matai

[sharx]

i thought he was great tonight.made good hard grinding metres when needed most.
was strong in defence.dont think he gave away penalty.
great comeback match.
look forward to seeing more of him on the field.

 

[Fluffy]

i had him as MOM, his effort, especially in the first half is one of the reasons our forwards were able to hang on

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

he was inspirational to his team mates

 

[sharx]

i agree for the MOM.i like his agressive and hard style.wont take a backward step kinda reminds me of the old days.

hope his neck/shoulder dont hamper his season.

 

[Pepi]

He was the reason we won IMO. His aggression is priceless (along with Perry).
Apart from that rush out of the line he played a perfect game - i wonder if the Matai knockers are still out in force?
Good to see he didn't start throwing punches at Reddy when he slapped/punched him in a tackle.

 

[Dan]

not MoM for me, he had a good game but showed a few signs of his old ways but a good game

for mine the first half was 50/50 between B.Stewart and Orford, with Stewart on top, though when we lost Bani, Stewart didn't look as good at the back.

LeStrange had to be close to MoM for me too, but Orford deserved it, he did a lot more than just good half back work, he was a good captain too

 

[DSM5]

I take back all I said about Stevie Wonder last season.  He was terrific tonight.  Ran hard and tackled well.  Ran out of the line only once.  Great game.

 

[clontaago]

I hate to say, I told you so. (Especially to Dan and DSM5)

 

[Dan]

oh bull**** you love it Doug,

but that is 1 game, 1 game where the entire team played out of their skins!

Matai will show his colours again

 

[clontaago]

He aint perfect, but he adds the desperately lacking Mongrel to our side that lifts other players.

Thats why I have always supported him, even with the odd brain snap.

 

[Dan]

I don't think it was him that added mongrel everyone stood up and i though Perry and Willow were pretty aggressive too

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

put Matai to lock next week to cover the loss of Beaver and Willo

 

[DSM5]

Clon, It was valid to be critical of Stevie last year, his defense was bad and he was constantly injured and didn't have many ideas in attack.  Obviously he's had a long hard look at his game and did well tonight.  Hopefully he'll continue to improve so I won't have to get back on his case. 

 

[Utility Player]

not MoM for me

No that honour goes to the great Eric Grothe Jnr, with Matai a bronze meadalist behind the Ox.

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

Strong go forward is what we have lacked in the backs the last few weeks well done on matai maybe bell should do the same thing.

 

[DSM5]

I saw the look of fear on Bell's face when he was looking at Bani.  I think his best years are behind him.  Never recovered form the Beaver's hit on him in SOO.  A worried man never runs forward.

 

[ads]

He missed a few tackles which I wasn't impressed with.

But he ran really well out of dummy half and has a bit of mongrel which I like.

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

It's strange for one player who isn't a playmaker like, say, Thurston or Lockyer, to have such an impact on a team, but that's what Matai does for Manly. Quite simply we're a better team with him on the paddock. I love watching him play and was very happy to see him back. Let's hope he stays healthy.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Defence was a bit shaky at times, but i love the effort the bloke puts in when we are deep in our own half. Some of his runs last night i thought to myself that must have been Kite but then Matai stood up.

I like the blokes where you can see the full effort going in every game, and he is one of those, Watmough is another

 

[Cletus]

I was bitching and moaning about him after 30 seconds when he rushed up and left Grothe in the clear, but the other 79 minutes and 30 seconds was fantastic. He adds a lot to the side and I can forgive one act of stupidity a game if he keeps playing like that.