blokes is the culture of winning, of making silk purses out of sow's ears'.

"No matter how many players go, there are always a new crop who play according to the culture of the club. We are building that now from the ashes of the joint venture."

Mayer, who worked back-of-house for six years at the Bulldogs before coming Manly's way via Super League outfit Les Catalans, also has very strong memories of Belmore.

"They literally personify, 'Get in there, into the trenches and support your mates'," he said.

"A stronger group of people I've never met, in regards to their support of each other - and that goes from the top to the bottom of the club, from left to right."

Keneally and Mayer both believe they can see something similar building at Manly, a transformation the poet attributes to the dramatic hero (Kennedy) and the chief executive awards to coach Des Hasler.

"BK gave the side mongrel, by which I mean a toughness where they don't want to run at you," Keneally said.

Mayer reckons Hasler never stops working. "Des is an absolute perfectionist and he's always looking for new avenues to create the best possible performance out of his team," Mayer said.

It comes back to him as the head coach. Des is across a lot of things the Bulldogs certainly didn't talk about and that Super League aren't touching on."

[Grimmace]

Tonight the NRL's most hated club hosts the side with the most hated fans. And the crowd will love it, writes Andrew Stevenson.

BACK in the bad old days before the salary cap, Manly Warringah, cashed up by the clink of coins flowing into its leagues club, had a sure-fire recipe for success - buy the heart and soul out of whoever stood between you and the premiership.

It worked a treat. Manly were happy to cripple Souths in 1971, and the following year dressed up former Souths stars prop John O'Neill and centre Ray Branighan in the maroon-and-white strip to win the club's first premiership.

Next it was Western Suburbs' turn. As Manly secretary Ken Arthurson, with the signatures of Les Boyd, John Dorahy and Ray Brown in his pocket, boasted in 1980: "We had to cripple Souths in the early 1970s to win a premiership and if that has to happen to another club, I'll do it again."

That time it didn't quite work but, like Faust, Manly's pact with the devil came at a price. The club earned the scorn of every league fan in the country - a scorn that crusted and scabbed with the success that came to Brookvale for so many years.

The incredible run of four premierships between 1972 and 1978 eventually came to an end but the chequebooks stayed open and Manly continued to plunder an international a year.

Old memories die hard, and the contempt survived Manly's hard times when, under the guise of the Northern Eagles, they came within a whisker of financial disintegration. It's something to be proud of, suggested new Manly chief executive Grant Mayer.

"The word Manly evokes emotion in every person you speak to with the vaguest knowledge of rugby league," he said. "If people are talking about them and thinking I'd love to see my team smash them - and if that drives another person through the turnstiles - that's a positive for the club."

The contest of negative and positive emotion promises to be a heady brew in the stands at Brookvale tonight, as the most hated club hosts the Bulldogs, the club with the most hated fans. That it's No.2 playing No.3 only increases the drama.

Last Sunday, Manly almost filled Brookvale Oval when they played the Rabbitohs, bumping along the bottom in 15th place, and tonight the club is hoping it might be able to put up its first full house sign since the NRL began in 1998.

No wonder co-owner Max Delmege is smiling. "It's very exciting for the loyal supporters ? it's very big," he observed.

It's the biggest yet for the self-confessed Eagles tragic. "I've been involved there for five years and it's the biggest game in that time. I don't pray too often but I just pray to God we win," he said.

It's worked before, Delmege claimed. In July, Manly were being pasted 24-6 by the Panthers. It was time to go on bended knee.

"I knelt down in the garage because we were so far behind and all of a sudden the phone rang and we were 26-all," he claimed, of the match won 32-30 by Manly.

Poet laureate to the peninsula, Tom Keneally said there's a buzz about Manly again. Manly sides of recent years have tended to fold upon conceding a start. "There is a confidence now when you go to a Manly game you're going to see a contest - particularly at Brookie. You're not going to see a surrender," Keneally claimed.

