We take a look at Saturday’s (03/08/2019) NRL 2019 Week 20 match is between Manly Sea Eagles and the Newcastle Knights. The Manly Sea Eagles go into the match as the favourites and have been heavily backed in early betting.
When: Saturday August 3rd, 3:00pm
Where: Brookvale Oval
Bet: Bet On This Match HERE
Preview:
Manly put the rest of the competition on notice with its gritty 11-10 win against the Storm in Melbourne last round. They will look to continue that momentum when they host the sliding Knights on Saturday afternoon.
There are no changes for the Sea Eagles after their win, but the same can’t be said for Newcastle.
Losing their fourth game in a row, the Knights have sprung plenty of changes. Danny Levi, Jesse Ramien and Herman Ese’ese are all out, with Mason Lino coming into the halves and Kurt Mann shifting to the wing. Newcastle has slipped outside the top eight to be in 9th spot at the start of the round. Connor Watson is the new hooker with Jamie Buhrer also dropped.
Manly continue to be the best performing side in handicap betting, covering 13 of 18 matches this season. They are 6-3 at home. Recent form against the Knights has been mixed, but they did win their round 5 match by 8 points. In their most recent clash at Lottoland, it was Newcastle who won by 6 points in an upset result.
The Wolf sees a struggling Knights side who haven’t exactly been profitable to back away from Newcastle. Home form is everything for this side and with a new look backline, they won’t have many excuses if they can’t get the points on Saturday. Manly are being given a reasonable start, but have shown they can pile on the points when they need to and the Knights defence hasn’t been up to it lately.
Odds:
Tip: Manly Sea Eagles at $1.41
Value Tip: First Try Scorer: Reuben Garrick at $8.00
Teams:
Sea Eagles: 1. Tom Trbojevic 2. Jorge Taufua 3. Brad Parker 4. Moses Suli 5. Reuben Garrick 6. Dylan Walker 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Manase Fainu 10. Martin Taupau 11. Joel Thompson 12. Curtis Sironen 13. Jake Trbojevic. Interchange: 14. Lachlan Croker 15. Corey Waddell 16. Morgan Boyle 17. Taniela Paseka. Reserves: 18. Jack Gosiewski 19. Apisai Koroisau 20. Brendan Elliot 21. Lloyd Perrett
Knights: 1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Shaun Kenny-Dowall 3. Hymel Hunt 4. Tautau Moga 5. Kurt Mann 6. Mason Lino 7. Mitchell Pearce 8. David Klemmer 9. Connor Watson 10. Daniel Saifiti 11. Lachlan Fitzgibbon 12. Mitchell Barnett 13. Tim Glasby. Interchange: 14. Jacob Saifiti 15. James Gavet 16. Sione Mata’utia 17. Aidan Guerra. Reserves: 18. Jamie Buhrer 19. Beau Fermor 20. Jirah Momoisea 21. Chris Randall
*Odds correct at time of posting. Subject to change