Another Stat to mull over.

[Mark from Brisbane]

So do you think making the GF qualifier from here is a pass mark?

More than a pass I think !!

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I’m good with our young lads gaining some experience, but and it’s a big but, we don’t need to pull a rabbit out of the hat Mark, I’ve been beating this drum form months now, we can beat them, they are as beatable as they have been in a long time, we have the talent and the points to put the sword straight through them, it’s option 1 for me without the rabbit, we have this and I was stoked to hear Des say something similar, it’s time to get the self belief sky high, they are just another team standing between us and our end goal, we have this.

The difference as I see it is we have a lot of young players who have never experienced the intensity of a finals game , and especially going first up against one of the “ big two”.

So I still think it’ll be a rabbit pulling , and whilst you and I know they are beatable think about these young kids and what’ll be going through their heads.

Are we good enough , of course.

But there’s still the mental battle to win as well.

 

[jbb/james]

I have seen very little of manly that leans toward us playing the style of footy that has won traditional final matches, but here we are 4 th place which is undeniable.

We are unconventionable in a traditional sense. In this day its possible thats enough however unlikely

The big key here is the refs. We need room and space if out fullback is going to drive the teams fortunes. After a crackdown last week we saw cummins put the whistle away. Its likely this is the type of adjudicating we will face and it wont be helpful. We heard des get it on the record about the skinny 10 metres

We lack patience and unfortunately that isnt as much about the rookies as it is the senior players. Big game players turn games when you are under the pump and our gameplan doesnt seem to have room to accomodate the boreing percentage plays that keep you in a contest when the chips are down

In recent games we have just been to quick to let Tom do it and we will suffer most likely.

The storm are beatable and if everything works out we are a chance.

This a big chance to see why DCE gets paid the big bucks. His first instinct needs to be kick and kick again. His passing game last week looked as though he was trying to injure our players with bullet passes more about playing it out than the intended targets. Turn them around as stoppages will be minimal as the NRL nurse there product through the final with the help of the refs finals interpretation of the rules. We need to tire them out before they do it to us

DCe to kick all day, give some early ball to harper or oka and to back up. Leave the game handling and attack to foran , tom and walker , and we might just be better

Its time dce defined his role in the team better due to the options we have and his strengths and weakness. If we could get dce to kick all day like reynolds and to think of very little else we could win the lot but we need to pesist for longer than 10 minutes each week . Then the chase game might also be alert

 

[Rafferty]

The difference as I see it is we have a lot of young players who have never experienced the intensity of a finals game , and especially going first up against one of the “ big two”.

So I still think it’ll be a rabbit pulling , and whilst you and I know they are beatable think about these young kids and what’ll be going through their heads.

Are we good enough , of course.

But there’s still the mental battle to win as well.

The mental battle part is why I mentioned being happy to hear the change in Des‘s open communication re we are good enough and definitely have the points in us to beat anyone.

Furthermore why I finished with the self belief part, think like a winner, play like a winner, it’s powerful stuff and the youth don’t really care for reputations anyway, if you told me when I was young I couldn’t do something, I’d be on a mission to prove you wrong, youth is a wonderful thing to overcome the odds and or any mental self belief issues.

Our boys can do it and will if they commit to the process and stay focus on the self belief aspect, while I acknowledge it’s finals football as well as our lack of experience, if you strip it down it’s still really just another game of football, we’ve learnt how to win, we know how to win, we have serval advantage points, so play to our strengths, run their ageing pack around and play football, just play our brand of football and not there’s, they’ed be happy for us to get in the grind where they possibly have the mental edge with their seasoned pack and the style of game they play.

For some strange reason, I’m not nervous or feel like we can’t win, in fact it’s the exact opposite, I feel like we‘ll go into this game full of self belief and do the job, can’t wait, thinking any other way is just not an option for me anyway, I’ll stay solid, we have the game to beat them.

 

[The Who]

Regardless of how we go in the finals I have been surprised and delighted by making the top four. I am ecstatic that we are playing the brand of exciting football that I have witnessed from the great Manly teams of the past. We have totally transformed our backline play and are, arguably, the NRL's most entertaining team to watch.
I'm gratefully for the efforts of all those closely associated with the club who have restored the pride in our performances.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

I would suspect if we looked at the games stats without tom we might be in bronco, cowboys and doggies territory

But why? He's played 15 games. He's fit at the moment. Life is good.
I think its becoming disrespectful to the team as a whole now that so many keep saying we only win because Tom is there.
Fact is we have the best rugby league player in the world right now playing the best football possibly ever seen so of course he is key to our success. Thing is thou he can't win matches by himself so as a team we win.

