2025

[Adz]

Hopefully this new assistant coach thats coming from the squeels knows something about defense because Hales didnt and he was apparently our defensive coach,time will tell

Pretty sure Hales is on the offensive side of things,his strength is offensive strategy.
I believe Seibold is our defensive guy.

 

[double hoops]

Yeah we old and slow. Look we need some of those experienced blokes in our squad But with this 6 again footy we need speed. Guac needs a couple more blokes his age around him.

 

[eaglebuzz]

I don't think Jake is a write off, I just think the way he is training and conditioning is geared towards endurance and not power. Whatever physio helped Turbo to bring some of his explosiveness back into his game at the back end of this season needs to spend some time with Jake.

 

[HK_Eagle]

Hoppo.

Turba.

Lebo Turboate

 

[Jethro]

Unpopular opinion, Garrick was 100% concussed last night, and prior to that I thought he was playing well for the backend of the season. He is a centre in my eyes. DCE causes half of his problems.

If I had to name a lineup for next year, I'd name this, with a few changing variables.

1. Turbo
2. Saab
3. Koula
4. Garrick
5. Talau / Hopoate if he bulks up
6. Brooks
7. DCE
8. Paseka
9. Croker - on his last chances in my eyes
10. Aloiai, but at 100% and not busted like he's been lately. Alternatively RCG, if we can get him. Bye Lodge.
11. Olakau'atu
12. Ben - if he bulks up. He needs speed or power. He hasn't got either at the moment. If he can't improve, we need to sign someone.
13. Jake - limited minutes. Should be playing 60 or less.

The bench is where I probably differ from most:
14. Simpkin - non-negotiable
15. Bullemor
16. Navale
17. Brown / Waddell, Brown ended the season poorly.

Sipley is not mobile enough. Aloiai not at 100% is not mobile enough. I'm pretty sure Tevaga is not mobile enough.

The team needs to be changed for the opposition. Against smaller packs, larger middles. Against bigger packs, more mobile middles, to help our defence. We smashed the Dragons with a smaller pack. We dominated the Dogs with larger middles, but not many packs are like the Dogs.

I'd take scrambling defence over run metres any day. With Simpkin, the forwards improve off his service. Simpkin coming on with the rest of that bench would be an injection that would make up for the loss of Paseka.

Later in the season I'd love to see Laiafi get an opportunity.

P.S. I think Bullemor might bulk up more in the off-season. Would help his impact.

Waddell was only signed for 2024 so he is now pretty much a non-contracted player.

 

[XV-1]

Waddell was only signed for 2024 so he is now pretty much a non-contracted player.

Daily Telegraph said he is signed for another 3 years 🤨

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[Jethro]

Daily Telegraph said he is signed for another 3 years 🤨

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Thanks for that info.

I must have missed that re-signing and obviously the NRL have as yet to update their NRL Signings Tracker.

2024 NRL Signings Tracker: Dragons sign Rugby 7s star, extend Flanagan

The Dragons have signed Australian Olympic sevens star Nathan Lawson and extended Kyle Flanagan, while luring Dan Atkinson from Cronulla for 2026.

www.nrl.com

 

[Carl]

I don't think our predictable attack through the middle helps our middle defense. If we are easy to defend, their guys aren't getting tired; they can come at us harder; we get more tired; our middle attack gets weaker; they get less tired; we get more tired; we tackle less well; they can offload; we get tireder; we miss tackles. And round and round we go.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Lebo Turboate

Mr T sounds like he came through the Belmore-Lakemba-Wiley Park junior pipeline.

 

[double hoops]

A little more Waddell and Bullemor a little less AOA and Jake.

 

[The '47ers]

I don't think Jake is a write off, I just think the way he is training and conditioning is geared towards endurance and not power. Whatever physio helped Turbo to bring some of his explosiveness back into his game at the back end of this season needs to spend some time with Jake.

 

[lsz]

Honestly I can understand all the changes suggested on here but i think the biggest area needed for improvement is consistency against lower placed teams.

If we won 2/3 games against the teams we "should" have beaten it would have meant we were a top 4 team. Again not saying we would win the comp but it would have made things easier

No matter what we say our season depends on Turbo - if he plays a full season we are not far away

 

[LeonardCohen]

Honestly I can understand all the changes suggested on here but i think the biggest area needed for improvement is consistency against lower placed teams.

If we won 2/3 games against the teams we "should" have beaten it would have meant we were a top 4 team. Again not saying we would win the comp but it would have made things easier

No matter what we say our season depends on Turbo - if he plays a full season we are not far away

I can see why you might think that but it doesn't change the team that played last night. If anything, you could argue it would have made it harder because instead of winning against the Dogs in week 1 to go on and play the Chooks, we would have played Penrith or Melbourne in week 1, and been bashed by superior opposition.

I think those wins against the lesser sides would have made for a more enjoyable season but to be off the pace against the Sharks and Roosters when the whips are cracking, suggest we are not at the level of the top teams, regardless of our ladder position.

 

[LeonardCohen]

I actually think the Waddell is a good middle option. He struggles on an edge because he is not a guy that you want making decisions. If his role is to run hard and tackle hard, he'll do a job. Ask him to make reads in defence (edge) or use the ball (edge) and there's errors.

 

[HK_Eagle]

Honestly I can understand all the changes suggested on here but i think the biggest area needed for improvement is consistency against lower placed teams.

If we won 2/3 games against the teams we "should" have beaten it would have meant we were a top 4 team. Again not saying we would win the comp but it would have made things easier

No matter what we say our season depends on Turbo - if he plays a full season we are not far away

Turbo don't do full seasons, bro! Word.

 

[double hoops]

Storm. Look to be. Out with a slowing 30 /31 year old Welsh. In with faster younger model the 24 / 25 year old Utickamanu.

 

[skull61]

Storm. Look to be. Out with a slowing 30 /31 year old Welsh. In with faster younger model the 24 / 25 year old Utickamanu.

This as long as we stick with old slow Lodge Brown Aloai and Jakewe no hope of catching up need younger fitter blokes with more leg speed hopefully we have some coming through the grades but I don’t know because I don’t follow the lower grades closely

 

[XV-1]

Storm. Look to be. Out with a slowing 30 /31 year old Welsh. In with faster younger model the 24 / 25 year old Utickamanu.

I wouldn't be surprised if Seibold tries to sign Welsh . Sighh 😵‍💫

 

[Dion Johnson]

Jazz Tevaga he doesn’t have the leg speed to play on an edge, his ball handling is poor, there is a reason why the Warriors didn’t resign Tevaga.

There are options out there and since the club let Schuster go they haven’t been able to land an edge, could be dollars and if it is they may need to shop a player or two to balance the squad.

 

[Dion Johnson]

Big off-season for Navale and Burbo. Given the constraints Manly has imposed on itself with those re-signings you mention there isn't much scope for increasing forward mobility but a breakout season by Caleb and another year's development by Ben would help.
Can we afford RCG? I'm sure someone is doing some calculations.

Ben T will be better, he fatigued early in games when playing on the edge, takes a bit of time for some players to get used to the speed and body contact, he looked pretty good at centre in a couple of games where he played with lesser involvement.

Navale he should be given a chance to see how he goes.