Biggest area for concern

[maxta]

I have no idea what hallucinagenics some of you are on .... or what you think Manly and every other team do at training ... other than continual backline plays in the attacking quarter ... designed to do nothing other than to create an overlap and put a defence in two minds ...

On at least 5 occasions every game .. every centre in the comp is asked to make a split second decision .... if they get it correct 70% of the time then they are ahead of the curve .... and here is the big tip ... it is also how we score tries ... it is how every team score tries ... and how every team lets tries in ....

Why some are still amazed or get upset by it baffles me ..... and I have bad news for you .... either Suli, Jorge, Rubes or Dylan will be asked to make split second decisions again this week ... and they are not likely to get them all correct .... but either is any other centre or winger in the competition .....

and ... PSS ... a large percentage of the defensive breakdown occurs at the ruck or on the edge .. and the centre is simply where the crack appears obvious ...

Agree with your summary Woodsie - though will maintain your outside defender should not cross the defensive line of his inside defender - the defensive decisions inside should dictate when the outside player comes in, not the other way around....which does give the merit to your call about the edges who are inside again....once this area is crippled, the outside defenders can be made to wear plenty of unfair criticism based on poor defensive work inside and yes - every team is vulnerable to all of the above.

 

[HappilyManly]

Well Manly held their defensive line up to week 9 thus year with Des as their Coach

We were all commenting on this fact and that most tries against us were from kicks because our line held

 

[Woodsie]

100% correct, Hiku used to get left stranded on his wing constantly and got bagged every week for it when Lyon would rush in

Old mate ... it first happened when Dally Messenger first attacked the open side in 1908 .... and it has happened at least 4 times every game since for ... the past 111 years ...

 

[Woodsie]

Agree with your summary Woodsie - though will maintain your outside defender should not cross the defensive line of his inside defender - the defensive decisions inside should dictate when the outside player comes in, not the other way around....which does give the merit to your call about the edges who are inside again....once this area is crippled, the outside defenders can be made to wear plenty of unfair criticism based on poor defensive work inside and yes - every team is vulnerable to all of the above.

Agree on all technicalties ... but there are so many variables ... such as relative speeds of different defenders and attackers ... the width between players ... the angles run ... depth of players and fullback .... with up to 5/7 attackers and defenders all in motion 10m out from the line and at speed ... a centre or winger has a fraction of a second to commit .... whilst many situations look the same the above variables add an element of uniqueness to each .....

Most coaches will be happy if a player gets it right 70-80% of the time ....

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Old mate ... it first happened when Dally Messenger first attacked the open side in 1908 .... and it has happened at least 4 times every game since for ... the past 111 years ...

Hope you were sending correspondence into the newspapers back in 1908 when Dally was doing it

 

[Snake]

80% of the time the shut down plays from taufua rushing up works, he’s just got to keep improving at decision making and he’ll be fine. Agree with Walks, he should probably be replaced by Parker (who was great in defence earlier this season).

Cust is going fine, think we are a bit padantic atm.

Cust is not going fine in defence...he is trained not to turn his shoulders in. Go back and see how he turned in on Reynolds even though Thompson had him covered and then had to turn out when Reynolds hit Britt.

Walker is an easy target because he is a dick head but he didn’t leak any points on the weekend.

 

[mave]

Walker is an easy target because he is a dick head but he didn’t leak any points on the weekend.

Except for the offside penalties that led directly to points, twice from memory, both on the 4th or 5th tackle.

 

[Woodsie]

Agree with your summary Woodsie - though will maintain your outside defender should not cross the defensive line of his inside defender - the defensive decisions inside should dictate when the outside player comes in, not the other way around....which does give the merit to your call about the edges who are inside again....once this area is crippled, the outside defenders can be made to wear plenty of unfair criticism based on poor defensive work inside and yes - every team is vulnerable to all of the above.

The other factor is the notion that people have ... is that if the centre didn't rush up .. no try would have been scored ... this is folly ... generally a centre or winger will rush up because in that split second they have determined that in all likelihood ... a try will eventuate if they don't .. ...

 

[The better Robbo]

Agree on all technicalties ... but there are so many variables ... such as relative speeds of different defenders and attackers ... the width between players ... the angles run ... depth of players and fullback .... with up to 5/7 attackers and defenders all in motion 10m out from the line and at speed ... a centre or winger has a fraction of a second to commit .... whilst many situations look the same the above variables add an element of uniqueness to each .....

Most coaches will be happy if a player gets it right 70-80% of the time ....

The problem with walker he is making the wrong call on more occasions than not. Agree he has not been helped from the inside but he is still too often caught out of position. Not sure if he has a lack of communication or just straight up bad reads in defence but he definitely needs to work hard on this as other teams will really start totarget him.

 

[The better Robbo]

Except for the offside penalties that led directly to points, twice from memory, both on the 4th or 5th tackle.