Despite making the semi-finals last year, Manly still bled points when they lost. Six times teams put more than 25 points on them, including a 68-6 trouncing at the hands of Cronulla. Not so this year. When they've been beaten it's inevitably been close, with a 32-10 loss away to Brisbane their worst of the season.

The Bulldogs - even without the menacing presence of Willie Mason (suspended) and the injured Roy Asotasi - still project an imposing presence, one that will be much harder to repel without Manly's own injured leader, Ben Kennedy.

Keneally said: "There are few sides we'd rather beat - it's the forces of civilisation against the bull-thingys."

But the taunt comes with strong praise. "Despite their off-field troubles, they have a culture of victory, of never lying down. It is very rare they are put to the sword," he said. "When we were in the doldrums I said to Turvey [Steve Mortimer], 'What I admire about you blokes is the culture of winning, of making silk purses out of sow's ears'.

"No matter how many players go, there are always a new crop who play according to the culture of the club. We are building that now from the ashes of the joint venture."

Mayer, who worked back-of-house for six years at the Bulldogs before coming Manly's way via Super League outfit Les Catalans, also has very strong memories of Belmore.

"They literally personify, 'Get in there, into the trenches and support your mates'," he said.

"A stronger group of people I've never met, in regards to their support of each other - and that goes from the top to the bottom of the club, from left to right."

Keneally and Mayer both believe they can see something similar building at Manly, a transformation the poet attributes to the dramatic hero (Kennedy) and the chief executive awards to coach Des Hasler.

"BK gave the side mongrel, by which I mean a toughness where they don't want to run at you," Keneally said.

Mayer reckons Hasler never stops working. "Des is an absolute perfectionist and he's always looking for new avenues to create the best possible performance out of his team," Mayer said.

It comes back to him as the head coach. Des is across a lot of things the Bulldogs certainly didn't talk about and that Super League aren't touching on."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/be...012674389.html

[Grimmace]

Stewart Wants to be Number 1
Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:47 AM

Manly fullback Brett Stewart wants to move to the top of the try scoring list and add to his remarkable strike rate at Brookvale Oval when the Sea Eagles take on the Bulldogs to kick off round 25 tonight.



Stewart is second to the Rabbitohs Nathan Merritt?s 21 tries this season with 19 of his own, but more impressively he?s crossed 30 times in just 28 games at Brookvale oval and says he?s wants to put on a show for the Sea Eagles faithful and increase his tally tonight.



?Yeah I hope so. The trend just continues with me scoring at Brookie, I don?t know what it is. I think it?s just the atmosphere here. I?d like to add a couple more tonight.?



The 21-year-old is one of the in form fullbacks of the competition and believes the attitude at the club is the key.



?We?re just having a lot of fun, it?s great to play outside of Matty Orford and our forwards have been going great, making plenty of room for us out wide and as long as they keep doing that I think the fun will continue.?



Stewart?s form has attracted plenty of attention and he?s being talked about as a possible test fullback for the tri-nations in October and November and while he?s heard the talk he?s not getting carried away.



?I don?t know. It?s still a long way off. I suppose there?s an opportunity with the injuries to others at the moment, but I don?t want to get too far ahead of myself. I just have to keep playing good for Manly.?



He is aware that a good finish in the finals would bring a number of Sea Eagles into Kangaroo contention and that would be the icing on the cake of a good season.



?Yeah it would be. There?s a few of us there on the edge of the Australian team. Hopefully we can play good in the semis and be a step closer to a test jersey.?



The Bulldogs go into the match on the back of a 30-nil hiding by Brisbane and without Roy Asotasi, Willie Tonga, Willie Mason and Tony Grimaldi and Stewart thinks they will be revved up for a big game despite the big names missing.



?Yeah that?s for sure. They won?t be at full strength but the blokes who are filling in will step up and do the job, so we?re not going to be taking them lightly.?



