{"id":133616,"date":"2021-09-24T05:02:24","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T05:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=133616"},"modified":"2021-09-24T05:57:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T05:57:00","slug":"souths-to-target-hopeless-poor-manly-flaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=133616","title":{"rendered":"Souths to target 'hopeless', 'poor' Manly flaw"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler are tipping a classic, tight preliminary final to unfold tonight as the Rabbitohs clash with Manly<\/a> but have warned the Sea Eagles they need to tighten up a significant area of weakness or they'll pay the price.<\/p>\n

Johns is tipping Manly to win the match by one point, admitting he "can't split them" but giving the narrow edge to the Sea Eagles due to the Tom Trbojevic<\/a> factor.<\/p>\n

Scroll below for the current leaderboard and week three finals tips by Johns, Fittler and all Nine's expert tipsters!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

However he concedes that the game may shift in the Rabbitohs' favour unless Manly's right edge of Haumole Olakau'atu, Daly Cherry-Evans and Morgan Harper get on the same page in defence.<\/p>\n

\"Morgan<\/p>\n

Johns described that defensive trio's work together against the Roosters as "really poor", with Fittler adding that they were "hopeless" in the first half before improving after the break.<\/p>\n

And with the Rabbitohs<\/a> known for their lethal left edge attack, led by the scheming of star five-eighth Cody Walker, a repeat performance would spell disaster.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Why Slater flatly ignored Origin icons' advice<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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"The right side defence of Manly was really poor last week. There's three players; Olakau'atu, DCE and Morgan Harper, and their movements off the ball, their decision making, they all weren't on the same page," Johns told Wide World of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth<\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n

"Now if they do that against that left-side attack from the Rabbitohs I think there's going to be some tries down that edge."<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

While that factor has Johns concerned about Manly's chances of progressing to the grand final, he said the result could come down to a man on man shootout between two of the most gifted attacking weapons in the compeitition, and there he gives the edge to the Sea Eagles.<\/p>\n

"I can't split them, I've been looking at the teams and looking at this and that and I think it will come down to an act of sheer brilliance and I look at the two teams and who provides that?" Johns asked. <\/p>\n

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"It's either Turbo or Cody Walker. And I'd probably back Turbo to just provide that moment where he breaks out and just does something out of the box and I think that'll be Turbo. I think they win by one point, Manly."<\/p>\n

\"Cody<\/p>\n

Elsewhere Fittler pointed to the bench battle as a potential key that will determine who qualifies for the grand final, flagging front-row destroyer Tom Burgess as a man the Sea Eagles must contain to win.<\/p>\n

"I think one of the things they're going to have to confront is big Tom Burgess coming off the bench," Fittler said. <\/p>\n

"I think Paseka's got a really big job, he needs to have a similar impact and be able to contain big Tom Burgess. <\/p>\n

"And the other one's Schuster, I felt like I think Des has told him, you know, 'just calm your game down, play a bit more percentage'. <\/p>\n

"It'll be interesting how he plays because there's not many players who can do what he does, you've got a ball-player one wider."<\/p>\n

\"Nine's<\/p>\n

Andrew Johns:<\/strong> Sea Eagles, Storm<\/p>\n

Brad Fittler:<\/strong> Sea Eagles, Panthers<\/p>\n

Wally Lewis:<\/strong> Rabbitohs, Storm<\/p>\n

Peter Sterling:<\/strong> Rabbitohs, Storm<\/p>\n

Paul Gallen:<\/strong> Rabbitohs, Storm<\/p>\n

Billy Slater: <\/strong>Sea Eagles, Storm<\/p>\n

Darren Lockyer:<\/strong> Rabbitohs, Storm<\/p>\n

James Bracey:<\/strong> Rabbitohs, Storm<\/p>\n

Mat Thompson:<\/strong> Sea Eagles, Storm<\/p>\n

The Mole:<\/strong> Rabbitohs, Storm<\/p>\n

Tim Elbra:<\/strong> Sea Eagles, Storm<\/p>\n

Ben Glover:<\/strong> Sea Eagles, Panthers<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler are tipping a classic, tight preliminary final to unfold tonight as the Rabbitohs clash with Manly but have warned the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133616"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133618,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133616\/revisions\/133618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}