Both coming off Round 3 losses, the Dragons and Sea Eagles will be looking to get their 2024 campaigns back on track when they meet at WIN Stadium on Easter Saturday.
Letting go of an early 18-4 lead before the Cowboys ran riot and piled on four tries in the second half, the Dragons will need to ensure they can maintain an 80-minute performance and ice their opportunities with the ball if they want to mix it with an in-form Manly side.
Not only will the Dragons be opening the gates to WIN Stadium for 2024 but there will also be plenty of extra motivation with coach Shane Flanagan coming up against Anthony Seibold for the first time since stepping out of Manly's assistant coach role.
Meanwhile, the Sea-Eagles are proving to be the sleeping giant of the competition this year and despite falling to their first loss, will still take plenty of positives from their 28-24 clash with the Eels on Sunday.
Having been tested against several of the competition's heavyweights, Manly will fancy their chances against the Dragons if they can hold onto the football and rue the errors which creeped into their game last week.
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Team News
Dragons: A switch on game day with Raymond Faitala-Mariner coming into the starting side and Tom Eisenhuth going to the bench. Francis Molo (suspension), Jacob Liddle (concussion), Hame Sele (hamstring) and Jaydn Su'A (quad) are all back on deck in a boost for Shane Flanagan's side. Jesse Marschke remains on the bench and will likely split time with Liddle in the hooking rotation after playing 57 minutes there last week.
Sea Eagles: Winger Tommy Talau has come into the side an hour before kick-off having recovered from an ankle injury. Raymond Tuaimalo Vaega drops out. Coach Anthony Siebold confirmed on Friday that Tof Sipley would come into the 17 having been named among the reserves on Tuesday. Ethan Bullemor drops to 18th man.
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Stat Attack
- The Dragons have won only one of their past six games at WIN Stadium.
- Sea Eagles halfback Daly Cherry-Evans will equal Cliff Lyons’ record of 309 appearances for Manly.
- Dragons winger Mikaele Ravalawa has scored nine tries in his past eight games at WIN Stadium.
- Manly centre Reuben Garrick requires two points for 1,000 NRL points.
- The Dragons have conceded 84 points in their past two games.
Stats supplied by David Middleton, League Information Services, author of the official annual of the NRL.
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