Consistency is the Problem

[Ralphie]

It seems to me that on our day we can and do beat any team in the competition. This season we have thrashed St George, West Tigers & Melbourne. However, our best winning streak this season is 4 wins on the trot from round 3 to 7, but at least 2 of those games were against weak opposition. Since round 7 the best we have managed is 2 on the trot.

No team has ever won the premiership having lost in the last round of the competition. It would appear that we will not be in the top 4. That means for us to win the comp we will need to win at least 5 on the trot, ie last round plus 4 finals games against quality opposition.

As was the case in 2009 I fear that our "yoyo" form will bite us for an early season exit.

 

[dowdz]

Good summary. Its a pity we blow some of those early round games as we would be in a better position. That said on our day we can beat anyone but for some reason we cant find that consistency. If we make the 8 hopefully we will step up after what happened last year to the scum.

 

[StuBoot]

Consistency has been the problem for most teams this year.
Don't think any team has won more than 5 in a row.
When a team strings some together ie Chooks, Panthers, Tiges, Dragons, Titans - they firm in the betting.
Lose & you could drop 3-4 spots. With mostly Sydney teams around the Top 8, Top 4  advantage is lessened I reckon.
Make the 8 and anyones got a real decent shot....unless the refs f$%k it for ya

 

[Jerry1]

Consistency has been the problem for most teams this year.
Don't think any team has won more than 5 in a row.
When a team strings some together ie Chooks, Panthers, Tiges, Dragons, Titans - they firm in the betting.
Lose & you could drop 3-4 spots. With mostly Sydney teams around the Top 8, Top 4  advantage is lessened I reckon.
Make the 8 and anyones got a real decent shot....unless the refs f$%k it for ya

When you consider the amount of our cap that has been unavailable throughout the year due to injuries & players playing injured it's no surprise.

 

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

No team has ever won the premiership having lost in the last round of the competition.

You sure on that ? Didn't Tigers lose their last 3 leading into the finals in 2005 ?

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I recommend we beat the Warriors, lose to Roosters, then win our last match against the Dogs.

This is eminently do-able, and has the advantage of not wasting our limited capacity to string together a winning streak, we can save that for the finals.

That would leave us going into the finals off a last round win, and having won 5 from our last 8, which in this comp is quite respectable consistency.

 

[Ralphie]

[quote author=Ralphie link=topic=184711.msg285442#msg285442 date=1282032981]


No team has ever won the premiership having lost in the last round of the competition.

You sure on that ? Didn't Tigers lose their last 3 leading into the finals in 2005 ?
[/quote]

I read that in the Daily Telecrap last season when St Choke beat Parramatta in the final round. They predicted then that St Choke would win & Parra would not.

Serves me right for believing a newspaper, but to answer the question, no I'm not sure about that.

 

[Rusty]

Never mind the fact that we would not need to win 5 in a row technically, since even if we finish 5th we could lose first week up and still go on, as long as the teams below us lose as well.

We all know what happened last year and would like to avoid it but technically we wouldn't have to win more then 3 in a row.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

[quote author=Kiwi Eagle link=topic=184711.msg285482#msg285482 date=1282040393]
[quote author=Ralphie link=topic=184711.msg285442#msg285442 date=1282032981]


No team has ever won the premiership having lost in the last round of the competition.

You sure on that ? Didn't Tigers lose their last 3 leading into the finals in 2005 ?
[/quote]

I read that in the Daily Telecrap last season when St Choke beat Parramatta in the final round. They predicted then that St Choke would win & Parra would not.

Serves me right for believing a newspaper, but to answer the question, no I'm not sure about that.
[/quote]

I'm not 100% on it myself, but my mate who is a stats freak tells me that is was the case

On the whole topic, consistency is an issue for 15 sides in the comp and even Saints have had a flat spot. Is why the comp is so wide open and why we are by no means out of it

 

[Rambofan]

Great topic for a thread.

Consistency IS everything in the NRL.

Positions on the ladder and for and against deciding home ground advantage and opposition in the final series is critical to a successful campaign.

I believe,speaking to friends who follow the club, that the inconsistent form of the 1st grade side has been detrimental to crowd numbers,merchandise sales and community support,which, in turn,snowballs down to poor morale and a lack of belief and ends in poor on field results and around it goes again.

I don't know about you, but seeing Manly compete with the best sides in the competition is certainly a sight to behold and is my favourite pastime.however, when I witness lackluster performances bordering on laziness and lack of ticker and pride, I sometimes wonder where all this is going.

The club is not in a healthy position.We have to compete every year for the dollar that keeps the club alive for many reasons which have been documented in this forum,IE competing sports,salary cap and spending money of fans.


Be consistent and the dollars will flow and we will have a great finals .Or play with no commitment and watch the fans stream out the gates.


Just a thought....

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Welcome Rambofan (and wasn't he a ripper you must be an old fart like me to remember him....how good was he in the 87 final series).

You are right in some respects and wrong in others....I think scheduling has had just as much to do with poor crowd numbers in 2010 than anything else, and oh yes the "Fair Weather supporters" (ie the 65000 that turned up at ANZ Stadium in October 2008....where are they now???)

But you are certainly right in that everyone loves to back a winner...had we won the last 6 or 7 games and were running seocnd we had have a whole different scenario.

