Manly Holden Cup Coach Wayne Lambkin is calling on Sea Eagles fans to show their support for the his team by arriving at Lottoland early on Saturday.
Sitting in seventh place after Brisbane’s win last night against the fourth placed Cowboys, the Sea Eagles tackle the second placed Penrith Panthers.
The Sea Eagles are on 30 points. South Sydney (8th) are on 30 points and play tonight (Friday) against the fifth placed Parramatta (32 points). Biting at their heels are ninth-placed Newcastle (29 points) who play minor premiers Cronulla on Sunday.
Like the NRL team, a Manly victory tomorrow over Penrith will see the Sea Eagles secure their place in the finals.
Lambkin says his players would love to play in front of a big crowd when the game kicks off at 3.05pm. Gates open 2.45pm.
“It would be fantastic to see plenty of Manly fans at our game to cheer us on. A lot of the boys haven’t had a chance to play in front of a big crowd because of the times they have been playing, so it would be lovely to see the home crowd get behind us,’’ Lambkin said.
“It is always nice to have vocal Manly fans behind you.
“I really don’t want to rely on other results. I like to think by 5pm Saturday afternoon that we have got ourselves into the finals and not sitting back and hoping Cronulla beat Newcastle.
“By Manly fans arriving at the ground early to cheer us on, it will certainly lift the boys in what will be a great match.”
The Sea Eagles are second for most points scored (726) in the Holden Cup behind Cronulla (896) but ranked eighth for most points conceded (594) of the teams currently in the top eight.
Penrith are ranked fourth (682) for most points scored but are second (508) behind Cronulla for most points conceded.
The Sea Eagles will take plenty of confidence into the match after beating Penrith 28-20 at Pepper Stadium in one of their best victories of the season.
“In the U20s with young blokes, that win at Penrith certainly will enable them to be confident enough to say we can beat this very good footy team,’’ Lambkin said.
“The understanding is that you are not going to get it without a lot of hard work. We worked hard against them last time and it will need that type of effort again to beat them this week.
“It would be lovely to get them to the eight. At the start of the year as a new coach, considering where they came last year (16th), I wanted to get these boys to the eight, and then we can reassess from there.”
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