Barrett works hard on defence

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SeaEagle9413

Forward Pass
Jon Geddes (Manly Daily)
Thu 24th December, 07:37AM
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New Sea Eagles coach Trent Barrett revealed he has been working towards the goal of making Manly the best defensive side in the NRL.

He was speaking after his new look Manly squad completed their first seven weeks of pre-season training prior to their Christmas break.

“You need a balance, we need to be the best defensive team in the competition,” Barrett said.

Click here to read the full article:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...istry-of-defence/story-fngr8iii-1227686932800

http://www.seaeagles.com.au/news/2015/12/24/barrett_works_hard_o.html
 
Defense is really important and one of our big weaknesses over the last few years is our back 3's vulnerability under the high ball. Snake is solid but we have really struggled on the wings and so many tries have come from their hesitancy where they have not attacked the ball in the air and other teams either get repeat sets of a try from it. I think overall our defence is quite solid but its all about line speed now. The reason we missed out on the finals last year was that we were so slow around the ruck and getting dominated at the play the ball. I think that will change this year. We need to get our average points down to about 14 a game to win the premiership.
 
Defense is really important and one of our big weaknesses over the last few years is our back 3's vulnerability under the high ball. Snake is solid but we have really struggled on the wings and so many tries have come from their hesitancy where they have not attacked the ball in the air and other teams either get repeat sets of a try from it. I think overall our defence is quite solid but its all about line speed now. The reason we missed out on the finals last year was that we were so slow around the ruck and getting dominated at the play the ball. I think that will change this year. We need to get our average points down to about 14 a game to win the premiership.
With any luck our wingers will stay healthy and not be playing out of position all year. Last year I *think* a lot of our defensive woes could be put down to a backline that changed every week through injuries etc, and it's hard to build that level of trust in the guy outside or inside that's required for a cohesive line. Guys were out of position and rarely settled in, and we got cut to pieces out wide.
 
With any luck our wingers will stay healthy and not be playing out of position all year. Last year I *think* a lot of our defensive woes could be put down to a backline that changed every week through injuries etc, and it's hard to build that level of trust in the guy outside or inside that's required for a cohesive line. Guys were out of position and rarely settled in, and we got cut to pieces out wide.
Even in 2013 when we made a grand final our wingers have been in trouble with the high ball, Tafua is very erratic and Wolfy basically never got over the disaster of the 13 grand final. That really needs to improve, I think Tom T will do well as he is normally pretty safe under bombs and also a threat when we are attacking with that.
 
I'm a little worried with all this emphasis on defence with the attack seemingly taking a back seat relaxed approach from the reply of "i know we can attack".

I'm not saying defence is not important but it appears Barrett is a little too relaxed and confident we will be good in attack---we will be if the punch, directness and up tempo play the balls work in our favour no doubt but......

What worries me though is Manly have lost way too many skilled experienced consistent ballplayers (Foran and Glenn Stewart on either edge over the last 2yrs) to execute crisp well timed rehearsed elaborate plays when that is required to generate numbers against a set defensive line. In the redzone with less room and time to move, the defence moving up and in your face requires better ballplaying and attacking structures to break through. (easier to attack against a defence rolling back with attacking numbers)

Also the experienced, composed clean crisp well organised efficient delivery from Ballin in the redzone when Manly are setting out on a structured play was giving time to the edge ball players on either side. (we saw how ineffective Manly were with Hodges poor distribution)

All the bags are in one basket---- if Manly don't get the roll on and penetration through the go forward i can see our structured spreads being easily read.(back third of the season is the test)
 
Even in 2013 when we made a grand final our wingers have been in trouble with the high ball, Tafua is very erratic and Wolfy basically never got over the disaster of the 13 grand final. That really needs to improve, I think Tom T will do well as he is normally pretty safe under bombs and also a threat when we are attacking with that.
I think they won't bother kicking at Tommy T, we saw evidence of that last year, and Jorge has improved IMMENSELY under the high ball. Wolfy obviously ain't going to factor any more :(
 
I'm a little worried with all this emphasis on defence with the attack seemingly taking a back seat relaxed approach from the reply of "i know we can attack".

I'm not saying defence is not important but it appears Barrett is a little too relaxed and confident we will be good in attack---we will be if the punch, directness and up tempo play the balls work in our favour no doubt but......