Stewart says he?s looking forward to his duel with the Bulldogs custodian Luke Patten.



?He?s one of those fullbacks who really knows where to position himself and I actually enjoy watching him play. With his great support play and all round game so I?m looking forward to the challenge.?



Manly is relatively injury free with just skipper Ben Kennedy sidelined and Stewart says even his presence will help the team lift.



?Yeah he won?t be on the field tonight but he?s such a winner and has been a great influence since joining the club. Now we have to do our best to send him out a winner.?



Stewart also believes the return of Kennedy for the finals will give them a real boost for the business end of the season.



?Out of the whole year there haven?t been a lot of games where we?ve played at full strength. Of the games we have we seem to go alright. Our combinations just keep getting better and that can only be good.



The ?house full? sign is tipped to go up tonight after 19, 253 packed in for Sunday?s win over Souths and Stewart says the atmosphere is terrific.



?I?m told Sunday was the biggest crowd we?ve had in 6 or 7 years, tonight we might have even more than that. It will be great to play in front of another big one.?



Manly has made the finals in all 3 grades for the first time in a decade and Stewart says Brookvale has been buzzing all week.



It?s been a long time since all 3 grades have gone so well. We?ve got a tough one but so do the boys in the other grades.

Source: NRL

[Poida]

wooo dogs on tonight. i get to see hazem el magic in action.
hes my fav player ever

[SuperCliffy#01]

Tonight the NRL's most hated club hosts the side with the most hated fans. And the crowd will love it, writes Andrew Stevenson.

BACK in the bad old days before the salary cap, Manly Warringah, cashed up by the clink of coins flowing into its leagues club, had a sure-fire recipe for success - buy the heart and soul out of whoever stood between you and the premiership.

It worked a treat. Manly were happy to cripple Souths in 1971, and the following year dressed up former Souths stars prop John O'Neill and centre Ray Branighan in the maroon-and-white strip to win the club's first premiership.

Next it was Western Suburbs' turn. As Manly secretary Ken Arthurson, with the signatures of Les Boyd, John Dorahy and Ray Brown in his pocket, boasted in 1980: "We had to cripple Souths in the early 1970s to win a premiership and if that has to happen to another club, I'll do it again."

That time it didn't quite work but, like Faust, Manly's pact with the devil came at a price. The club earned the scorn of every league fan in the country - a scorn that crusted and scabbed with the success that came to Brookvale for so many years.

The incredible run of four premierships between 1972 and 1978 eventually came to an end but the chequebooks stayed open and Manly continued to plunder an international a year.

Old memories die hard, and the contempt survived Manly's hard times when, under the guise of the Northern Eagles, they came within a whisker of financial disintegration. It's something to be proud of, suggested new Manly chief executive Grant Mayer.

"The word Manly evokes emotion in every person you speak to with the vaguest knowledge of rugby league," he said. "If people are talking about them and thinking I'd love to see my team smash them - and if that drives another person through the turnstiles - that's a positive for the club."

The contest of negative and positive emotion promises to be a heady brew in the stands at Brookvale tonight, as the most hated club hosts the Bulldogs, the club with the most hated fans. That it's No.2 playing No.3 only increases the drama.

Last Sunday, Manly almost filled Brookvale Oval when they played the Rabbitohs, bumping along the bottom in 15th place, and tonight the club is hoping it might be able to put up its first full house sign since the NRL began in 1998.

No wonder co-owner Max Delmege is smiling. "It's very exciting for the loyal supporters ? it's very big," he observed.

It's the biggest yet for the self-confessed Eagles tragic. "I've been involved there for five years and it's the biggest game in that time. I don't pray too often but I just pray to God we win," he said.

It's worked before, Delmege claimed. In July, Manly were being pasted 24-6 by the Panthers. It was time to go on bended knee.

"I knelt down in the garage because we were so far behind and all of a sudden the phone rang and we were 26-all," he claimed, of the match won 32-30 by Manly.

