Scott Donald cheered Manly Sea Eagles to victory in their last match but on Sunday he will be striving to bring their downfall.

The Australian winger, who scored 48 tries in 68 appearances for Manly before joining Leeds three years ago, has retained a soft spot for the Sydney outfit and was delighted with their 40-0 win over 2007 champions Melbourne in October's NRL Grand Final.

All sentiment will be cast aside, however, when Donald goes up against his old team-mates in the Carnegie World Club Challenge at Elland Road.

"The opportunity to play against your old team is something to look forward to," said Donald, who had spells with North Queensland and Parramatta before joining the Sea Eagles in 2003.

"There's been a fair bit of turnover in the last three or four years but there are still a good half a dozen from my time there and I'm looking forward to coming up against them.

"It's good to see old friends have some success. When I was there you could definitely see that the club was building.

"The likes of Brett Stewart, Glenn Stewart and Steve Matai were reasonably young and over the last few years they've developed into superstars. They deserve their spot at the top of the NRL."

Donald, who turned 29 earlier this month, has scored 70 tries in exactly 100 appearances for Leeds, including their only touchdown in the champions' 11-4 World Club Challenge win over Melbourne.

"I managed to sneak over last year and it would be nice to get one or two on Sunday," he said.

"I've definitely not got a point to prove there. Just going out there and being able to perform against your old club is always a good feeling.

"I think it's going to be extremely tough. Having played at Manly, I know they're a well-drilled team and they train extremely hard. They will have been preparing for this game for quite a while now.

"I had two years under Des Hasler. He worked extremely hard as a player and the work ethic is something that he has installed in the team. They all work for each other and work extremely hard."

Leeds are aiming to become the first team to win back-to-back world crowns following their epic 11-4 victory over Melbourne at Elland Road a year ago and make it six wins in a row for Super League but coach Brian McClennan knows it will be tough.

"The hardest game we played last year was against Melbourne, that's a fact," he said. "If you go by that, we're in for one helluva contest on Sunday.

"We have a confidence that we can play in big games but we know Manly have come over as the most dominant team to have ever won a final series in the NRL.

It makes the challenge all that much more exciting. We're anxious and we're looking forward to it."

The Rhinos have been badly hit by injuries in the build-up and are definitely without Brent Webb and Danny Buderus but McClennan is expected to take a gamble on scrum-half Rob Burrow, whose last match was for England in their World Cup semi-final defeat by New Zealand in November.

"We'll be lining up 17 players on Sunday and they'll be out there ready to do a great job for the Rhinos," he said.

"We'll say this time and time again - whatever 17 we pick, we are confident they can do a good job."