Finals Preview Dragons V Sea Eagles
Monday, September 11, 2006 - 12:51 PM
This should be a great clash as both teams have their season on the line and have had a rivalry for many years now.
The Dragons on one hand have really struck some form of late with four successive wins while the Sea Eagles have been close all the way but lost their last two at the death.
Both teams have defended brilliantly of late showing a hard nosed unwillingness to give up easy points and get over the advantage line well through their big forwards to really set the back end of the set up for the likes Trent Barrett and Matt Orford.
Both teams are also very fond of spreading the ball wide to their backline, and both are blessed with speed but the Dragons have a definite size advantage, especially in the centres where Gasnier and Cooper tower over Matai and Bell, making them targets for their bigger stronger opponents to run at.
The involvement of the halves for both teams will be critical, and Barrett and Hornby taking on Burns and Orford will be a great battle but with the Dragons scoring so many tries from kicks you can expect the pressure to be on Brett Stewart, Chris Hicks and Michael Robertson.
Sea Eagles captain Ben Kennedy, will be looking for Manly to maintain their discipline for 80 minutes this week knowing that two ?sin binnings? at Newcastle (one of them his own) is something they can?t afford to repeat.
Key Match Ups
Matt Cooper V Steve Matai
Cooper is not only the sexiest man in league, but the form centre of the competition and his hard running combined with his natural ability caused Brent Tate no end of problems last week. Steve Matai is no slouch and he often gives as good as he gets but he still seems to be a bit green in terms of knowing when to move up or hold back in defence, and in that respect is not the equal of Brent Tate yet, but he is learning fast and if he is on his game is capable of stopping Cooper.
Shaun Timmins V Ben Kennedy
Two old warhorses who just keep ticking. Neither player will ever let his team-mates down and both where their hearts on their sleeve. Both are also playing their last year of NRL football, and despite what they say it does mean a lot to them! They will both make plenty of tackles but it will be their contribution with the ball and the amount of class passes they put on that could decide the winner of this battle.
Head to Head: Since 1999 these two teams have only played 8 matches and the Dragons have the wood on Manly holding a 6-2 lead, winning the latest game in Round 6 26-24 with Matt Cooper being the difference that day
Best Bet: The Dragons were on fire last week, and once they get on a roll are hard to stop back them to get up by either 1-12 or 13 plus, and if you are looking for a try scorer back Matt Cooper and Brett Stewart to get first points for each team