After 2 Rounds - Thoughts ??

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maxta

First Grader
Premium Member
Last night watched a replay of Manly /Roosters round 2 before the season was postponed and keen to hear opinions based on the first 2 games....hard to start judging till round s 4-5, but could still see a few differences that looked good and defensively mixed options and also individual performances.
Certainly played to game plans in 1 and 2.
Felt game 1 in restrictive conditions still needed to play more footy, but in saying that if we won a dour struggle would have been happy enough.
Game 2 quite the opposite in promoting the footy with good shifts and plenty of support around the footy.
Both games lacked quality kicks to end sets and imperative this improves, which likely will in coming games.
Also the up and in defence can expose the wingers, especially already playing with a compressed defensive line and Suli in particular was caught out 3 times by Roosters, who luckily only took advantage for 1 try due to desperate cover defence.

Game 1 was hard to evaluate, as it was wet and windy, setup for a grind....and against the Master stranglers - Melbourne Storm.
Thought is was a rugged performance and were well in the game for around 60 minutes.
The biggest difference in this game apart from the control of Smith, was a far better kicking game from Storm.

Game 2 in far better conditions allowed Manly to play with more width than I seen from them after 20 rounds in 2019 and Walker was throwing a few key long balls even on early tackle counts which caught Roosters out 4-5 times, resulting in 2 linebreaks.
Also had big AFB and Kapow, not predictably where they wedge inside close to the ruck at A defenders, but also targeted the small halves Keary and Flanigan on the edges, bending the line and burning their energy for attack....liked it and once Walker and Turbo sniff around here in support, could become a real attacking weapon.
The game Tom T played was absolutely on point where I'm highly surprised if Snake Stewart has not been in his ear both positionally and about involvement....both attack and defence was an A+ Masterclass....add the effort plays and you have the icing on the cake.
Other standouts were Walker - again passing game has improved immensely imo and also the new 9 Levi was very sharp, with crisp passing and has the danger element to engage the closest defender and promote space for his runners...was excellent in only game 2.
Honourable mention to some great plays by Thompson, Garrick and Parker at various times and Boyle, the bloke I felt was not there often in 2019, done some good things and played to his size.

Please expand Feathered Friends - thoughts on players...good, bad, improved....only 2 games to chat about but the only 2 Manly games in almost 6 months now !!
 
Definitely don't think we were playing to our potential, but that is never expected from us in round 1 and 2 anyways when we seem to lose them every year - even in 2008! So the win in round 2 came as a nice surprise! Was a really gutsy effort by the boys. Obviously only scoring one try across the two weeks sucks, but again nothing to worry about being so early on, and even more so looking at the teams we were up against! Just gotta hope we stay injury free now because gooood we are looking good.

Cannot wait for it to return - I really think we have a good chance this year. I was a bit negative about winning this year's GF (hoping it actually goes ahead) thinking it wouldn't be as special as normal. But now I am hungrier than ever for a premiership. And honestly whoever wins, its going to be a gusty effort having to overcome such adversity (except if its Parra - if they win then its 100% down to COVID and pure luck @:D )
 
After Round 2 - I was more 'quietly confident' than ever. However there is so much uncertainty right now, if the comp actually manages to resume then player mindset and therefore game results will be a total lottery. No-one has had to go through such an unsettled period before. I'd half expect a bolter such as Knights Panthers or Cows to sneak through.
If Des is smart (correction, as Des is smart) I suspect that, regardless of whether this comp restarts, his planning will focus strongly on 2021 as our serious premiership challenge.
 
After Round 2 - I was more 'quietly confident' than ever. However there is so much uncertainty right now, if the comp actually manages to resume then player mindset and therefore game results will be a total lottery. No-one has had to go through such an unsettled period before. I'd half expect a bolter such as Knights Panthers or Cows to sneak through.
If Des is smart (correction, as Des is smart) I suspect that, regardless of whether this comp restarts, his planning will focus strongly on 2021 as our serious premiership challenge.

I just wanna go back to back ;)
 

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