Originally Posted by
sando
Yeah Sorry boys, fell asleep before I could post my NBA play. Mr. XYZ and JM - great insight, well played.
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NRL
Monday Night Football
Manly @ Melbourne
2* Under 36.5 ($1.90 Sportsbet/IAS bet)
The #1 rivalry in modern league, these two clubs simply do not like each other.
Two defensive powerhouses, Manly is ranked #2 in points allowed, averaging 12 ppg allowed and Melbourne is ranked #5 allowing 15.6 ppg.
Despite only allowing 15.6 ppg, the Storm have been ordinary in defence in 2 of their last 3 matches and have also lost two in a row, so after recieving one of coach Bellamy's infamous sprays last week, no doubt the storm will have been focusing on defence at training this week, as the Storm are a team who likes to build pressure through field position and completed sets and force their opponents into mistakes from sustained pressure, knowing that a solid defensive platform lays the way for opportunities in attack.
Manly as usual remain a defensive powerhouse of the competition and only twice this season (2 of 9) have they played games where the total has gone over 36. The highest single total Manly has had put up against them this season is 20 points, and that was by the #1 offensive team in the comp, the Rabbitohs (who average 26.5 ppg). Last week against the Chooks, Manly definitely appeared to be lacking in options for attack without their main man Brett Stewart, however their defence was as usual at a premium as they only gave up 16 points against the potent Roosters attack (#3 for attack) and it was actually only 10 points until the last minute of the game, when Tafua made a mess of cleaning up a kick on his goal line, leading to a last minute Roosters try.
Apart from the fact that these two sides play brutal football against each other there is the added factor of origin being just around the corner and Manly is traditionally the most prominent NSW origin club (Watmough, the Stewart brothers, Buhrer, Jamie Lyon [retired from rep football], Kite [former], Wolfman [former] etc) and the Storm (along with the Broncos) usually producing 80% of QLD's origin team and in particular the big 3 (Smith, Slater, Cronk), so bizarrely Manly v Melbourne is actually very much NSW v QLD, which always adds to the intensity of these clashes, and increased intensity inevitably leads to more energy, i.e more effort put in on defence.
Want a taste of how these clubs feel about each other...
(Keep watching, ther best fight is not the first one but at 1.55)