News: Manly picking up bad habit

[ManlyBacker]

<p>Manly are fast gaining a reputation as slow starters under coach Des Hasler, while St George Illawarra have Wayne Bennett to thank for turning around their early season malaise.</p>


<a href="http://www.silvertails.net/news/4669-manly-picking-up-bad-habit.html">Read the full article</a>

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

It is better to win early than lose early but those records suggest a couple of early losses is not fatal to Manly.

The no-Snake stat has little relevance at this stage imo because he was missing for nearly all of last year. When he eventually came back late he was still very much feeling his way, so he hasn't really been a focal point of the team for quite a long time. In one way it would have been far worse if he played half the year before we suddenly lost him.

 

[conanu]

For those of us who remember, The first season Des was in charge Manly came out of the blocks and belted everyone and then we ran of puff and got smacked out of the finals in week one. since then we tend to start slower and build up to a peak. Looking at our team only for those two ****ty losses we would be sitting up with the Dragons and to be honest we have so much improvement left in us whereas i think the dragons are at their best i cant see them improving. Maybe it is the endorphins from the win talking but i actually think we are in half decent shape compared to alot of other teams so far.

 

[Dan]

Dragons mean business and I wouldn't be surprised if they win it this year.


but yes we have improvement in us and potential for years to come

 

[TokyoEagle]

Dragons mean business and I wouldn't be surprised if they win it this year.


but yes we have improvement in us and potential for years to come

we have been ripped off 2 weeks in a row, we are definitely a top 8 chance this year if we continue to defend the way we have done in all 3 games so far.
I might even go so far as to say we could give the big one a shake if we can keep it up.

 

[Bradza]

TokyoEagle, if we continue to defend like we have in the first 3 rounds we will have inconsistent results. We need to tackle for 80 and improve our defensive combinations. There's too much arm grabbing and allowing the opposition to push through the line and get a roll on. The knights handling was terrible and they mounted very little serious pressure.

Our attack on the other hand is exceeding my expectations. Without Snake and with minimal involvement from Choc we are coming up with multiple attacking channels.

If we sort out our fitness and start trusting each other in defence when the opposition is asking questions then we will be comfortably in the 8 at season's end. 

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Agree with Bradza, our attack is looking surprisingly good, especially in the first half of our games. As Hodko & Foran gain in experience we will be even more dangerous. The defence has been powerful but there have been too many lapses. The first Knights try looked very soft, the prop took it up from a tap and went over to score! Bit like Fui scoring Parra's first last week. It is a concentration thing and I'm sure it can be fixed.

Our long term prospects will depend on further injuries, we have lost one star already and can't afford too many more, especially to Lyon, the halves and Ballin.

 

[DSM5]

Agree with last two posts.  Looks like George is gone for a few weeks.  Those two soft trues need examination.  They were scored way to easy.  Choc needs to get his concentration back too.

 

[TokyoEagle]

Agree with last two posts.  Looks like George is gone for a few weeks.  Those two soft trues need examination.  They were scored way to easy.  Choc needs to get his concentration back too.

From the 1st 3 games it has felt to me that our defence is a lot more committed than last years effort. We have at times let in a couple of soft tries due to lack of concentration but we have also been able to defend our line for long stretches of time.
I agree that we need to play out the 80 and we have to play smarter when we are defending a lead but there are definitely some promising signs that we can build on.

 

[Dan]

Our forwards seem to be going forward too. I haven't seen Kite hitting it up like that since 2008

 

[Bradza]

TokyoEagle, if the comparison is to 2009 then I agree with you about improvement but I'm trying to wipe that one from memory. Prefer to compare to our defense of 2007/08 when the boys had attitude, concentration and trusted each other and as a consequence the tacklng was very effective.

 

[SwornEagle]

With 30+ missed tackles we still gotta tighten up in defense a bit, better teams would carve us up with that.

Props to TRex, had a ripper game, and props to Rodney as well 2nd in tackles and 2nd in meters.