MANLY SEA EAGLES V NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Round 25, 2015 NSW Cup
Date: Saturday August 29, 3pm.
Venue: Brookvale Oval
Last time they met:
The Knights defeated the Manly Sea Eagles 48-14 in a convincing display at Newcastle Number 2 Sports ground in Round 17.
Teams:
SEA EAGLES
1. Dom Reardon, 2. Delroy Berryman, 3. Brayden Wiliame, 4. Tony Satini, 5. David Williams, 6. Jack Littlejohn, 7. Manaia Rudolph, 8. Siosaia Vave (c), 9. Jayden Hodges, 10. Tyson Andrews, 11. Tom Symonds, 12. Dylan Kelly, 13. Dunamis Lui, Interchange: 14. Kurt Aldridge, 15. Ben Fritz, 16. Cheyse Blair, 17. Uiti Baker, 18. Jordan Latham, 19. Vinnie Ngaro.
KNIGHTS
1. Carlos Tuimavave, 2. Honeti Tuha, 3. Pat Mata’utia, 4. Chanel Mata’utia, 5. Kerrod Holland, 6. George Ndaira, 7. Jaelen Feeney, 8. Damian Sironen, 9. Danny Levi, 10. Tama Koopu, 11. Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 12. Brett Jarrett, 13. Luke Yates. Bench: 14. James Elias, 15. James Taylor, 16. Michael Steele, 17. Ben Tupou, 18. Sam Apthorpe.
Match analysis:
The NSW Cup Newcastle Knights prepare for a showdown against fellow finals qualifiers the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval on Saturday.
"It will be nice to take some momentum into week one of the finals,” coach Matt Lantry said.
The reserve grade Knights don’t have to look too far back to draw on their ability to stay in the fight.
The team managed a strong 40-26 win over the Newtown Jets last weekend with a gutsy second half revival.
“We were pretty resilient in the fact we were 22-4 down,’ he said.
“Credit to the guys involved as we had a very young team and had five NYC guys jump up to play for us.
“They didn’t panic and just kept chipping away at the lead.
"We addressed a few things at half time and to the boys’ credit, they executed really well and it was pleasing in the end to score 34 unanswered points.
Focus on the team's game plan and execution is the key for the Knights come Saturday.
"The thing for us is about getting our process right this week, it’s vitally important," he said.
"They are a really string side and are littered with NRL experience and present a really classy team.
"We need to turn up with the mindset that we can match them set for set, particularly in their middle third.
“We need to ensure we defend our errors.”
Where it will be won:
Possession.
"If we can get a fair share in 50/50 of possession, scoring a points isn’t an issue with our team," Lantry said.
“It’s the defensive side of the things we need to dig deep with."
