Des should cancel Training this afternoon and have the players sit around and read Phil Rothfield blog Powderpuff Sea Eagles lack punch THE Manly Sea Eagles forward pack has gone from NRL premiers to powderpuffs in less than two seasons.ss100% In Saturday night’s loss to the Canberra Raiders, Des Hasler had his 2008 engine room on the field _ apart from Shane Rodney replacing Glenn Hall and Jason King starting for Brent Kite. So how has a pack that demolished Storm 40-blot in a grand final gone off the boil so quickly and so dramatically? How can Josh Perry and Brent Kite put their hands out for their pay packets this week? They were appalling against the Raiders and wouldn’t have hurt a netball team. But the big mystery is what’s happened to Anthony Watmough. This time last year he was rated the No.1 forward in the world. On Saturday night he looked like a NSW Cup back-rower. He threw an intercept that led to a try, missed a crucial tackle that allowed a try and that came directly after he dropped a ball to gift the Raiders possession. A lesser player would have been hooked. The statistics on Watmough’s form and fall from grace are quite alarming. He’s making half as many tackle busts as last year and his metres gained are down by 20 per cent. It’s only a matter of weeks since the Sea Eagles were touted as potential premiers after drubbing grand final favourites St George Illawarra at Brookvale. On Saturday night’s performance they’ll be flat out making the top eight. Des Hasler is fast running out of time to save the season. They’ve lost four of their past five. The last win was a lucky escape against the Rabbitohs at Brookvale three weeks ago. It’s an easy excuse to blame the season-long absence of attacking stars Brett Stewart and Wolfman Williams. But the truth is their problems start and finish in a forward pack where a handful of big names just aren’t turning up. http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/buzzwords/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/powderpuff_sea_eagles_lack_punch/ The players need to start turning up, maybe they can be embarrassed into playing for the full 80 minutes at their full potential
