A Sea Eagles side stung by two heavy losses to start the year will be hoping their first home game is the catalyst to jump-start their season against a new-look Bulldogs side that has impressed with their grit and defence so far this year.
After last year's horror 0-4 start, the Sea Eagles would not have been expecting the early stages of this year to pan out in similar fashion, especially with star fullback Tom Trbojevic fit to start the season - although they have faced two of the competition's most heavily-fancied sides.
The Bulldogs are 1-1 and arguably unlucky not to be 2-0, but are still very much a work in progress. If coach Trent Barrett can help his current club add more early-season pain onto his former club it will go a long way to building a confident platform for the rest of their 2022 campaign.
NRL Teams: Sea Eagles v Bulldogs
The Rundown
Final team news
Sea Eagles: Des Hasler has sprung one late change with Andrew Davey starting in the back row. Ethan Bullemor will drop back to the bench.
Bulldogs: Winger Jayden Okunbor came out of the team on Saturday and his place is taken by Aaron Schoupp. Brandon Wakeham will also start at halfback in place of Jake Averillo, who drops to 18th man. Luke Thompson and Corey Waddell also switch places, with the Englishman set to come off the bench.
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Key match-up
Tom Trbojevic v Matt Dufty: There's been plenty of focus on the lack of impact from reigning Dally M medallist Trbojevic so far but he hasn't had much of a platform to work from. Dufty meanwhile has looked very sharp at his new club and at this early stage has more busts (9), line breaks (2) and average metres (177) than Turbo.
Stat attack
With just 20 points conceded in two games, the Dogs currently have the league's fourth-best defence while Manly's 54 points against is the most in the NRL so far.