 

[Rambofan]

Yes mark,you are right...I am feeling like an old fart at 39..lol

Rambo asked me to help him take his shoulder pads off in the sheds after a game one time.He was THE most busted bloke i have ever seen after a game.You could just tell he had given his all.Two massive bags of ice on each thigh and as Rambo said"dont worry mate,its just a couple of corks".Priceless.

I became a massive fan that instant and had the pleasure of having a few beers with him and the boys at the 87 GF reunion.
Great memories. ;D

 

[Chip and Chase]

[quote author=Ralphie link=topic=184711.msg285631#msg285631 date=1282104438]
[quote author=Kiwi Eagle link=topic=184711.msg285482#msg285482 date=1282040393]
[quote author=Ralphie link=topic=184711.msg285442#msg285442 date=1282032981]


No team has ever won the premiership having lost in the last round of the competition.

You sure on that ? Didn't Tigers lose their last 3 leading into the finals in 2005 ?
[/quote]

I read that in the Daily Telecrap last season when St Choke beat Parramatta in the final round. They predicted then that St Choke would win & Parra would not.

Serves me right for believing a newspaper, but to answer the question, no I'm not sure about that.
[/quote]

I'm not 100% on it myself, but my mate who is a stats freak tells me that is was the case

On the whole topic, consistency is an issue for 15 sides in the comp and even Saints have had a flat spot. Is why the comp is so wide open and why we are by no means out of it
[/quote]

Tigers lost their Round 26 game in 2005 to Penrith 38-22. They lost their Round 25 game as well 34-22 to Purple Scum.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

It's funny, he announced that year he was heading to the Gold Coast, and as usual every Manly fan wanted him sacked on the spot....BUT he, Crusher and big Kevin Ward were instrumental in taking us to the finals that year and his performance on GF day was one of his best ever.

Great player, one of my favs of all time.

Sorry assumed you may be older with that nickname, 39 geez I wish I was that again.

 

[ayjay007]

Good summary. Its a pity we blow some of those early round games as we would be in a better position. That said on our day we can beat anyone but for some reason we cant find that consistency. If we make the 8 hopefully we will step up after what happened last year to the scum.

It's funny,when we lost those couple of early rounds.Some supporters were critical of our ability to play the FULL 80.We were told that "it's early days yet",and "our fitness will come with time".Now it's coming back to bite us...it's not early days,it's now "crunch time"!We are still having some of the same problems we've had all year!

 

[Wolfpack]

[quote author=dowdz link=topic=184711.msg285446#msg285446 date=1282033234]
Good summary. Its a pity we blow some of those early round games as we would be in a better position. That said on our day we can beat anyone but for some reason we cant find that consistency. If we make the 8 hopefully we will step up after what happened last year to the scum.

It's funny,when we lost those couple of early rounds.Some supporters were critical of our ability to play the FULL 80.We were told that "it's early days yet",and "our fitness will come with time".Now it's coming back to bite us...it's not early days,it's now "crunch time"!We are still having some of the same problems we've had all year!
[/quote]

To be fair, the 2nd half fade outs which were the root of all our problems early on are all but gone. We're as good as any other team in that respect.

 

[The Who]

No team has ever won the premiership having lost in the last round of the competition.

Didn't Manly beat Canterbury in the last round in 1980 at Brookie? I was there when we carved them up but we missed out on the semis. Then Canterbury, the so-called 'Entertainers', beat Easts in the GF.

 

[bones]

I think a lack of genuine pace is Manlys biggest problem and is why I believe they cannot win the premiership this year. Without Brett Stewart and the Wolfman there is very little pace left. Lyon would probably be the quickest of the rest but he can hardly be called fast. Without speed they are unable to finish off long range tries. Any breaks made by manly are finished off by the oppositions speedy guys. Also if a speedy player from the opposition makes a break through our defensive line it is likely to finish in a try as we dont have the speed to catch them. It is for these reasons i'd like to see Hopoate remain at fullback and Oldfiled to stay on the wing. He looked very quick against the dragons.  Id like to see the following team:

1 Hoppa
2 Robbo
3 Matai
4 Lyon
5 Oldfield
6 Foran
7 Farrar when fit  (put Dogkinson in the QLD cup)
13 Stewie
12 Rodney
11 Choc
10 Kite
9 Ballin
8 King

14 T Rex
15 Rose
16 Cross
17 Gulavao

 

[Wolfpack]

I think a lack of genuine pace is Manlys biggest problem and is why I believe they cannot win the premiership this year. Without Brett Stewart and the Wolfman there is very little pace left. Lyon would probably be the quickest of the rest but he can hardly be called fast. Without speed they are unable to finish off long range tries. Any breaks made by manly are finished off by the oppositions speedy guys. Also if a speedy player from the opposition makes a break through our defensive line it is likely to finish in a try as we dont have the speed to catch them. It is for these reasons i'd like to see Hopoate remain at fullback and Oldfiled to stay on the wing. He looked very quick against the dragons.  Id like to see the following team:

1 Hoppa
2 Robbo
3 Matai
4 Lyon
5 Oldfield
6 Foran
7 Farrar when fit  (put Dogkinson in the QLD cup)
13 Stewie
12 Rodney
11 Choc
10 Kite
9 Ballin
8 King

14 T Rex
15 Rose
16 Cross
17 Gulavao

Farrar can play at halfback with Cuthbo on the wing.

MANLY DREAM TEAM