A Sea Eagles side stung by two heavy losses to start the year will be hoping their first home game is the catalyst to jump-start their season against a new-look Bulldogs side that has impressed with their grit and defence so far this year.
After last year's horror 0-4 start, the Sea Eagles would not have been expecting the early stages of this year to pan out in similar fashion, especially with star fullback Tom Trbojevic fit to start the season - although they have faced two of the competition's most heavily-fancied sides.
The Bulldogs are 1-1 and arguably unlucky not to be 2-0, but are still very much a work in progress. If coach Trent Barrett can help his current club add more early-season pain onto his former club it will go a long way to building a confident platform for the rest of their 2022 campaign.
The Rundown
Team news
Sea Eagles: Des Hasler has stuck solid with the same 17 that went down to the Roosters last week. There were no changes to the squad in Saturday's 24-hour update.
Bulldogs: Winger Jayden Okunbor came out of the team on Saturday and his place is taken by Aaron Schoupp.
Luke Thompson is named to start with Corey Waddell on the bench and Tevita Pangai jnr on an edge.
Key match-up
Tom Trbojevic v Matt Dufty: There's been plenty of focus on the lack of impact from reigning Dally M medallist Trbojevic so far but he hasn't had much of a platform to work from. Dufty meanwhile has looked very sharp at his new club and at this early stage has more busts (9), line breaks (2) and average metres (177) than Turbo.
Stat attack
With just 20 points conceded in two games, the Dogs currently have the league's fourth-best defence while Manly's 54 points against is the most in the NRL so far.
Story first published on NRL.com