Agree. To say walker never leaked any points on the wknd baffles me. I must have watched a different game 😉

 

[Snake]

Except for the offside penalties that led directly to points, twice from memory, both on the 4th or 5th tackle.

Yeah he indirectly caused points. I’m not happy with his game at the moment either but the edge concerns in D are not Walker’s reads.

 

[Snake]

Agree. To say walker never leaked any points on the wknd baffles me. I must have watched a different game 😉

You know I’m referring to the defensive structures not the penalties so your little wink doesn’t make a lot of sense?!

 

[Snake]

The problem with walker he is making the wrong call on more occasions than not. Agree he has not been helped from the inside but he is still too often caught out of position. Not sure if he has a lack of communication or just straight up bad reads in defence but he definitely needs to work hard on this as other teams will really start totarget him.

I know for a fact that Cust caused that Britt try. Go back and watch it. Thompson is right in front of Reynolds and Cust turns his shoulders in on Reynolds, meaning the ball player knows that the edge runner can hit Cust’s outside shoulder and be too strong because he is now off balance and running at the weaker outside shoulder.

You could try and make a case that if Cust turns in, Walker should shut down the lead runner, but Cust never fully committed to Reynolds, he just turned his shoulders in, so to Walker, it looks like Cust is still in a position to take the lead runner...so you’ll see on the footage, Cust is caught halfway between coming in on Reynolds and staying out on Britt. It’s all on him.

He is only human and I’m don’t want to imply that he is not allowed to make an error, but to say that it was Walkers read flies in the face of how the team is coached to defend.

It’s easy to just blame Walker for the read and offer no analytical evidence to the contrary.

 

[brad]

I'm happy to give walker more time yet. 18 months ago he was talked about being the best centre in the game and could be very soon about to explode . (FOR the right reasons) . I think the spotlight is more on his Defense because his attack has been below standard and recon it's only time . We are still entrenched in the 8 , so no need to panic just yet .

 

[The better Robbo]

You know I’m referring to the defensive structures not the penalties so your little wink doesn’t make a lot of sense?!

Yes i know exactly what you meant and that was why i winked. It wasn't just his penalties that led to points but his left side defensive structures need addressing. As i mentioned before not sure if walker lacks communication with players inside him but he seems to be caught short alot! Im not sure walker has figured out when to rush up and when to hold. Seems like he just guesses and shoots up without any communication. I keep going back to Parker, when Parker is short he seems to make the right decision more often than not where walker seems to make the wrong decision more often than not. This suggests to me a lack of communication and a lack of being able to read the opposition's attack. Its not a coincidence that walker is found out on both sides of the field. I know he is an easy target but I believe alot of the criticism is valid

 

[HappilyManly]

Cust is not going fine in defence...he is trained not to turn his shoulders in. Go back and see how he turned in on Reynolds even though Thompson had him covered and then had to turn out when Reynolds hit Britt.

Walker is an easy target because he is a dick head but he didn’t leak any points on the weekend.

Walker's 2 offside penalties gifted them 4 points in our red zone

Cade is making rookie errors as he is just that.
Whilst Walker is an Oz Rep player with years' of experience and a Premiership 😎

 

[Bring back the.... Biff?]

Glad you've been able to forget Kikau's Riff 3 tries in 7 minutes at Brookie last year on our RHS

Walker and Parker were the turnstiles but fortunately Parker changed - now for Walker to do the same

So one game. Parker was atrocious. It was suli and parker getting hammered every game not walker

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Cust is not going fine in defence...he is trained not to turn his shoulders in. Go back and see how he turned in on Reynolds even though Thompson had him covered and then had to turn out when Reynolds hit Britt.

Walker is an easy target because he is a dick head but he didn’t leak any points on the weekend.

We should remember that we had all souffs points conceded in a short period of time. We cracked like we have so few this season and fell a bit out of our structures during this period. Sure he has leaked points before but imo he is fine. Without walker’s questionable defence he would be exposed every blue moon

I think we concede tge second fewest amount of tries in the comp. Just got to make sure we remain ruthless enough and composed to not crack like we did

 

[Shoe1]

Can we have some more detail on where cust’s shoulder was pointing? And its effect on walker’s positioning.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I have no idea what hallucinagenics some of you are on .... or what you think Manly and every other team do at training ... other than continual backline plays in the attacking quarter ... designed to do nothing other than to create an overlap and put a defence in two minds ...

On at least 5 occasions every game .. every centre in the comp is asked to make a split second decision .... if they get it correct 70% of the time then they are ahead of the curve .... and here is the big tip ... it is also how we score tries ... it is how every team score tries ... and how every team lets tries in ....

Why some are still amazed or get upset by it baffles me ..... and I have bad news for you .... either Suli, Jorge, Rubes or Dylan will be asked to make split second decisions again this week ... and they are not likely to get them all correct .... but either is any other centre or winger in the competition .....

and ... PSS ... a large percentage of the defensive breakdown occurs at the ruck or on the edge .. and the centre is simply where the crack appears obvious ...

Spoken like a true ex-winger!