Manly coach Geoff Toovey says he expects wounded NSW hooker Robbie Farah to back up for the Wests Tigers when they travel to Brookvale Oval on Friday night.
Blues teammate Aaron Woods and Queensland halfback Daly Cherry-Evans are both certainties to line-up in their respective sides after coming through unscathed after Origin II.
However it is the health of Farah that would be of most concern to the Tigers after the club skipper braved through an entire 80 minutes with an injured shoulder to help level the Origin series.
While Woods was named by coach Jason Taylor on Tuesday, Farah was left off the team sheet.
"I'd expect them to play, particularly after the good win that they had," Toovey said on Thursday morning.
"It's always better to play two days later than 3-4 days later. They'll be a bit sorer in 3-4 days time but they'll be on a high, so it'll be hard to stop."
Taylor said the club had yet to decide on Farah's status for Friday's match and would wait until his return from Melbourne.
"We're just going to have to wait and see," he said.
"He got a bit more of a knock on his shoulder towards the end of the game so he got through most of the game pretty well.
"He was feeling okay after the game. But we'll see how it pulls up."
Asked whether he thought it would be a risk for the Tigers to play Farah, Toovey said: "Who cares?
"Both of the Tigers players played really well (on Wednesday night) and hopefully they got all their good play out of their system on Wednesday."
Toovey described Cherry-Evans' performance in the Origin match as "quiet" and was confident he would face the Tigers.
The newly re-signed Sea Eagles star was forced into making 30 tackles against the Blues - many of them on the bigger Ryan Hoffman.
"I think `Chez' is used to that now," Toovey said.
"He's targeted as most halves are targeted during matches. He did a good job last night and I'm just glad, or hopeful, that he pulls up okay for us on Friday night.
"It was always going to be a tough job for him being thrown in there for the second game.
"But look, he did a good job. His kicking game was superb.
"He'll be better for it next time he plays."
STATS THAT MATTER
- Manly has dominated this clash for the past decade, winning 10 of 15 matches since 2006 with more than half of those wins by 18 points or more. The past four matches between these teams have been decided by 16 points or more.
- As the home team the Sea Eagles have had almost complete dominance over the Tigers, winning nine of 11 games, including a 40-8 thrashing at Brookvale in Round 18 last season. Historically the Tigers have a horror record at Brookvale, winning just one of nine since the joint venture was formed and three of 26 between 1970 and 1999 as Balmain.
- Keith Galloway has been named to play his 200th career match this week. Galloway made his debut for the Sharks in Round 19, 2003 against the Warriors and played 37 games over three seasons there before moving to the Tigers for the start of the 2006 season.
Share
