Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

With both teams fielding 29 players, the score meant little but the band of rookies Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler called on in the second half were almost as impressive as the big name stars who played the opening 40 minutes.

A Tom Trbojevic-inspired try just before halftime put Manly ahead 12-4 at the interval and both clubs took off their big names.

Tigers coach Michael Maguire would have been pleased with the resolve shown by his side in the first half against a 2021 top four finishing team, but the Sea Eagles young guns dominated the second term.

Tolutau Koula, 19, will make his entrance into the NRL on Friday when the Sea Eagles face Wests Tigers in the opening round of NRL trial matches at Leichhardt Oval.

The electric centre, who can also play fullback or on the wing, once clocked a record 100m sprint time of 10.58 secs in the GPS open 100m sprint final in 2019.

The Manly Sea Eagles have such a high opinion of Koula they elevated the teenager into the club’s top 30 roster last year and recently re-signed the x-factor at the northern beaches until the end of 2024.

The Manly Sea Eagles young gun was spotted in a moon boot on Tuesday and now News Corp has revealed Schuster has suffered a syndesmosis injury.

It’s a cruel blow for both Schuster individually and Manly after the 20-year-old had a breakout season in the second row.

This will be the second year in a row the Sea Eagles will be without a key player when they kick off the season.

Manly slumped to four straight losses to start last year as Tom Trbojevic watched on from the sidelines nursing a hamstring injury.

The Rabbitohs turned the finals series on its head with a shock win over Penrith in the opening week of the finals, ending the chances of another Panthers-Storm premiership decider.

Instead, South Sydney or Manly will advance from this Friday's clash at Suncorp Stadium following two sensational attacking performances from these clubs.

Earlier this season the Rabbitohs became the first team in premiership history to score 30 points in eight consecutive matches.

As the teams prepare to meet in Friday night's sudden-death semi-final, Telstra Tracker data has provided some key statistical insights.

While none of the Roosters back five have been clocked at more than 33.8km/h this season (with centre Adam Keighran the quickest of the lot), the star Sea Eagles trio have routinely surpassed 35km/h.

In Saab's case, that's merely a cruising speed given the 20-year-old winger has reached a personal best of 38km/h in 2021. Only Melbourne Storm flyer Josh Addo-Carr (38.1km/h) has gone quicker.

Manly will be keen to re-establish their finals credentials after an embarrassing 40-12 hiding at the hands of Melbourne. It will be a long week for the Sea Eagles to prove they are not a side that will wilt for a second time in row. 

One thing is certain. Manly will want more ball than the 39% possession they had against the Storm - or 10 sets fewer than the 39 Melbourne enjoyed.

The weight of possession against Des Hasler's men could be seen by the fact Kenny Bromwich (28) was the Storm's highest tackler, while Manly's best Jake Trbojevic had to work a lot harder (48).

Hasler looked a right Nostradamus as Brandon Smith ran riot in a three-try, 13-minute opening barrage that skewered the Sea Eagles, and doubly so by Saturday morning when the NRL's number one No.9 reported fears of a facial fracture could be put to bed.

Mystery surrounds Trbojevic's immediate playing future after a high shot from Maika Sivo led to the gun No.1 coming from the field during Saturday's 56-10 thrashing of Parramatta.

A recurrence of a previous facial fracture appears to have spared Manly a more severe blow but is likely to mean the gun No.1 is not risked in coming weeks.

Apart from his tries, Trbojevic tormented the Sharks with three line breaks, another four line break assists, three try assists, five off-loads, 14 tackle-busts, all on top of running for 217 metres. Little wonder coach Des Hasler gave him an early shower.

It gave Manly their 12th win against the Sharks in their past 14 meetings.

Cronulla cling to the top eight in eighth spot, but are now one of five teams stuck on 18 competition points all trying to jag a finals spot.

Despite Barrett's best intentions to shield his players from the fallout of the $750,000 fine and $660,000 in cap deductions over 2018-19 announced on Monday, he has 12 players off contract at the end of this year – seven are in the 17 he named to face the Canberra Raiders at Lottoland on Saturday.

"We've spoken as a group about it and we'll do our best to keep them informed about what’s going on," Barrett said on Friday.

"As I understand it the club did lodge an appeal last night (Thursday) so who knows what's going to happen.