NRL Round 19 Preview and Prediction

Manly Sea Eagles v Wests Tigers @ Lottoland
 
Preview - The Sea Eagles will be looking to bounce back from their first defeat in 6 matches as they host the struggling Tigers at Lottoland on Sunday afternoon. The Sea Eagles were on the wrong end of a 14-4 penalty count as they went down to the Panthers 16-8 at Pepper Stadium, consigning them to their first away defeat of the season. Trent Barrett's side lost no admirers the way they defended their goal line for large periods in a game when not much went their way. The Tigers finally broke through for a victory after a horror 7-match losing streak as they pummelled the Knights 33-12 in what was billed as the battle for the wooden spoon in Newcastle. The win puts the Tigers two games clear of Newcastle with 4 wins, with just 8 rounds remaining. 
 
History - The Tigers have competed well with Manly over the past 5 years, with 2 wins from their last 4, and 5 wins from their past 11 overall. The sides have not met since way back in Round 2 last season when the Tigers stunned Manly at Leichhardt 32-22. However, more sobering for Tigers fans is their horrible record at Lottoland, having not won there since 2003, with only 1 victory from their last 10 trips there. 
 
Manly Sea Eagles’ Scouting Report - The Sea Eagles will be happy to have Origin representative Jake Trbojevic back in their side which pushes Darcy Tussock back to the interchange bench. Other than that change, Manly's side is the same as the one that went down narrowly to Penrith last week. 
 
Wests Tigers’ Scouting Report - The Tigers are as strong as they have been for a couple of months with James Tedesco and Chris Lawrence coming back into the side after absences. Tedesco's return sees Kevin Naquima go back to the wing, while Joel Edwards moves back to the bench to accommodate Chris Lawrence. Tuimoala Lolohea showed glimpses of his superb skills last week, laying on a couple of tries in the Tigers’ easy win over the Knights. 
 
Verdict - Manly 26-36 Tigers 14-22

Hard to see anything other than a big win for the Sea Eagles here at home as they look to continue their charge to make the Top 4. I actually thought Manly were quite impressive last week as they were entitled to lose that game against the Panthers by a bigger margin considering the penalty count against them. One thing they will want fix up is their record at Lottoland which has been poor this year, however on a sunny Sunday afternoon surely the conditions favour the home side and they will fancy their chance of putting up a big score against a leaky Tigers’ defence. The Tigers finally showed some signs of life against the Knights and, if they get Woods and Tedesco back, they will at least pose some threat to Manly with the football. However I just can't see this side winning 2 in a row, even after the relief of beating the Knights after such a horror losing streak. I expect the Tigers to go with Manly for 40 minutes, but the Eagles to pull away and win this game by more than 2 tries.