Manly Sea Eagles vs Canberra Raiders Prediction: Go for points over and over again at Brookvale

The Canberra Raiders created unwanted history at the end of what had been a brilliant 2025 season, and they begin their latest NRL Premiership campaign at Brookvale Oval against the Manly Sea Eagles on Saturday (19:35 local, 08:35 GMT, Sky Sports Action).

Ricky Stuart’s side became the first Minor Premiers to be booted out of the NRL Finals with successive losses, so they have a point to prove in ‘26. Here are my Manly Sea Eagles vs Canberra Raiders predictions, with full team news and Betfred’s match odds.

Manly Sea Eagles vs Canberra Raiders Odds

The bookies aren’t giving too much away in this one given this has all the hallmarks of a potential rollercoaster battle.

Betfred have Manly as slight favourites. They’re 10/11 to get the job done, implying a 52.4% probability.

The Raiders are 1/1 for the win, with 14/1 available for the draw in 80 minutes.

Canberra give up 1.5 points on the two-way handicap, so close is this one expected to be. The Raiders are 10/11 and Sea Eagles 5/6 with that marker in place.

Team News

As so often ends up being the case with off-season signings, Jamal Fogarty makes his Manly debut against the Raiders side he left at the end of a successful 2025.

The scrum-half starts in the number-seven jersey vacated by Daly Cherry-Evans after a storied career at Brookie, while Tom Trbojevic steps out as club captain for the first time.

Luke Brooks partners Fogarty in the halves, while Haumole Olakau’atu is able to start following shoulder reconstruction.

Rugby League Odds

The Raiders go with their tried and trusted middle trio of Josh Papali’i, Joe Tapine and Corey Horsburgh from the off, while Ethan Sanders and Ethan Strange begin in the halves.

Simi Sasagi starts in the centre position which has been his home for just four of his 51 career NRL appearances between regular season and finals competition. Matt Timoko sits it out with a foot injury which has hampered his build-up to the new campaign.

Raiders Over 24.5 Points @ 13/8

If the Raiders are anything like the 2025 version of themselves, or indeed many of their 12 previous years under coach Stuart, they will carry a threat of scoring big and in consistent batches.

Many was the time last season that they seemed to be struggling to get a foothold but would then score two and three times in quick succession.

Indeed, it was after back-to-back tries early in the second half that they seemed to have seen off the Broncos in week one of the play-offs last year, only for Brisbane to come storming back from 28-12 down.

But I see Canberra being just as clinical this season, even if they have lost Fogarty to Saturday’s opponents. And there’s no way I can back against them scoring five times, whatever way the result ends up falling.

Sea Eagles Over 22.5 Points @ 1/1

It’s rare for me to go for the same bracket for both sides, but this match could be a real barn-burner. And if it is going to be close, I find it far more likely that it will end 28-26 or similar than 16-14.

Manly are every bit as potent as are the Raiders, and their last three matches of ’25 ended 58-30 (vs Dolphins), 40-24 (at the Dragons) and 27-26 (vs Warriors).

This could be another of those ding-dong battles, so the 1/1 about the Sea Eagles bagging in excess of 23 points looks tasty.

Again, I can’t call it either way but I do see a high-scoring encounter regardless of who walks off smiling.

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