What worries me though is Manly have lost way too many skilled experienced consistent ballplayers (Foran and Glenn Stewart on either edge over the last 2yrs) to execute crisp well timed rehearsed elaborate plays when that is required to generate numbers against a set defensive line. In the redzone with less room and time to move, the defence moving up and in your face requires better ballplaying and attacking structures to break through. (easier to attack against a defence rolling back with attacking numbers)

Also the experienced, composed clean crisp well organised efficient delivery from Ballin in the redzone when Manly are setting out on a structured play was giving time to the edge ball players on either side. (we saw how ineffective Manly were with Hodges poor distribution)

All the bags are in one basket---- if Manly don't get the roll on and penetration through the go forward i can see our structured spreads being easily read.(back third of the season is the test)

If we are looking at a new way of attack (say dce roaming) it makes sense , via the media, to play it down....
 
In the redzone with less room and time to move, the defence moving up and in your face requires better ballplaying and attacking structures to break through. (easier to attack against a defence rolling back with attacking numbers)

We've been $hit in the red zone for years now. The only way is up with Barrett.
 
If we are looking at a new way of attack (say dce roaming) it makes sense , via the media, to play it down....
Roaming and reading the numbers will only work if the go forward is bending the line, making the odd break and compressing the defensive line to be tighter to contain our forwards then DCE can pick and choose which side is best to attack.

Just giving out the "Let DCE roam and all will be fine" approach is way too simplistic and lazy, but it will work if everything else comes into place.
 
We've been $hit in the red zone for years now. The only way is up with Barrett.
Not as shyte as most other NRL clubs but progressively worse from 2014 onwards as our depth was getting strained.

Technically speaking we could have been better way back from 2007 if i was the coach but sometimes the comparison you have to make is not in relation to my perfection but the level of what other clubs are able to execute.

In general all clubs and their attacking structures don't execute well in the red zone(every set of fans from every club feels redzone attack should be better) as it is harder to execute with a shallow defensive line, in the same way Union struggles for ball movement with space until enough people are sucked into the ruck.
 
Can't agree with that. I see guys like JT and Cronk execute in the red zone on a regular basis. I see other sides that had options out of dummy half (Luke, seggy, Ennis) that deliver consistent results. Manly always seem to lose their way and struggle to set up for a structured play. We always seem more likely to score from outside the 20 then from inside it for some strange reason. Look at how often we muff field goal set ups as well. I always get the feeling that we don't have a plan nor a clinical finish to get the repeat set
 
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Can't agree with that. I see guys like JT and Cronk execute in the red zone on a regular basis. I see other sides that had options out of dummy half (Luke, seggy, Ennis) that deliver consistent results. Manly always seem to lose their way and struggle to set up for a structured play. We always seem more likely to score from outside the 20 then from inside it for some strange reason. Look at how often we muff field goal set ups as well. I always get the feeling that we don't have a plan nor a clinical finish to get the repeat set
Yes from 2014 onwards before that stats wise our execution and results in the redzone was always in the top 3-4 even though i still felt it was not good enough.(shows how poor most execution is)

Cronk has a beautiful structured well thought out ballplaying ability, not a natural ballplayer but levels above Thurston.
 
Jorge is still hit and miss under the high ball, but he is much better when he keeps his feet on the ground. When he jumps for it often he misses it by a country mile.

Tommy being a fullback is pretty safe. Oh sure, he'll have a few come his way to test him out, but if opposition teams are smart they'll kick to Jorge's wing instead.
 
I think Manly's issue in the red zone is too much relying on THAT 2nd man sweep play that tends to go sideways & when out of ideas, general shifts always trying to beat the defence on the outside....
Another issue here is often players travel laterally to get around defence where the players inside, even with numbers, need to sharpen the attack with more direct runners to hold the defensive line up.
I recall when St Choke Illawarra had that fortunate season & kept sliding & frustrating Manly near the line, more so Manly with numbers played too sideways with no direct runners making the defensive job easier.
2 key factors in 2016 in that red zone
Some big bopper direct options willing to play through the line, rather than go around opposition defence.
Sharper explosive dummy half plays to ensure the defence MUST have more compression in the ruck , opening up more space out wide.
 
With the ageing, retirement, moving on of the old guard (yes including Choc), Manly lost significant threat up the middle. In the last year or two, I'd be surprised if we didn't have amongst the worst percentage of tries created up the middle compared to out wide.

And no threat up the middle converts to reduced threat out wide.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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