NRL Round 26 Preview: Cowboys v Sea Eagles

The North Queensland Cowboys host the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday, September 6 in Round 26 of the NRL. The match kicks off at 7.30pm (AEST).

What: NRL Round 26

Who: Cowboys v Sea Eagles

When: Saturday, September 6 – 7.30pm

Where: A1300 SMILES Stadium

I Can Watch It On: Fox Sports


Form Guide

Cowboys: WWWLW

Sea Eagles: WLWLW

Things You Need To Know

The Cowboys have named an unchanged 17 after Monday's unimpressive 20-19 golden-point victory over wooden-spooners Cronulla. Paul Green's men rose to fifth with their narrow win and can finish fourth if they beat Manly and Penrith lose to the Warriors. They can finish as low as seventh with a loss.

The Sea Eagles were awful against Penrith but somehow scored a 26-25 win at Brookvale Oval on Sunday. Their unlikely victory means they will win the minor premiership with a win this weekend. If they lose they'll finish second behind either South Sydney or the Sydney Roosters.

The win over Penrith came at a heavy cost with hooker Matt Ballin almost certain to miss the rest of the season with a fractured fibula. To make matters worse, Jamie Buhrer, who filled in for Ballin in the second half last week, tore his ACL on Sunday and won't play again in 2014. Coach Geoff Toovey has named Ballin but will spend the week trying to decide who will wear the number nine. Prop Brenton Lawrence is back from injury in some good news for the Sea Eagles.

Reason To Watch

Manly will claim the minor premiership with a win. The Cowboys could claim fourth spot and a double chance in the finals if they can beat the ladder leaders. If that's not enough to keep you interested, Johnathan Thurston is in sublime form and his match-up against gun Sea Eagles halves Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans will be a cracker.


Say What

"It's a bit disappointing coming at this time of the season but that's the way rugby league goes and I'm sure the rest of the players who step in will do the job well. Hopefully the boys do a great job in the next game, then the semi-finals and then I can be back for some games towards the end of the year," - injured Manly hooker Matt Ballin.

Final Word

The Sea Eagles have won their past six meetings against the Cowboys including a controversial 26-21 victory in Round 7. The video refs somehow missed a blatant obstruction in the lead up to Kieran Foran's match winner that night. That decision brought back memories of Foran's knock-on that was allowed to slide in the 2012 semi-final loss that ended the Cowboys' season that year. It'll be close this time around but we think the hosts' luck will change on Saturday night. The Cowboys were off against the Sharks but Manly were far worse against Penrith and have lost two of their most consistent performers in Matt Ballin and Jamie Buhrer. Cowboys by six.