NRL Round 13 Preview and Prediction - Manly Sea Eagles v Canberra Raiders - Lottoland

Manly Sea Eagles v Canberra Raiders @ Lottoland

Preview - Both the Sea Eagles and Raiders will be looking for their 7th win of the season when they clash in a crucial mid-table struggle at Lottoland on Sunday. The Sea Eagles have been poor at home this year, winning just 1 from 5 games at their spiritual home despite playing good football and having a winning record nearly half way through the season. The Raiders have had 2 unconvincing but vitally important victories over the Eels and an understrength Roosters' side to get them to 6 wins and 6 losses and sitting just outside the Top 8 in 9th spot. 

History - These 2 sides played a classic just over a month ago in Canberra where the Sea Eagles won a thriller 20-18 in golden point, having trailed by 6 points late in the game. The Raiders have a dismal record over the past 10 years against Manly having won just 5 from 19, however they have managed to win 3 from the past 5. Overall, the Sea Eagles have won 31 to the Raiders 20, with 1 draw. 

Manly Sea Eagles' Scouting Report - Dylan Walker will be looking to have a big game once again against the Raiders and continue his good form this season, with another game in the centres. He won't have the chance, however, to repeat his goal kicking heroics with fullback Matthew Wright assuming the duties off him since Tom Trbojevic went down with an ankle injury in Manly's loss to the Broncos. 

Canberra Raiders' Scouting Report - The Raiders have been able to field a relatively settled side in recent weeks, despite their attack not firing anything like it did towards the back end of 2016. Josh Papalii returns to the starting side for the Raiders in place of Luke Bateman, assuming he backs up from Origin 1. Blake Austin has been one player this year who has been a little disappointing for mine and, whilst he produces flashes of brilliance, he needs be more consistent and have less errors in his game. 

Verdict - Raiders by 8-16 in a high scoring game

I'm really confident the Raiders can get a win here and do it with some authority despite the bookmakers seeing this one as a coin flip. The Raiders are a side, for mine, slowly starting to hit their straps and, having learnt to win ugly in the past couple  of weeks, could be about to hit their straps in a big way. The Raiders have a bigger pack than Manly and, if they are on their game, they have got to be able to really dominate the middle of the field, which should give them a significant advantage. Whilst I have been really impressed by Manly on the whole this year, I still think the loss of Tom Trbojevic is a huge one and will be felt against a quality side like Canberra. Both these teams like to throw the football around so I'm really looking forward to this being a fast, open and high scoring game, however I fancy the Raiders to win a by a couple of tries.