Can Manly win the 2024 Premiership after beating the 3 time Premiers Penrith at Brookie today?

[Status Quo]

"Only if they maintain the level of footy they played today, not the rubbish they played against the Dragons last week"
The Warriors next week in NZ will be another test of Manly's Premiership capabiities.
If Manly play 'hot n cold' in 2024 they'll be lucky to make the Top 8.

Congrats to DCE on his Record Breaking 310 1st Grade games, he is now one of my official "Super Heroes"

 

[CRPSI eagle]

I think with Lodge fully fit, Saab fully fit, Bullemore in for Ben T and Garrick back to wing I think we are a chance.

 

[Red Baron]

Hard to say… I wanted Cleary to play today so I could further analyse where we are at. If we beat Warriors, we are definitely top 6 contenders. Time will tell feathered friend.

 

[Rackets]

We need better wingers. Saab is fine but geez I have little faith in Paulo and Talau. Both are not strong runners of the football on return kicks and suspect under the high ball.

 

[HK_Eagle]

I think with Lodge fully fit, Saab fully fit, Bullemore in for Ben T and Garrick back to wing I think we are a chance.

I'm not sure that Bully over BenT adds anything, but the rest I totally agree with.

 

[Frogz]

I think with Lodge fully fit, Saab fully fit, Bullemore in for Ben T and Garrick back to wing I think we are a chance.

who are your centres?

 

[danny-boy]

Not yet premiership contenders we still have a lot of things we need to fix up but there is potential.

 

[XV-1]

We need to bring our best and worst performances closer together.
That translates to better consistency, week in week out.

We certainly have enough talent if the injury gods look kindly on us.

 

[frank stokes]

We need better wingers. Saab is fine but geez I have little faith in Paulo and Talau. Both are not strong runners of the football on return kicks and suspect under the high ball.

I think Paulo has scope to become a decent asset… not convinced on Talau but he did look very good when he was at the tigpies…

Oh… and yes we can win… or we could miss finals…

Team needs to put less distance between our good performances and our bad performances which will build confidence and give us a chance of believing we can win our way through the finals…

I have no doubt that there is the makings of a very good football team wearing maroon and white and I am absolutely amazed that Luke Brooks (a guy I did not rate as a player for the better part of a decade) is the reason our team looks an actual premiership contender now… he might not do it himself but he gives us real strike power on either side of the ruck and he engages the line so well…

 

[Seagles68]

I think with Lodge fully fit, Saab fully fit, Bullemore in for Ben T and Garrick back to wing I think we are a chance.

Who do you have playing centre?

 

[Dion Johnson]

Hard to say… I wanted Cleary to play today so I could further analyse where we are at. If we beat Warriors, we are definitely top 6 contenders. Time will tell feathered friend.

I would have liked panthers at full strength, without Cleary their attack was off, they get most of there points with there ruck speed like the first try today.

 

[Dion Johnson]

Still lots of improvement in this squad, they are a chance but it’s round 5 and injuries can smash any chance of winning.

The left side attack would function better with Garrick back on the wing there.

 

[LeonardCohen]

Great win and nice to beat Penrith after 8 straight losses against them. We’ve beaten two of bogey teams this year (Panthers/Souths). However, that was not Penrith at their best. They were a bit flatter than usual and playing them with Cleary at a neutral venue in a final, is a whole new kettle of fish. Still you gotta build from somewhere and beating the best under any circumstances is satisfying.

 

[DanielTurbo888]

If we have our full strength team come finals time I believe that we can destroy the best of them on our day.

Tom Trbojevic​

Jason Saab​

Tolutau Koula​

Ben Trbojevic​

Reuben Garrick​

Luke Brooks​

Daly Cherry-Evans​

Taniela Paseka​

Lachlan Croker​

Josh Aloiai​

Haumole Olakau'atu​

Corey Waddell​

Jake Trbojevic​

Karl Lawton​

Nathan Brown​

Toafofoa Sipley​

Matthew Lodge​

Joshua Schuster ????? ​

​

A bit light in the second row dept and Lawton is needed to swap with Croker.

Bullemor can always force his way into the team with good form.

 

[IQofalimabean]

we have to make the top 8 first.

 

[skull61]

No too inconsistent

 

[Rafferty]

I would have liked panthers at full strength, without Cleary their attack was off, they get most of there points with there ruck speed like the first try today.

I‘m pretty happy he wasn’t, I get your thought process, but we needed to win today, extremely important for our season and the confidence gained from toady is a massive plus.

Big test to back up next week against another quality side away, hopefully we can reproduce this type of performance, build some momentum and cement our position in the 8.

 

[frank stokes]

No too inconsistent

Relax… we are just 5 games into the season…

Plenty of time to iron out the creases and we have played a lot of the hard sides in the first 5 weeks… even the WIN stadium game is a bogey game for us…

 

[Dion Johnson]

I‘m pretty happy he wasn’t, I get your thought process, but we needed to win today, extremely important for our season and the confidence gained from toady is a massive plus.

Big test to back up next week against another quality side away, hopefully we can reproduce this type of performance, build some momentum and cement our position in the 8.

I think there is more gears in this team, if they have learned the lesson of not showing up with energy they will beat the Warriors.

It’s a very good pack that can get stronger with Lodge and a fit Schuster.

 

[HoldenV8]

Really, you're asking this after a Round 5 win over Penrith in which they were missing their chief play maker and lost their other one halfway through the 2nd half??

Way too early for premiership predictions.