Rugby League
2017-07-16 - Manly Sea Eagles vs West Tigers
A Sports Betting Pick by Stu
Rugby League : Australia : NRL
Sunday 16th July 2017 - KO 1400 AEST
Manly get a rare home match during the day on Sunday afternoon and welcome one of the lowest ranked sides in the competition in the Wests Tigers. Day games to me often mean a lot of points and with an attacking focus from Manly this season and the Tigers defence the second leakiest in the competition averaging 26 points per game we may be in for a try fest here.
Manly Sea Eagles
Manly sit 4th on the table after a less than average display last week vs the Panthers dropped them down the table one spot. There has been plenty of discussions around the lop-sided penalty count of 14-4 dished out by the referees, one I completely agreed with while watching the match and have since seen again and find some of the calls baffling, however the goal line defence that Manly showed gives me great confidence this team is the real deal this year, who knows where they may finish up in 2017?
DCE is in career best form and despite what camp you sit in for Origin you must feel for the guy not being selected for the Maroons, he has really stepped up this year and the form of the team has started with his coming of age within this team. The combination with the solid halves partner Blake Green has been a great pick up for Manly, he has clearly played a back up role to DCE and has complemented his style of play well.
Martin Taupau, this man is on fire in 2017, he is running for huge metres each week and will offload at will, it is off this big runs and offloads that Manly get on the front foot and break up the defensive line. He is combing well with the halves and the other big men in Trboyevic, Lawrence, Winterstein and newcomer Shaun Lane who are all running hard and direct, exactly what they should be doing.
Wests Tigers
The finals are not an option now and this season is well and truly a write off for the Tigers, they have won a grand total of 4 matches this season, losing 12 and boast the second worst defence in the competition, fair to say I doubt coach Ivan Cleary saw this coming when he was appointed earlier this season.
The Tigers have also had to endure which of the big four the will retain out of Tedesco, Woods, Moses and Brooks – well all but Brooks has signed with rival clubs, this is not what the club or fans wanted and surely looks like the Tigers will be up against it next season as well. Yes they bringing in new players, Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer and Ben Matulino to name a few, but not to the quality of what they have lost.
Tedesco has been named in the squad assuming he backs up from Origin, this will be 4 days afterwards so with no injury concern backing should not be an issue. He provides a lot more attacking options for the Tigers and simply his backing up around the ruck is brilliant.
The Betting Verdict
The Tigers have a shocking record at Brookvale Oval having won just once from 11 attempts and the overall record between the 2 sides is in favour of Manly 14-9. The Sea Eagles are yet to meet this season and last time these 2 met the Tigers prevailed 36-22.
Manly are looking very strong at home and with the Tigers well below their best and a terrible away record it is no wonder they are strong favourites sitting currently at $1.18 to the Tigers $5.00. The line has been set at a whopping 15.5 points too which to be honest is hard to argue against. There will be some threat from origin injuries if either side suffer it could make the margin more or less depending on who is injured so a bet prior to hearing the final team is a touch bit riskier.
The Tigers have more to lose in Origin injuries so taking the line in favour of Manly is what I would suggest if you want to get on early.
As I this a day game and the weather looks good at this early stage I think Manly will roll them in a high scoring affair.
The Pick :
34-12 Manly
