2025 recruitment & retention

[Andrew..]

TPJ? We've just gotten rid of Schuster. We don't need another player whos ego outweighs his talent.

I reckon the Bulldogs did a sneaky move and possibly paid TPJ out to get him off their books and the whole boxing thing was more of a ruse. They now have almost as many sponsorship opportunities as the Roosters. They are sponsored buy the Laundy hotel group with an estimated worth of $1.4 billion

Certain clubs clearly have an advantage in not only buying players but moving on the ones they don't want.

 

[Bearfax]

I think Hoppa is a fraction too small to cut it as a winger. It's fullback or bust for mine

He's only 19 and has a bit of beef to put on. But he is 1.9 metres tall (well over 6 feet) and much taller than Koula, a little taller than Garrick and not much shorter than Turbo. And what we saw of him last weekend, showed he can take big hits. Add a few Kilos which happens as one ages and he's easily big enough for back line play

 

[frank stokes]

I'll agree that he takes some poor options. What primary players in any team don't. Harry Grant and Hughes made some poor decisions in this latest game. They are the primary organisers. Do we attack them because of these mistakes. They are a risk takers and risks have to be taken at certain points in a game. They are doing far more structural actions than the rest of the team. Thye are the player the team's actions revolve around.

These guys aren't robots. They make mistakes. But I'd suggest DCE's positives are vastly greater than his negatives and he helps Manly to win far more frequently, from my perspective, than his actions lose us games. And if certain of his actions do cause Manly a loss, it should be noted that he wouldn't be taking those actions if the team was keeping up the standard it is capable of.

Rugby League is a team game and the primary reasons a team wins or loses is because of the team's performance, not the individual. Special players may take advantage of the efforts of the team, but its the team's performance overall that determines wins and losses. DCE does and excellent job of meeting the requirements of the primary organizer. Its up to the team though to set up the circumstances that allow that player to weave his magic.

I really think it is as simple as DCE gets paid the most so he gets criticised the most @Bearfax …
Personally I have always rated Chez and reckon we would have at least 1 wooden spoon in the cabinet if we had not had him for the last decade… but I get that people look to him to be the difference maker and any mistakes at critical (and often not-so-critical) times are amplified (particularly to fans that think his contract was/is a mistake)…
Thought he had a massive game on Friday too and generally agree with most of your other points - although I would argue that Friday was imo a vast improvement at centre by Reuben…

 

[frank stokes]

Your thought is Humphries decided he wanted to shift to hooker rather than the coaching staff shifting him?

My thought would be the other way but I have no inside knowledge.

I agree @Disco that the coaches have probs recognised his skill-level and made a recommendation to Jamie based upon his most available pathway to the NRL…
Karl is leaving and teams tend to carry a back-up hooker on the pine (rather than a back-up 7)… Gordie may be 1st in line tho as he has an established portfolio at 9…

 

[jbb/james]

I really think it is as simple as DCE gets paid the most so he gets criticised the most @Bearfax …
Personally I have always rated Chez and reckon we would have at least 1 wooden spoon in the cabinet if we had not had him for the last decade… but I get that people look to him to be the difference maker and any mistakes at critical (and often not-so-critical) times are amplified (particularly to fans that think his contract was/is a mistake)…
Thought he had a massive game on Friday too and generally agree with most of your other points - although I would argue that Friday was imo a vast improvement at centre by Reuben…

Whenever discussing dce i see 2 main differences

Footy form obviously

And the most relevant discussions on ST

Many critiques of DCE are in response to overly zealous comment s on how he is the greatest and can do no wrong or accountability is not for him

Many conversations start out with some trying to prove DCE is worth it, others responding to huge assumptions after he just met expectations as a million dollar half with more experience than anyone, almost ever

DCE can do SFA for weeks , sets up 2 tries and he is the messiah from the woodwork . Then people mention he is actually a part time messiah at best due to the previous 3 weeks and it goes down hill, we are all haters and need a head scan

Then he is the qld messiah so thats supposed to make manly fans feel better

His first 4 years at manly we had a 71% winning, since then 46 % in games he has played in
He was recruited as the main man, given the 7 and captaincy without disruption . Its his team and only tommy is keeping his recent winning numbers anywhere near acceptable

Sure different teams, different players but yikes. He isnt going to win us a title this year or next so many who predicted this many moons ago , would have just tried a different approach

Not that he isnt a good footy player, just isnt going to deliver manly much more than 12 th on a regular basis. If he was a coach in charge he would have been cut so many times. His coaches were

I also think brooks isnt getting recognition enough on ST due to the dce fans. Admitting brooks is going better is a tough pill for some

 

[maxta]

