THE Sea Eagles may be sitting on top of the NRL ladder but they say they have not yet fully hit their straps.
Ahead of tomorrow night's clash with the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium, assistant coach Dave
Penna emphasised that the players knew they still had a lot of improvement left in them.
"We are really happy we are starting to play some better football," Penna said.
"It sounds funny but we still haven't played our best football or put a full 80 minutes together yet.
"It's nice to be where we are but we still have to keep working hard on what we are doing."
Manly's rise to stand alone in the No. 1 position on the table has coincided with the outstanding form of star fullback Brett Stewart.
"Snake's been a great player for the club for a long, long time," Penna said.
"He's getting fitter. He's playing well as everybody can see and it's just great to see.
"And he will be a great rugby league player for a few more years, I reckon."
Lock Dunamis Lui gave an insight into the influence Stewart had on the rest of the players in the team.
"He leads us from the back there and the talk he provides has been really good for us," he said.
Lui doesn't expect any surprises in the Bulldogs' approach to tomorrow night's game.
"We know they are going to come down the middle with the size they have," Lui said.
"We spoke about it all week and that is the way we have been preparing.
"They are missing a few key players but so are we.
"We can't slacken off, we need to be well prepared for them."
Lui, who will start at lock, knows what his role entails tonight.
"To get the team going forward and to stop their big boys, hopefully," he said.
When the two sides last met on June 6 on a heavy Brookvale Oval track, the Sea Eagles ran out convincing winners, 32-10.
Penna said: "They will be hurting after the last time, so it will be really tough, for sure."
Jon Geddes
Manly Daily
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