NRL Round 13 Preview - Sea Eagles v Cowboys @ Lottoland

Manly Sea Eagles v North Queensland Cowboys @ Brookvale Oval
 
Preview – It’s the battle of two desperate sides as Manly host the Cowboys at Brookvale Oval on Thursday night football. With Manly stuck on just 4 wins and the Cows on 3 after 12 rounds, their finals’ hopes are fading fast for two teams that played Semi-Final football in 2017. The Sea Eagles came within an inch of their third straight road victory last week, going down 21-20 to Canberra despite leading 20-14 with just five minutes to play. The Cowboys season from hell continued last week, going down 7-6 to the Storm, in another heartbreaking one point loss after losing 20-19 to Souths the week before. 
 
Manly Sea Eagles Scouting Report - The Sea Eagles will be missing two of their most influential players with both Tom and Jake Trbojevic out on Origin duty. Matt Wright starts at fullback for Tom, with Brad Parker added to the bench. Shaun Lane starts at lock with Frank Winterstein starting in the back row and Jack Gosiewski added to the bench.  The Eagles do welcome back one of their key players with Apisai Koroisau (suspension) returning at hooker, with Lewis Brown dropping to Reserves.
 
North Queensland Cowboys’ Scouting Report - The Cowboys are weakened through Origin with Michael Morgan, Gavin Cooper and Coen Hess all picked for Queensland. Lachlan Coote replaces Morgan at fullback. Shaun Fensom and Ethan Lowe start in the back row for Cooper and Hess. Matt Scott, despite being dropped by Queensland, will miss the game through suspension. Enari Tuala starts at centre spot in place of Ben Hampton, who drops to the interchange. Sam Hoare joins the bench.
 
Verdict - Cowboys by 1-6 in a low scoring game

Awful game to predict here with both sides having fairly horrible seasons and missing some personnel through Origin. I’m going to go with the Cowboys here as I believe Manly are going to really struggle without both Trbojevics here. Whilst Thurston has struggled mightily this season, I think this is the sort of game he will really want to win given he has retired from Origin and needs to help his struggling side through this period.