I reckon DCE deserves critisism for his game management or lack of, however he is a Super footy player and I love him at Manly, just get frustrated in certain games we should ice for the above reasons, but damn he is a competitor, super fit and is simply a great attacking player when the switch is on and 1 of the best 7's in the game.
The bright spot was Rubes game, particularly some great last ditch trysavers against Storm and it wasn't just the contact, he made some great decisions when faced with 3 on 2 situations to close down 2 certain tries and won defensively on every occasion.
Brooks has been very good and his head on defence at times has shocked me, against Penrith, Eels and Storm picking up big backrowers who looked for the easy target and got slam dunked by Brooks.
Talau has been the centre we hoped for and done almost everyting right, scoring a few tries expected from the games elite and tackled well with only a few positional slip ups.
Im enjoying paseka in recent times rolling sleeves and eating up metres and I think Brown apart from a couple of errors has been the most influentual forward Ive seen at Manly in a long time.
Oka is the best backrower today and i only wish Manly gave him more opportunities from 5m - 10m out as he seems to get the ball 20m and 30m out and carry players for 10m + every time...also he could sometimes run onto the ball from deep as he is already so damaging from a standing start, can only imagine him skittling opposition defence with a runup.
Anyways back to DCE. long as its not a personal attack on himself or family, I reckon everyone deserves an opinion and that's what Silvertails is all about...most of the time

 

[Chunkytuna]

Anyways back to DCE. long as its not a personal attack on himself or family, I reckon everyone deserves an opinion and that's what Silvertails is all about...most of the time

Agree. We expect a lot of him and so we should. He should not make the mistakes that he does as regularly as he does. No one is questioning his commitment or will to win, but his decision making and calmness when required, is sometimes lacking. Compare him to the premiere halfback in the comp IMO (Cleary) and he makes way less of those mistakes.

 

[frank stokes]

Whenever discussing dce i see 2 main differences

Footy form obviously

And the most relevant discussions on ST

Many critiques of DCE are in response to overly zealous comment s on how he is the greatest and can do no wrong or accountability is not for him

Many conversations start out with some trying to prove DCE is worth it, others responding to huge assumptions after he just met expectations as a million dollar half with more experience than anyone, almost ever

DCE can do SFA for weeks , sets up 2 tries and he is the messiah from the woodwork . Then people mention he is actually a part time messiah at best due to the previous 3 weeks and it goes down hill, we are all haters and need a head scan

Then he is the qld messiah so thats supposed to make manly fans feel better

His first 4 years at manly we had a 71% winning, since then 46 % in games he has played in
He was recruited as the main man, given the 7 and captaincy without disruption . Its his team and only tommy is keeping his recent winning numbers anywhere near acceptable

Sure different teams, different players but yikes. He isnt going to win us a title this year or next so many who predicted this many moons ago , would have just tried a different approach

Not that he isnt a good footy player, just isnt going to deliver manly much more than 12 th on a regular basis. If he was a coach in charge he would have been cut so many times. His coaches were

I also think brooks isnt getting recognition enough on ST due to the dce fans. Admitting brooks is going better is a tough pill for some

We have previously established that we watch different games when it comes to DCE…

No one player can win footy games but, for mine, Chez has had very few injuries, always maintains a consistently high effort in attack and defence and has delivered a number a massive amount of game-winning moments in the Manly jerseys…

Yes he has had bad games/patches but then he played in a really dogsh*t team for many years too and got us over the line in many games during those poor years… not that I ever hope (or need to) convince you of anything when it comes to Chez @jbb/james … you are free to keep on (not?) hating as much as you like bud… but IMO we would have spoons if we had not had Chez and the guy is not captain of Qld just because he plays well for them ( that does not even make sense)

 

[eaglebuzz]

He's only 19 and has a bit of beef to put on. But he is 1.9 metres tall (well over 6 feet) and much taller than Koula, a little taller than Garrick and not much shorter than Turbo. And what we saw of him last weekend, showed he can take big hits. Add a few Kilos which happens as one ages and he's easily big enough for back line play

Absolutely, in a year or two he'll be big enough to play wing, I agree.

 

[frank stokes]

Agree. We expect a lot of him and so we should. He should not make the mistakes that he does as regularly as he does. No one is questioning his commitment or will to win, but his decision making and calmness when required, is sometimes lacking. Compare him to the premiere halfback in the comp IMO (Cleary) and he makes way less of those mistakes.

Get your point and I put a lot of HBs ahead of Chez but I sure as sh*t put the vast majority behind him…

Comparing ANYONE to Cleary just seems unfair… the guy (at his age) is an absolute freak (yet has not been able to dominate SOO on his own - funny that)

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Relax, I'm not bagging Humphries per se, moreso saying pinning out hopes on him to be our next star half seems wildly optimistic when he couldnt beat Wakeham to the 7 jersey for Blacktown.

If anything I'm one of the more optimistic around here but not every player in the squad will be a superstar.

As an aside, do you think DCE should be moved on next year and Humphrey's be our starting halfback??

Cause that is the point being discussed.

Maybe Wakeham was in front of him because he was a Blacktown signing and a relatively experienced first grade player.

Aside from Wakeham’s recent issues, it sounds like there is much more upside to Humphreys.

 

[Chunkytuna]

Get your point and I put a lot of HBs ahead of Chez but I sure as sh*t put the vast majority behind him…

Comparing ANYONE to Cleary just seems unfair… the guy (at his age) is an absolute freak (yet has not been able to dominate SOO on his own - funny that)

He is a freak that's for sure. Funny that DCE has excelled at origin level - probably more that Cleary. I wish it was the other way around - he excelled at clubland.

