NRL Round 24 Preview and Prediction - Canterbury Bulldogs v Manly Sea Eagles @ ANZ Stadium

Canterbury Bulldogs (13th) v Manly Sea Eagles (7th) @ ANZ Stadium

Preview - Manly will be desperate to bounce back from their shock loss to the Tigers when they take on the woeful Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium on Sunday. The Sea Eagles soured a golden opportunity to jump into 4th place with a stunning second half collapse against the 15th placed Tigers at Leichhardt Oval. The Eagles led 20-6 at halftime, before collapsing to lose 30-26 in what could prove a very costly loss in the context of their season of promise. The Bulldogs served up more of the same diabolical football last week in their 28-14 loss to Souths, making it 7 losses on the trot. The Dogs look clueless in attack, and even their defence is starting to drop off, with the Club at it lowest ebb for a number of years. 

History - Bulldogs fan won't want to remember when these 2 sides locked horns earlier this year with the Sea Eagles blowing the Dogs off the park in a 36-0 rout at Lottoland. Previous to that game the Dogs had dominated Manly in recent years winning 6 straight. Manly have a for record at ANZ Stadium having lost their past 4 encounters there. 

Canterbury Bulldogs’ Scouting Report - The Bulldogs will be forced into yet another halves combination this week with Josh Reynolds out with a calf injury. Matt Frawley will partner Chase Stanley in the halves. Sam Kasiano is out injured, with Michael Lichaa named on the interchange bench. 

Manly Sea Eagles’ Scouting Report - Young centre Brad Parker is out with a knee injury, paving the way for Brian Kelly to return to the side. Akuila Uate has proved one of the bargain buys of the season as he continued his fantastic form last week, scoring a couple of tries against the Tigers. 

Verdict - Manly by 20+

Don't worry Manly fans, despite losing to the Tigers last week there is no chance you will be losing to this dreadful Bulldogs’ outfit. Last week was the first time I looked at the Bulldogs and thought, not only are they playing extremely poorly, but they had almost given up. Souths bombed a number of tries last week, and some of the tries the Dogs conceded were extremely soft. Manly will have been left fuming by their late surrender to the Tigers and, with so much to play for here, I see them totally dismantling a toothless Bulldogs’ side. Expect the Bulldogs to compete for about 30 minutes, before losing this game by more than 20 points.