We are not exactly sitting pretty, but we are standing tall and proud, and that is a great sign for us in 2012. No complacency or premiership hangover visible. I don't think we really deserved to win either of the last two games, yet we so easily might have if a little luck was on our side.
Last night the Illawarra forwards seemed to roll up-field too easily in the first half. It was a credit to our team that they came back so strongly in the second half. A lot of other teams would have slumped to a bad loss from 12-nil.
Look at the young & inexperienced players we used last night. Oldfield is still learning, Whare is new, Buhrer & Lussick are still adjusting to NRL, Skinner on debut, Harrison only has a couple of games behind him. Another debutant was on the bench. And, despite all his achievements, even DCE only has one season up. It's a very positive sign that last night's line-up really took it to an NRL heavyweight on their home turf. The second half was a quite good quality, and at times we really had them on the run.
Last year we had the most consistent season I can recall from a Manly team. The matches we lost were extremely close, and the players showed a great determined attitude each time. So far – we are showing a similar spirit this year.
If we keep doing that we will be a real threat at the end, regardless of injuries and suspension.
Last night the Illawarra forwards seemed to roll up-field too easily in the first half. It was a credit to our team that they came back so strongly in the second half. A lot of other teams would have slumped to a bad loss from 12-nil.
Look at the young & inexperienced players we used last night. Oldfield is still learning, Whare is new, Buhrer & Lussick are still adjusting to NRL, Skinner on debut, Harrison only has a couple of games behind him. Another debutant was on the bench. And, despite all his achievements, even DCE only has one season up. It's a very positive sign that last night's line-up really took it to an NRL heavyweight on their home turf. The second half was a quite good quality, and at times we really had them on the run.
Last year we had the most consistent season I can recall from a Manly team. The matches we lost were extremely close, and the players showed a great determined attitude each time. So far – we are showing a similar spirit this year.
If we keep doing that we will be a real threat at the end, regardless of injuries and suspension.