 

[jbb/james]

We have previously established that we watch different games when it comes to DCE…

No one player can win footy games but, for mine, Chez has had very few injuries, always maintains a consistently high effort in attack and defence and has delivered a number a massive amount of game-winning moments in the Manly jerseys…

Yes he has had bad games/patches but then he played in a really dogsh*t team for many years too and got us over the line in many games during those poor years… not that I ever hope (or need to) convince you of anything when it comes to Chez @jbb/james … you are free to keep on (not?) hating as much as you like bud… but IMO we would have spoons if we had not had Chez and the guy is not captain of Qld just because he plays well for them ( that does not even make sense)

Yeah but who wants to talk footy with someone who agrees with us all the time. The best thing about footy is everyweek our captain has a chance to silence them all

I agree the wooden spoon would suck but what year do you think we would have got it if it were not for chez. And i do agree not one man wins footy games. It a team effort.

Team provides opportunities through field position , forward dominance, kicking and defence to name but a few, to give players like the chez the opportunity to create

I just see the kicking game as a major weakness although improved under seibs and that **** should be his bread and butter. He is such a natural

I dont think the comparism between cleary and chez is straight forward, as they are often compared on here . What i would like to know is how much each spend practising there kicking games mid week.. i would be startled if they were close and would be questioning the kicking coach deluxe. Just looks like he is winging it . Might be a sign of how much the kicking game is respected by each club also. But thats me winging it obviously

Short drop outs, kick offs ?. We look off the pace

 

[Rackets]

He is a freak that's for sure. Funny that DCE has excelled at origin level - probably more that Cleary. I wish it was the other way around - he excelled at clubland.

I wish that too, but at Origin he does have other great players and captains of their clubs that take that pressure off him in Grant and Hunt for example, where they're also able to take control of the game and game manage. Less pressure on DCE and that's where he gets to play his best and not have to overthink things.

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

He's only 19 and has a bit of beef to put on. But he is 1.9 metres tall (well over 6 feet) and much taller than Koula, a little taller than Garrick and not much shorter than Turbo. And what we saw of him last weekend, showed he can take big hits. Add a few Kilos which happens as one ages and he's easily big enough for back line play

His dad had a pretty similar build when he was coming through the lower grades at Manly. Took him a while to turn into the monster we all remember.

 

[frank stokes]

Yeah but who wants to talk footy with someone who agrees with us all the time. The best thing about footy is everyweek our captain has a chance to silence them all

I agree the wooden spoon would suck but what year do you think we would have got it if it were not for chez. And i do agree not one man wins footy games. It a team effort.

Team provides opportunities through field position , forward dominance, kicking and defence to name but a few, to give players like the chez the opportunity to create

I just see the kicking game as a major weakness although improved under seibs and that **** should be his bread and butter. He is such a natural

I dont think the comparism between cleary and chez is straight forward, as they are often compared on here . What i would like to know is how much each spend practising there kicking games mid week.. i would be startled if they were close and would be questioning the kicking coach deluxe. Just looks like he is winging it . Might be a sign of how much the kicking game is respected by each club also. But thats me winging it obviously

Short drop outs, kick offs ?. We look off the pace

Seems we agree on more than we do not bud…

 

[frank stokes]

I wish that too, but at Origin he does have other great players and captains of their clubs that take that pressure off him in Grant and Hunt for example, where they're also able to take control of the game and game manage. Less pressure on DCE and that's where he gets to play his best and not have to overthink things.

Plus he has forwards that are getting him on the front foot, taking time away from defenders and creating opportunities to take advantage of players out of position…

Our forwards are pretty good this year but for many years we have had a couple of decent forwards surrounded by a bunch of pretenders (imo)

 

[Dee Why Eagle]

Watching him play in the lower grades mate. A clear standout.

Here's an article written that gives an insight into his ability the year after he lead the entire SG Ball competition in points scored, playing as a half. The years he was being selected as the international half.

Please, PLEASE don't buy into this clubs "moronic" habit of playing halfbacks as hookers. It hasn't, doesn't, and isn't working. Don't you find it funny that around the competitions we won with Ballin at Hooker (a specialist 9), we've had runs with Monaghan, Croker, Cade Cust etc, and literally nothing was achieved.

Okay, we had Api, and Fainu, and I felt that's where we started progress forward again, but alas.

Soaking up experience a key for Jamie Humphreys

Jamie Humphreys doesn’t need to walk far to ask for advice from one of Manly’s greatest halves pairing in Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran.

www.seaeagles.com.au

didnt cameron smith start out as a half?

 

[Rackets]

Plus he has forwards that are getting him on the front foot, taking time away from defenders and creating opportunities to take advantage of players out of position…

Our forwards are pretty good this year but for many years we have had a couple of decent forwards surrounded by a bunch of pretenders (imo)

Agree buddy, and it was great meeting another ST at the airport.

 

[frank stokes]

Agree buddy, and it was great meeting another ST at the airport.

Certainly was mate… we are few but we are quality