The St George Illawarra Dragons come up against a Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles outfit flying high with confidence.
Over 28 encounters between the two sides, the Dragons hold a healthy advantage with 19 victories to Manly’s nine. But the Sea Eagles return serve when playing at Lottoland with the Dragons winning 46 per cent of their total matches there.
At the halfway point in the season there isn't much splitting the two sides in attack and defence but Manly can claim slightly better numbers. Manly rank eighth in the league in offense while the Dragons come in at 10th. In defence, Manly has the advantage once again with the eighth-best defence while the Dragons claim the 12th.
Manly also lay claim to one of the most formidable front-rows in the league with Martin Taupau and Addin Fonua-Blake. Both average over 150 metres per game this season and have ran for a combined 1196 post contact metres.
Discipline seems to be Manly's Achilles heel with Des Hasler's men conceding 97 penalties in their 13 matches. Only the Panthers (105) have conceded more.
Danger man
Tom Trbojevic
One of the most dangerous players in the NRL, Tom Trbojevic can tear opposition defences apart. An injury plagued 2019 season has seen him play just three matches.
Trbojevic has scored three tries and collected four try assists, five line breaks and 13 tackle breaks in this time however. These numbers wouldn't go astray for a fullback having played every game this season, highlighting Tom Trbojevic's lethal attacking potential.
Key matchups
Ben Hunt v Daly Cherry-Evans
Both Hunt and Cherry-Evans were playing side by side just over a week ago and steering Queensland to Origin victory. Now the pair will be opposite ends of the field in a mouth watering match-up.
An injury affected season has resulted in just eight appearances for Cherry-Evans, but the 30-year-old playmaker has still produced three tries, four try assists, 11 offloads and forced six dropouts.
Hunt can claim the numbers advantage in all these categories but with an extra three games under his belt. Hunt has three tries this season, seven try assists, 14 offloads and forced nine dropouts.
Addin Fonua-Blake v Blake Lawrie
After playing most of the season at lock, Lawrie starts in the front row and has a tough task on his hands in containing his opposite number Fonua-Blake.
Lawrie is four centimetres shorter than Addin and 12 kilograms lighter. While also being one year younger, Lawrie isn't outdone by the Tongan and New Zealand representative in defence.
Lawrie has made 124 more tackles than Addin while at the exact same tackle efficiency of 92.9 per cent. But in attack, Addin claims the advantage with 26 tackle breaks and 546 post contact metres to Lawrie's seven tackle breaks and 292 post contact metres.
