Cronulla Sharks welcome the red-hot Manly Sea Eagles to PointsBet Stadium, on Thursday night, to contest for the Steve Rogers Memorial Trophy.
When these two teams clash, it is typically a free-flowing and high-scoring affair. In fact, you have to go back to 2016 to find a time when either of these sides were last kept to 12 points or under.
The game will be headlined by the battle between the two halfbacks - Daly Cherry-Evans and Nicho Hynes - but there is also plenty of other intriguing subplots and key matchups to lookout for.
Can Manly claim their fifth-straight win, or will Cronulla bounce back from their loss against Melbourne to establish themselves as a genuine premiership threat?
Sporting News have highlighted the three key areas where the game could be won or lost this weekend…
Halfback Trick Shots
Both these teams have shown they are not afraid to take a chance when working out of their own area. As the opposition attempts to condense the field and apply pressure with their defence, Cherry-Evans and Hynes have looked for ways to get their teams out of trouble using their kicking games.
DCE is the only player so far this year to have registered a 20/40, while he also has a 40/20 to his name. It is no secret he has a giant boot on him, as well as having the major responsibility to manage Manly’s kicking in open play. Consequently, he leads the competition with 2,823 kick metres.
The Manly captain occasionally looks to release Jason Saab down the wing with an early kick towards the touchline. The kick and chase doesn’t always come off, but it displays an inventiveness for counter-attacks that most sides in the NRL don’t possess.
Last Saturday night, Hynes ripped a page straight out of the DCE handbook and chipped it over to Jesse Ramien just as the Storm started to pen in his side. This play, along with his propensity to kick long and early in sets if his team are struggling to make yardage, makes Hynes a consistent threat.
It will be interesting to see if the halfback only attempted this risky play because he was so familiar with Melbourne’s defensive set-up and he knew it would work, or whether this trick shot becomes part of his repertoire going forward.
Jason Saab vs Ronaldo Mulitalo
As a player-to-player comparison, there is no real competition this season. Ronaldo Mulitalo is the better player in every conceivable category. He has six try involvements to Saab’s one.
The in-form Sharks winger has ten more linebreaks and 25 more tackle busts, which showcases how explosive a runner of the football Mulitalo is. It won’t be a surprise to see him come out on top in this individual battle.
However, when you compare Saab’s numbers to the rest of his backline he emerges as a genuine option to target. In his 52 runs so far, he has managed to make just 389 metres. Saab also has 11 handling errors, which is the fourth worst count in the competition.
Expect plenty of traffic to come the winger’s way on Thursday night. Although, it won’t just be the Sharks halves attempting to isolate Saab against Mulitalo. They will also be kicking him into the corners almost exclusively.
Meanwhile, from 67 runs - in one game less - Mulitalo has made 639 metres. It will be up to DCE to vary his kicks and not give the Cronulla backline too many opportunities to make easy metres on returns. Mulitalo will burn Manly if he is given the opportunity.
The battle in the middle of the park
Lachlan Croker and Jake Trbojevic are doing a great job of shoring up the middle. They are ranked 5th and 6th, respectively, for tackles this year with 246. (Rabbitohs hooker Damien Cook has the most with 279).
The tough-as-nails Manly duo are a big reason for how the side have managed to fix up their defence from earlier in the season. They can knock off the Sharks to register their ninth win in the last 11 meetings against their opponents.
The return in recent weeks of Josh Aloiai had added starch to the Sea Eagles pack, but he has been ruled out with a shoulder injury. Instead, it will be Taniela Paseka and Toafofoa Sipley who start up front for Manly, with both men impressing in the win over the Titans.
Haumole Olakau’atu has been fantastic on the edge for Manly, and five-eighth Kieran Foran has been playing off the back of their big forward pack.
Foran is great at utilising his forwards to generate momentum through the centre of the field. He has the ability to make passes that put his backline through the resulting gaps. The Kiwi international sits second in the overall standings for linebreak assists. He has six, while only Hynes has had more with seven.
It will be up to Cronulla to avoid the two tackling machines around the ruck and try and generate some quick play-the-ball which Cameron McInnes, in particular, is great at.
However, if their big men fail to find their fronts and win the battle in the middle, the game will open up for DCE and Foran to dictate terms.
