Manly Sea Eagles vs St George Illawarra Dragons Predictions: Flanagan’s side to maintain top-eight push

Manly Sea Eagles and St George Illawarra Dragons are both on the periphery of the top eight in the NRL standings heading into their clash at 4 Pines Park on Sunday.

After missing out on the finals series last year, both teams will be determined to make it to the top eight this season and a win for either on Sunday would boost those claims. Below you can find my Manly Sea Eagles vs St George Illawarra Dragons predictions.

Manly Sea Eagles vs St George Illawarra Dragons Odds

With home advantage, the Sea Eagles are favourites to win this game at 8/15, with the Dragons considered outsiders at 8/5 to take the spoils. The draw can be backed at 18/1.

Manly are 20/21 to win with a -6.5 handicap, while it is 4/5 that the visitors triumph with a +6.5 advantage in the same market.

Team News

The Sea Eagles will have to make do without prop Josh Aloiai, who is suspended after being handed a two-game ban for a trip on Penrith Panthers' Daine Laurie during last weekend's 32-22 loss at the BlueBet Stadium.

Nathan Brown replaces Aloiai in the XIII, while Ethan Bullemor has been added to the bench.

After outclassing Wests Tigers last time out, Dragons head coach Shane Flanagan has decided to make no changes to his line up.

St George Illawarra Dragons to win @ 8/5 

The Sea Eagles have won just one of their last five games, but they will be hoping a return to home surroundings will help them turn their fortunes around.

However, that may be easier said than done against a Dragons outfit chasing a third straight victory and who will be filled with confidence after putting 56 points on the NRL's bottom club Wests Tigers last Friday.

The Dragons are certainly on an upward trajectory under head coach Flanagan, who is in his first season in charge of the club, as they have won seven of his 13 games at the helm, which is already two more successes than they managed in the NRL across the whole of 2023.

Their last away trip ended in an eye-catching 22-10 success at defending champions Penrith and they can take that confidence, which was added to by their demolition of the Tigers, into this game.

The value certainly seems to be with siding with the Dragons, who also won the most recent meeting between the two sides, a 20-12 success on home soil back in March.

Total Points - Over 50.5 points @ 5/6 

The 56 points the Dragons racked up against the Tigers was their highest total in well over a decade and although they will struggle to replicate that tally on Sunday, this could prove another high-scoring contest.

Two of the Dragons' previous three games have gone above the 50-point mark, while 54 points were scored in Manly's most recent fixture - a 32-22 loss at Penrith.

Both teams are averaging well over 20-points-per-game this season and only a slight improvement on those records would be required on Sunday to bring the over 50.5 total points into play - given the recent results of both teams, that seems more than plausible.

Check out our other Super League Tips here.