Blast from the Past

[Woodsie]

Without casting questions onto Blake who was special he played for 5 NRL sides yes? That says to me coaches must have been happy to let him move on then. Strange for a bloke that always had a go????

You have answered your own point ...... according to your wisdom , Blake would have been just fine if he had found just one good coach at one of those 5 clubs .... Blake was a sensation, but he had his faults, but he was good enough for someone to always believe he added value .... but all the Kings horses and all the coaches couldn't change his spots into stripes ....

Coaches are not magicians ..... they cannot instill desire if none exists, they cannot teach grit and mental toughness if none exists, and even the best of them know that while can make any player a better player ... they cannot make any player a good player ....

Believe it was all TB's fault if you want to .... but under Barrett, Tom Turbo, Paseka, Parker, Suli, Croker, Fainu, GoJetSki and Tanginoa all got a good chance ... ask yourself why Wright was different ......

... and EofL ... it is okay to have a hatred of someone .... but try to be rational ....

 

[Shoe1]

There isn’t even an argument to be had. Blake forced his way into a star studded manly team at age 18, scored well over 100 tries and played a grand final. He had a career of about 15 years in first grade.

He bounced back from being dropped at manly to become arguably souths best ever 5/8 in a period where they were a pretty tough team.

Wright struggled to get out of under 20s / reserve grade at a time when manly was a spoon contender.

 

[Shoe1]

Blake also starred in a tv commercial, and went on to become a respected union coach.

His time in and out of the game puts him in an echelon that t wright could only dream of. Wright may well play for the wallabies because he is talented and suits union. He likely wouldn’t have been a star in league.

 

[Shoe1]

Blake aged 19 going great in the major semi v parra.

Interesting game. Well worth watching. Crusher on fire, Schubert goes good, Cronin lots of mistakes. Sterling doesn’t outplay Blake.

Blake kicks us out of trouble in the second half.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

I guess your right.

TB took all those players listed to a new exciting level during his time at the Seaeagles.

They all got their chance, over and over and over and over....

Parker has been slated on here more times than I can list, suli has his own highlights piss take thread, paseka just plodded about, croker was a revelation, Tom stagnated under him and could have been so much better by now and let's look at Hastings what a great leader had had in TB.

Anyway for 3 years I called out Trent as incompetent and out of his depth and at the end if the day that was the case.

I also believe that if Wright had have been given a proper chance and some guidance he could have gone ok but we will never know.

 

[midsteyne]

Just wondering how a man can apparently run a rural property and still appear to be so ummm...large.

He was a nugget when he played

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

He now looks like the Holtermann nugget.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

A 1978 article about a young Fatty Vautin - republished on NRL site

"Long before his successful television career, Paul Vautin was a star for Manly, Queensland and Australia during a stellar playing career in Sydney.

Before that he was a young tearaway for Wests in the Brisbane competition. His decision to move to Sydney to play for Manly wasn't easy to make. But it more than paid off for the man known as Fatty..."

read more at
https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/01/10/the-humility-that-drove-paul-vautin-on-the-path-to-greatness/

 

[Harvies elbow]

I have that article in a scrapbook.
I didn't expect the tackling machine that we got.
I thought he'd be a hole running type attacking player.
One of our best the fat...

 

[globaleagle]

Knowing Vautin's potential, his talent and his determination to succeed, I don't think we will ever see Vautin on Lang Park again, unless he is wearing a blue jersey or green and gold. That's our only chance of seeing him 'live' again and it's a very BIG chance.

S'funny to be reminded sometimes that SOO wasn't always the SOO we now know.

 

[manly al]

Actually recall reading an article about Arko "s take on recruiting a young Fatty from Brisbane Wests and after him watching a few video clips of Fatty playing in the Brisbane comp . He initially thought that he was just mainly a solid and reliable defender but then saw him score a great individual try through the opponents - Valleys top line forward defence and then easily beat their rep full back"s attempted tackle . There can be many things mentioned about Fatty "s career but not that he lacked any good natural speed for a back rower . That was one of the main reasons that Arko eventually signed him up apparently

 

[HappilyManly]

Fatty was as committed to Manly as 2v then became and now Jakey is.

Even in losing games, Fatty gave 100%

Great Clubman

 

[Woodsie]

S'funny to be reminded sometimes that SOO wasn't always the SOO we now know.

No, SOO has always been SOO and before that it was never SOO it was NSW V QLD which wasn't SOO it was something else, that was different to SOO and not the same ...

 

[globaleagle]

ah shuddup

 

[The '47ers]

Doesn't get much better than a Qld eagle!

 

[Stuey Davis’s Socks]

Still have my old Wormald jersey with Fatty's number 8 on the back - great player

 

[manlyfan76]

https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/01/10/the-humility-that-drove-paul-vautin-on-the-path-to-greatness/

Check out the red shorts, you can see why they called him fatty.

 

[Stuey Davis’s Socks]

Just wondering how a man can apparently run a rural property and still appear to be so ummm...large.

Swallowing sheep?

 

[Scorpio]

https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/01/10/the-humility-that-drove-paul-vautin-on-the-path-to-greatness/

Check out the red shorts, you can see why they called him fatty.
View attachment 10518

Later referenced in the high-brow Footy Show TV segment, "Crack a fatty"...

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

Its crazy to see how the body types have changed in footy. Fatty was tough as nails and a great player but there was a reason he got that name.... just wish some of the 'machines' in today's game had the same desire instead of relying on what God gave them body wise.