 

[StuBoot]

But why? He's played 15 games. He's fit at the moment. Life is good.
I think its becoming disrespectful to the team as a whole now that so many keep saying we only win because Tom is there.
Fact is we have the best rugby league player in the world right now playing the best football possibly ever seen so of course he is key to our success. Thing is thou he can't win matches by himself so as a team we win.

Yep, it's the sum of the parts.
All doing their jobs and doing them well, they know Tom can ice the cake.

Tom is the #1 player in the game right now.
DCE is just about in career best form.
Foz is born again.
Marty is in the top echelon of front rowers.
Jake is one of the first picked for Origin every year and playing like it.
Croker is tackling the house down and more than serviceable at dummy half.
Guac and Schu are having great debut seasons just doing what's needed.
The bench is doing it's job.
The wingers are finishing like it's expected.
The others I haven't mentioned by name are doing there jobs and that's all we need.

Just got to put it together all at once.

 

[##fanboy88]

Yep, it's the sum of the parts.
All doing their jobs and doing them well, they know Tom can ice the cake.

Tom is the #1 player in the game right now.
DCE is just about in career best form.
Foz is born again.
Marty is in the top echelon of front rowers.
Jake is one of the first picked for Origin every year and playing like it.
Croker is tackling the house down and more than serviceable at dummy half.
Guac and Schu are having great debut seasons just doing what's needed.
The bench is doing it's job.
The wingers are finishing like it's expected.
The others I haven't mentioned by name are doing there jobs and that's all we need.

Just got to put it together all at once.

Saab and Garrick has been playing like champs. Saab is just 20 year old we often forget that

 

[jbb/james]

But why? He's played 15 games. He's fit at the moment. Life is good.
I think its becoming disrespectful to the team as a whole now that so many keep saying we only win because Tom is there.
Fact is we have the best rugby league player in the world right now playing the best football possibly ever seen so of course he is key to our success. Thing is thou he can't win matches by himself so as a team we win.

I suppose i have one eye on the opponent this week. We played melb 5 weeks ago and while Tom had a real dig and his presence was felt its fair to say the storm handled tom as well as anyone.

From memory the storm had a number of top forwards out and with there return and the mystery of the refs its also fair to think we need to be less reliant on tom to progress


And i figure thats the stuff you talk about in the lead up to big games. Some people love the rainbows and unicorn approach and thats ok but my reason to be here is to engage in Footy dialogue and not to collect snippets for a scrap book

Yes we have been winning ugly but tom Has bought the team time to work on there own games, particulary those responsabile for getting the team around the park and that has been rocks and diamonds at best

some possible new nicknames for tom could be iron ore or china due to our unhealthy reliance on his contributions. Manly run a 2 speed economy wether we like it or not. Respect is earnt

Do i think the players will feel a lack of respect in the truth. I am doubtful the players look to here for anything tbh . But if it is the case isnt glossing over the truth and glorifying the average just as dentrimental And I wonder how they feel about the MVP thread as plenty of players bust a nut only to not register a vote as old favorites are enshrined in stone depite the contributions. So in other words thats a big fat no from me. In fact its a pfffft

We can isolate small samples of data and say we are improving and we probably are but its a team game as you state, but isnt it time manly at least got on the front foot of a game without tom , even if he is playing. Imagine how dynamic he could be if he could chime in instead of having to clear the path every week

We have the number 1 player and he is great to watch and enjoy . Everytime tom is out or nulified our backline grinds to a halt. Apparently that was sirros fault but he has played bugger all

Hate the chooks but have to admire them this season . No excuses, do your job And players fit into the roles.

 

[Ryan]

Just looking at the Full regular season table and can you believe we scored 744 points?

744 points scored is amazing.

All season have been looking at the F/A and because we started so poor in this first 4 rounds ( 151 points conceded it believe) its been good but not great but its only when you consider the amount of points scored that you realise just how lucky we have been this year to watch something quite special.

Now yes the Storm have over 800 and souths also just piped us but jeez we have done good.

Compare 2021 to our 2020 campaign of 375 scored and you can see just how much the squad has improved with the likes of Foran, saab, shoe and Guac just to name a few....

I stand and salute you boys. Bloody amazing to be siting in 4th. Awesome 👌

Remember this season silvertails. Regardless of how much further we go in this years competition we have been witness to something so special it will be talked about for decades to come.

Remember when Shaun Lane was our top try scorer with 7, or 9 or something?

 

[The Right Edge]

If you guys want to mull over stats have a browse here The Rugby League Eye Test - Nothing beats the Eye Test. Inconsequential statistics about the NRL and rugby league

Not sure if the site has been posted in the past but if you are struggling to find things to do during lockdown or even bookmark it for when there is no footy in the offseason. Some interesting stats.