The footy is a week away time to fire up the forum!!

[Seaeagle63]

I think we will finish in the lower order of the top 8.

I agree with Oldfield/Whare being the hotshots, but don't be surprised to see Liam Foran as a utility off the bench and shine.

As for signings for 2012, the jury is still out at this stage.

As a footnote:  Brett Stewart to have a great comeback year and be very close to taking out the Dally M.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Bold prediction 63, but you have to have dreams

 

[susan]

we will beat melbourne easily.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

More like Susan please!

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

32 - 12 a double to Brett to get him to his ton

---

Post  automatically merged: [time]1299107424[/time]

---

edit
to Manly

 

[Andrew..]

I think we will finish in the lower order of the top 8.

I agree with Oldfield/Whare being the hotshots, but don't be surprised to see Liam Foran as a utility off the bench and shine.

As for signings for 2012, the jury is still out at this stage.

As a footnote:  Brett Stewart to have a great comeback year and be very close to taking out the Dally M.

Whare had a great debut for us last year and no one could doubt his attacking ability, I'm a little concerned he may be injury prone so until he can string a few games together I'll reserve my judgement.

On the other hand Oldfield, big mobile..sound in attack and defense and doesn't seem afraid to roll up his sleeves and have a go. If  Michael Robertson was wanting to chase big dollars in England or the wolfman has ongoing injury problems. I wouldn't see us going backwards with Oldfield waiting in the wings.

Laurie Daley said we may struggle this year if injuries occur but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

 

[ERNIE FOR NO7]

Preview
8TH
I think 2011 will be a rebuilding year and a top 8 finish will be a good result. Even after a couple of encouraging trial results, I think expecting anything higher is a bit optimistic. A number of players could debut this year with another number of rookies possibly taking that further step. So hopefully this year will set the club up for successful 2012.

The Pack
I think the future of the pack looks strong with Lussick, Buhrer and Cunningham staking claims in the NRL as NRL regulars. I think Rodney was playing well at the end of last season, so I think our back row looks really strong.

Outside Backs
To me the centres look the club’s weak link. Manly has 4 specialist wingers in the squad and all of them aren’t top line centres (Williams, Williams, Robertson & Oldfield) Further to that Hopoate is best placed on the wing, when Stewart is playing. Lyons recurring ankle injury is a concern. His fitness will be extremely important. We can’t replace him. As for Matai, the next time he hits someone high he is going to get 8 weeks minimum. And I would be taking short odds on that outcome. It will be interesting to see what happens with retention of players for 2012 regarding our wingers. I am sure Manly has more of it’s cap tied up with wingers than any other club.

Halves
At the other end of the scale Manly would have the least % of the cap committed to paying Half backs. I don’t envy the expectations that DCE has placed on him. I doubt that there has ever been a debutant half back anywhere, where the fans have expected so much from him to deliver. Some of the posts on this forum about him are ridiculous. I think he is a limited player but as long as he delivers a steady reliable service, hopefully this will allow the players around him to shine. This will satisfy the coaching staff. Personally I didn’t think Hodkinson did enough ball playing and organising and this reduced the effectiveness on Foran. Foran is most effective and dangerous when he can concentrate on his running game. I wouldn’t swap him for any 6 in the comp. Last year he had to do too much ball playing. So if DCE takes on that role the team will improve in this area and we should all be happy with this result.

 

[Stevo]

Oh Sue please! Yeah baby do it! I'd hate to work for the water board in this kind of flood!

 

[SwornEagle]

1) 6th -  The boys will improve on last year’s effort of scraping into the final series, finishing in a stronger position this season. The return of Snake and Wolfman, will definitely build the confidence and morale of the team after a very hard 2 seasons. As has been said by many, this will be heavily dependent on injuries/suspensions and how DCE handles the NRL and not to mention refereeing decisions. (Last year we could have finished a couple of positions higher had it not been for a few dodgy calls.)

I really can’t see how we can finish worse than last year considering the squad we have this season. A lot of people have criticized our depth, but I actually think its stronger than last year, which means the young players will really have to prove themselves in this area.

Key players this year – Jamie Lyon, Brett Stewart, Jason King, Steve Matai & Kieran Foran

2) There are more quality young guns in the squad than I can remember for many years. From this pack I predict DCE, Buher, Oldfield, Hoppa and Whare to step up and be a part of the next generation

3) Perhaps a bit too early to tell, but a young prop that has proven himself at NRL level would be good. A handy utility that can play ½, 5/8 and hooker. Would have to look to see who’s off contract at the end of 2011, Injuries/representation/suspensions during the season will give us a better idea also.

 

[ssar]

1- I hope we'll be in the top 4 @ round 26, but more realistically in a position 4-8.

2- All I'm really thinking about is our halves, we need them to gel and succeed, sure it may take some time to work well, but let's hope they do this season.

---

Finally we are on the eve of another FOOTY season!

Let's hope for:
- Good, honest, hard contests on the fields,
- Few injuries for all players & teams,
- Good & consistent refereeing, and
- Few off-field dramas & cr*p.

---

NRL Futures TAB Sportsbet odds to win 2011 comp, for a $1.00 bet:

(@ 15 Jan / @ 13 Feb / @ 10 Mar)

Dragons $5.50 / $5.50 / $5.50

Rabbitohs $7.00 / $8.00 / $9.00

Tigers $7.00 / $7.00 / $7.50

Roosters $8.00 / $9.00 / $11.00

Bulldogs $11.00 / $11.00 / $11.00

Storm $13.00 / $13.00 / $13.00

Warriors $13.00 / $11.00 / $11.00

Raiders $17.00 / $15.00 / $15.00

Panthers $17.00 / $17.00 / $17.00

Broncos $21.00 / $21.00 / $17.00

Titans $21.00 / $21.00 / $21.00

Sea Eagles $21.00 / $21.00 / $17.00

Knights $26.00 / $26.00 / $26.00

Eels $26.00 / $26.00 / $17.00

Cowboys $34.00 / $34.00 / $41.00

Sharks $67.00 / $67.00 / $67.00

---

Go...

Bring it on!