News: What a boring, predictable, yet ultimately great game

[Rusty]

The Sharks and Sea Eagles - two teams that don't mind aggression in the tackles.
In the pre-match hype, the members of each side publicly declared their opponents to have the toughest packs in the NRL. There was an air of expectation the rival forward packs were ready to mix it up and sort each other out.


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[Mark from Brisbane]

I agree Gus it is a great game, and yesterdays end to that game was magificent.....still gives me shivers up the spine.

 

[bones]

It wasn't a high quality game, but it was a great finish and a really special win considering Manly had both their best forward and their best back watching from the sidelines.

 

[Merdy33]

I don't agree with everything Gould says, but he has nailed this.

I thought it was a frustrating game to watch, featuring two competitive, but ultimately only top 8 teams, unless they improve. The Sharks game plan was to turn it into an arm wrestle with bustling, aggressive defence, and it worked for 70 minutes.

But what I loved was that the Eagles kept plugging away, plugging away, and plugging away. Also, don't underestimate the quality of Lyon's kick. People are calling luck, Hail Mary etc, but it was perfectly executed. If it was Marshal or Soward, they'd be raving over it. But because it was in the last 10 seconds, it had to be a fluke.

Anyway, premierships aren't won in April, and If I had the choice of an ugly, grafting win, or a flashy thrashing at this time of year, I'd take the former. Simply because its very difficult to maintain high quality intensity until October. The vast majority of people aren't wired that way.

 

[Dan]

Fitness and commitment is what it showed. Nothing was coming off for us and they frustrated us out of our game plan but we still came good.

They didn't have the fitness and couldn't go the full 80 at that kind of pace. Their line speed was incredible all night, either that or they were offside all night.

Good to see Manly grind out a win

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I thought the Sharks were good, and it was a great sign that we were able to pinch a win without playing our best. Sharks are a chance at top 8 this year. The energy and belief and mental toughness to come back late are the best features of our team so far.

 

[vidmar]

Still of course early days but with our new line up there were some forecasting us as 0/4 before the season started.

Then, lob in a couple more injuries/suspensions/opposition performance and we were gone for all money according to some.

We're now 5 games in and 3 from 5 - even with a depleted team.

Also, It's encouraging that several of the new boys are really stepping up and showing great promise.

I had some of the "brains trust" around me at the game last night (Groggo, DSM5. DJ Spook, Bones, Duff & Fluff etc) and the general feeling at half time from them was that we were missing that "spark" to fire us up (Choc? Bullet?) BUT that the boys were still doing enough to win if they came out and knuckled down, scored first and kept their composure.

They didn't score first of course but at long last we got some refs calls and a bit of luck running our way and the boys dug in and yet again just really looked like they wanted to win it (Something that I'm really seeing this season compared to last season).

Any trip home from the Shire with 2 points in the bag is a good trip and "mission accomplished" - not pretty - granted, but finals spots are given acccording to the McIntyre system not the "You've got talent" system so at this stage of the season and with our current roster give me competition points over performance or beauty any day?

By the way - top effort by the MWTS last night.

There were good numbers and making lots of noise to support the boys.

I went by car and we were stuck in traffic on the way in and only got to the ground at around 7.00 so had to skip the club and go straight in but sitting in the traffic close to the ground there was lots and lots of Manly fans heading in which was a good sign.

That SW corner of Shark Park really gets us close to the action and the players really seemed to lift when they could hear the support and see the MWTS close by when they were kicking off from that end of the ground in the 2nd half.

It was great to see them head over to the fans after the game and celebrate with them - Skivvy even had his photo taken by one of his team mates with a group of guys with the "Return of the Matai" banner.

Big Georgey always give a "Push it up" and I even saw Kingy getting in on the act.

As we walked back to the car I'm sure I heard in the distance "In the shire....We always win in the shire.....we always win in the shire...we always win in the shire...."

Top night!

 

[Ryan]

Nice mate...sounds like an awesome one.