Penrith Panthers vs Manly Sea Eagles results, kick off time, updates, Round 1 news, Blake Taaffe injury scare for Souths

League guru Phil Gould says Manly can effectively get a jump on the NRL competition if they beat Penrith in the season opener tonight.

The Sea Eagles are favourites to win the game, thanks to Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary being sidelined following shoulder surgery.

Des Hasler’s men are being tipped as a premiership hope this year, but last season they struggled against the teams above them on the ladder – Penrith, Melbourne, and South Sydney.

“Panthers, obviously the defending premiers, they will carry that tag right through the season, and everyone will see them as a benchmark and someone that they need to beat,” Gould told the Six Tackles with Gus podcast.

“Des Hasler and his troops are probably thinking they can go there and get a big scalp on the first night.

“Who’s going to win? I don’t know, but I’ll favour the home team. But Manly will be very hard to beat.

“I know Des Hasler, I know his competitive nature, and I know the competitive nature of a lot of these Manly players. They’ll see this as a real chance to do something they didn’t do last year, which was to beat one of these top three sides.

“A win away from home, against the Panthers, is not something any other is going to do this year. So if you win this you immediately get a two-point jump on the field.

“It’s like birdying the hardest par-4 on the course, you get a stroke on the field.”