A new test of our character

[Remy]

That game was a learning curve for our inexperience and rawness tonight. We have such a talented squad that is building to something nice for this decade, but we just need polishing and experience to compete with the big dawgs in the big games.

Hope this loss stings the boys. We did what Penrith did in the 2020 GF and just absolutely shat the bed. And look how Penrith have built this entire year off the pain of that GF loss to motivate them for redemption this time. The good thing is we have a week and not a whole pre-season to bounce back and prove others wrong. We did this in a qualifying final so we still have a chance in this finals series.

We got embarrassed and bullied tonight but one thing about this current squad that we all know, is they have courage and resilience like the great Manly side of our golden era. Not many teams in history can come from an 0-4 start to a top 4 finish. This team really has something special that we have to build from.

This embarrassing loss is merely a new huge test of our character and our courage. Nothing new to what we dealt with earlier this year, the critics, the write-offs, the memes, the embarrassment of how we lost. Let's see how we deal with this new test this time around. Let's see if we got what it takes to turn it around again for the second time this year...

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

We go again next week. Not all doom and gloom and wrist slitting. I only watched till half time given I refuse to watch garbage and we were garbage. Croker's out was huge like I said before the game. Keppie needs to start and add some starch to the defence. I honestly thought he would run on for sure. We need to get Schuster more involved - many of our plays down that left side now skip Schuster as we head straight to Tom. Schu is then left to just try and make some yards with a tough carry every now and again. DCE's defensive reads were putrid and that caused havoc for Harper. Ill discipline with penalties and when we had the ball killed us. We got schooled by a very good team. However I honestly believed we would beat them. Not so sure we can beat them now but we will learn from that. Not a lot of positives at all. Walker in that first half - the only half I saw I will admit was very good. But bench is his place I think but Harper needs a rocket! Lawton (without an N) - sorry @Mark from Brisbane and yes I am not far away from Lawnton lol was never going to be a gun over 80 minutes - not with the fitness required or with the combinations required. You just can't come in and slot into hooker seamlessly with zero games in that role under your belt. Those thinking he was fit enough and could slot straight in need to watch the Castle - just dreaming. Anyway yes we go again next week. The Tom drop (helped by a Storm finger) on halfway after the try was the killer. I think Anasta even said... you could feel that the momentum had changed right there. We needed to get through that set and hopefully get another set and ramp up the pressure. That drop absolutely killed us - it was that important because the Storm then scored just before half time and that smashed our confidence completely. We need to have an attitude change, a performance change and probably a strategy change. But it can be done.