Manly coach Trent Barrett says his side will have “no excuses” should they lose to the Dragons at Lottoland tomorrow.
The Sea Eagles are soaring after successive victories over the Cowboys, Bulldogs and Roosters to be arguably the form team of the NRL.
The Red V have been equally as dominant after starting the year with four wins and a loss to sit in second spot, stunning many experts who had tipped them to miss the finals.
Their blistering attack is in stark contrast to last year when they were the lowest scoring team in the competition.
And Manly could be hurting after last week’s 18-12 win over the Roosters who were last night annihilated 32-8 by the Broncos in a sign of how taxing the match between to two Sydney sides was.
Barrett was having none of it.
“It’s been a seven-day turnaround for us and had a good week at training and got an extra session in which was nice,” Barrett said.
“We will be ready tomorrow and we will have to be. The Dragons have got a very strong forward pack and their back five are doing a good job for them.
“Defensively, we are going to have to be at our best. We don’t have any excuses tomorrow we are aiming to go out there and play really well.
“But the Dragons have scored the most points in the competition coming into this game so defence is the main focus for us.”
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