Warriors coach Nathan Brown believes Manly’s winless start to the NRL season comes with an asterisk as the teams shape up for their Central Coast Stadium showdown on Friday night.
The Sea Eagles’ season appears in disarray after failing to notch a win – or even mount a genuine challenge – in the opening four rounds.
The Warriors meanwhile, have split their results.
But Brown, who will mark his 250th NRL game as coach, felt Manly were stronger than their results suggested.
“The Eagles have played Penrith, Souths and the Roosters – all extremely difficult teams who were considered top four coming into the season,” Brown said.
“They’re going through some difficult times with Tommy Trbojevic being out and a couple of other blokes being out so I wouldn’t look too much into where they are on the ladder.
“They’ve played some very good teams, and for us, we’ve got to sort out our own backyard to give ourselves a good chance.”
Manly have named Jack Gosiewski in the second row to replace the injured Morgan Boyle (shoulder) while centre Morgan Harper will cover Moses Suli (back).
The Warriors suffered a huge blow this week, losing representative enforcer Addin Fonua-Blake to a knee injury which is likely to sideline him for at least eight weeks.
Tohu Harris has been named in the front row while ex-Parramatta prop Kane Evans has been included on the bench to make his Warriors debut, in a timely boost.
With the Warriors ranked first in the competition for set completion, Brown demanded an improvement in his team’s defence following their 20-point loss to the Sydney Roosters last round.
“The key thing is obviously the defence,” Brown said.
“We got well beaten there with the speed of the game by the Roosters the other day so it’s an area of the game we’ve certainly got to improve.”