Poet laureate to the peninsula, Tom Keneally said there's a buzz about Manly again. Manly sides of recent years have tended to fold upon conceding a start. "There is a confidence now when you go to a Manly game you're going to see a contest - particularly at Brookie. You're not going to see a surrender," Keneally claimed.

Despite making the semi-finals last year, Manly still bled points when they lost. Six times teams put more than 25 points on them, including a 68-6 trouncing at the hands of Cronulla. Not so this year. When they've been beaten it's inevitably been close, with a 32-10 loss away to Brisbane their worst of the season.

The Bulldogs - even without the menacing presence of Willie Mason (suspended) and the injured Roy Asotasi - still project an imposing presence, one that will be much harder to repel without Manly's own injured leader, Ben Kennedy.

Keneally said: "There are few sides we'd rather beat - it's the forces of civilisation against the bull-thingys."

But the taunt comes with strong praise. "Despite their off-field troubles, they have a culture of victory, of never lying down. It is very rare they are put to the sword," he said. "When we were in the doldrums I said to Turvey [Steve Mortimer], 'What I admire about you blokes is the culture of winning, of making silk purses out of sow's ears'.

"No matter how many players go, there are always a new crop who play according to the culture of the club. We are building that now from the ashes of the joint venture."

Mayer, who worked back-of-house for six years at the Bulldogs before coming Manly's way via Super League outfit Les Catalans, also has very strong memories of Belmore.

"They literally personify, 'Get in there, into the trenches and support your mates'," he said.

"A stronger group of people I've never met, in regards to their support of each other - and that goes from the top to the bottom of the club, from left to right."

Keneally and Mayer both believe they can see something similar building at Manly, a transformation the poet attributes to the dramatic hero (Kennedy) and the chief executive awards to coach Des Hasler.

"BK gave the side mongrel, by which I mean a toughness where they don't want to run at you," Keneally said.

Mayer reckons Hasler never stops working. "Des is an absolute perfectionist and he's always looking for new avenues to create the best possible performance out of his team," Mayer said.

It comes back to him as the head coach. Des is across a lot of things the Bulldogs certainly didn't talk about and that Super League aren't touching on."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/be...012674389.html

Hey grimmace this sounds like a pure case of Manly bashing to the extreme, what have you got against Manly, that sanctamoniuos garbage went out the window in the 90's, remember the Titans are trying to buy a premiership and so are the other 15 clubs.cya.

[jimmy_the_greek]

i really hope we win this game today, we have secured 2nd spot i think but the main reason, i want to win is because after last weeks loss, we had a lot of critics and to me its important to prove them wrong

go the dogs!

[Grimmace]

Im not bashing manly at all cliffy i did not write the article at all the only problem i had against them is back whehn norths merged with them but thats the way the media veiws it infact i like the way how manly turned itself around infact i rate them as a dark horse to win the comp this year sorry if you thought i was having a go at them but what the article is imlying is it will be a great game i think every one is over the whole manly thing bar the media and there are people out there that still hate the bulldogs

[DeeGan]

Manly to win here 1-12.

Look for a big game from Matt Orford who is getting mentioned as a 'Roo bolter at the end of the season. More to play for here with Manly, Canterbury won't plod along though I don't think they will be "UP" for this match.

Could be wrong, one side I never write off is the Doggies.

Should be a cracker tonight!

[Darren Lockyer]

Final score
Manly 21 Bulldogs 20
Matt orford sealed it in the last minute

[Poida]

field goals fascinate me how far did he get it from

[Steelers]

Manly to win here 1-12.

Look for a big game from Matt Orford who is getting mentioned as a 'Roo bolter at the end of the season. More to play for here with Manly, Canterbury won't plod along though I don't think they will be "UP" for this match.

Could be wrong, one side I never write off is the Doggies.

Should be a cracker tonight!

I officially hand over the title of Nostradamus to DeeGan!!!! :rotflmao: