Manly braced for huge Tigers NRL challenge

Injuries to key players, a long flight and a five-day turnaround pose huge problems for Manly ahead of their NRL clash with Wests Tigers on Friday, says coach Geoff Toovey. Toovey kicked off his reign as Sea Eagles coach in tremendous fashion with a thrilling 26-20 win over the Warriors at Eden Park in Auckland. However, the victory came at a cost with centre Steve Matai breaking his hand and Glenn Stewart and Kieran Foran also going down with injuries. New Zealand star Matai will be sidelined for up to six weeks and Stewart, who was initially named in the side to play the Tigers, was withdrawn late on Tuesday after scans on his dislocated finger. Stewart will now have surgery and is expected to miss at least two weeks. Foran, who is battling the effects of knee and ankle injuries, is also included, but Toovey will give him up until game day to prove his fitness. "Any team that loses an international is not going to be better off for it," Toovey said. "It's disappointing for Glenn, disappointing for the team. Along with Steve Matai, it's a big loss for the game on Friday night." Dean Whare will come in for Matai while Stewart's replacement is yet to be made. Manly also must prepare for the Tigers having only arrived back in Sydney late on Sunday night. The team were forced to leave Eden Park almost immediately after the match to ensure they could get on a flight to be back to Sydney that night. Toovey admitted the situation is not ideal, but said his side would not use it as a negative ahead of the game. "There's no point complaining about it. We have to just get on with it," Toovey said. "As the league said, we have until next Monday when we play next week, so that will help get over it." Despite his pointed dig at the NRL, Toovey refused to criticise the scheduling of the match. "If they can change the curfew at Sydney Airport that would be great," he said. "We had to shower and get straight on the bus so there is not much you can do, but we will just get on with it. "We gave the boys Monday off and we'll just condense things at training a bit this week to make it a bit shorter and sharper." The Sea Eagles and the Tigers have enjoyed some controversial clashes over the years. In 2010, Manly accused Tigers skipper Robbie Farah of taking a dive to get Matai sin-binned. And in round one in the same season, four players were charged by the NRL judiciary, with Manly prop George Rose also spending 10 minutes on the sidelines for a high shot on Daniel Fitzhenry. However, Toovey is not expecting any fireworks at Bluetongue Stadium. "We have a bit of trouble with them at Gosford over the years," he said. "They are a quality side who like to throw the ball around a bit and, in Benji Marshall, have a top-class playmaker. "So we'll need to be on our game."