Tough game to tip tonight.
In a lot of ways, the Manly squad has an inherit advantage over the Panthers. The Manly forward pack is more effective than Penrith's and their dummy halves can tear teams apart through the middle. They should be able to isolate Maloney who is one of the worst defenders in the competition and either generate points or penalties.
However, they will be without Jake Trbojevic who is the heart of the team. He's the best defensive player through the middle and his technique is second to none. Manly will miss his presence and Maloney and Luai should be able to pick them apart through the fringes.
In the arm-wrestle, Penrith are more effective of getting outside of their own half with Edwards, Mansour and To'o all effective at making metres. Meanwhile outside of Taufua Manly really struggle for ground and can fall apart if they play off the back foot like they did against the Gold Coast Titans. That's especially true now that they've lost Suli and have been made to shift Garrick to the centres. Both those players were instrumental in their exit sets and it remains to be seen how Garrick will go in a 'new' role. Miski who's been a forced call-up from Blacktown isn't renown in this department either.
I've got the home-side in a unconvincing but confidence building win. I got the sense last week the Panthers turned a corner while Manly were starting to feel the effects of missing so many key players. Take away Trbojevic, Parker and it's just more hits.
