Comment about our Defence

[Killer03]

On the commentary they made a very pertinent point, one I've been harking back to for years. And it was in the opening set of the 2nd half, it was along the lines of the 2011 GF winning team that would smash teams with their defence.

I loved that era of the Sea Eagles, teams would struggle to make 20m against us, and in that opening set of the 2nd half we absolutely punished them with them making 15m I think? It really set the tone for the next 20 to 25 mins.

Early days, but I'm liking what I'm seeing.

 

[sheridanstand78]

That first defensive set after half time, laid the platform for 15 minutes of dominance which got us further ahead and for some reason denied a try that puts us well away from the Roosters.

The Roosters are a very dangerous football team with so many attacking options and in general Manly defended them very well, the team is a work in progress and the attitude is spot on so far!

 

[Tomay]

All well and good until we get Klein, Cummins, Sutton or Atkins and they smash us with penalties for our efforts.

 

[Kalvin]

I do recall a few games last season (in particularly) the storm early in the season at brookvale where we physically dominated them.... the issue however was we were unable to back up this style of play week in week out and would usually be flat the week after...

In saying that we look much fitter this season so will be interesting to see if we can back up against the eels

 

[LeonardCohen]

I do recall a few games last season (in particularly) the storm early in the season at brookvale where we physically dominated them.... the issue however was we were unable to back up this style of play week in week out and would usually be flat the week after...

In saying that we look much fitter this season so will be interesting to see if we can back up against the eels

Yeah it’s hard to be ‘up’ with this style across a season. In saying that, Penrith have managed so it’s not impossible. In fact, it’s what has separated Penrith from the other teams in the last three years.

People go on about Cleary and what he does in attack but Penrith are a defensive powerhouse with quite a predictable and cautious attack. Even the GF comeback was all off the back of shape/set plays that came up trumps. It’s Penrith’s energy and intent that makes them a juggernaut. They turn up every week with the energy and attitude to compete.

 

[Eagle 1]

On the commentary they made a very pertinent point, one I've been harking back to for years. And it was in the opening set of the 2nd half, it was along the lines of the 2011 GF winning team that would smash teams with their defence.

I loved that era of the Sea Eagles, teams would struggle to make 20m against us, and in that opening set of the 2nd half we absolutely punished them with them making 15m I think? It really set the tone for the next 20 to 25 mins.

Early days, but I'm liking what I'm seeing.

They've done this in both games from the kickoffs in both halves, such a good way to start a half.

 

[Ranga]

I thought Nathan Brown setting the line speed, and the rest of the team following, was the key. I honestly thought he was past it, but he really has started strongly.

 

[HoldenV8]

Our defence needs a lot of work. But its only Round 2, we'll see improvements.

Just on this subject I looked at the NRL ladder and came up with 1–17 in both attack and defence, remembering that both the Titans and Tigers have only played one game each.

Attack:
Cowboys (64), Raiders (60), Sea Eagles (57), Dolphins (56), Eels (44), Rabbitohs (42), Sharks (41), Storm (38), Broncos (38), Warriors (38), Roosters (34), Knights (32), Dragons (28), Penrith (26), Bulldogs (14), Tigers (12), Titans (4)

Defence:
Sharks (18), Raiders (24), Storm (26), Panthers (28), Titans (28), Roosters (31), Tigers (32), Eels (34), Cowboys (38), Sea Eagles (38), Broncos (38), Dragons (42), Dolphins (43), Warriors (46), Knights (49), Bulldogs (51), Rabbitohs (64)

We've got the 3rd best attack with 9 tries scored plus 10 goals and 1 field goal kicked.
Taking out the one game only Titans and Tigers, we have equal 7th best defence, or conversely the equal 7th worse defence. We're middle of the road right now on D.

 

[HK_Eagle]

I thought Nathan Brown setting the line speed, and the rest of the team following, was the key. I honestly thought he was past it, but he really has started strongly.

He seemed to have copped a good hit on his first run yesterday, and I think it stung him a little. The next run (two plays later) he passed it off as I think he may have still been feeling it. I was happy to see him rise above it nonetheless and have a pretty good game from therein.

 

[Damien2812]

Our edge defence needs to improve throughout this season especially on Garricks and Paulo side. I get worried when teams attack that edge because most of the time it comes up trumps for them.

 

[bob dylan]

I thought Nathan Brown setting the line speed, and the rest of the team following, was the key. I honestly thought he was past it, but he really has started strongly.

Me too.

We are actually stinging opponents in defence. Even Brooks and Garrick have been hitting hard.

So far, so good.

 

[MissKate]

I think we look so much fitter which is obviously helping

 

[XV-1]

Our try line and edge defence is not good enough.
It's fine to be bashing the attacking team for a few sets, but consistency and doing it over and over is what separates us vs the real premiership favs.

If we can fix that we can go deep.

 

[Jay Eagle]

Our try line and edge defence is not good enough.
It's fine to be bashing the attacking team for a few sets, but consistency and doing it over and over is what separates us vs the real premiership favs.

If we can fix that we can go deep.

Teddy
Suaalli
Toupo
Manu
Smith
JWH
Collins
Young
Kearey
May
Wong
Walker
Tupanoia
Whyte
And the list goes on.. star studded attack and we kept them to 3 tries, 1 was pure luck and against the run of play the other 2 they basically score against any team in the comp.. it's not like they are mugs..
Our goal line D repelled them when needed.
And it's the up the middle bash up with all that energy that made sure the Roosters couldn't get into our red zone area in the first place..
Have a listen to the Roosters presser, Robinson states the Roosters were never in the game Manly controlled the match for the full 80 minutes, they hung in tough but at no point did he feel like the Roosters were winning that game.. and with the stars they have in their side that's the only reason they "hung in there".

Give the boys some credit, it's footy you hardly ever keep an opponent to zero, even if your playing the wooden spooners they are bound to get a try or two so let alone a competion favourite.

 

[XV-1]

Teddy
Suaalli
Toupo
Manu
Smith
JWH
Collins
Young
Kearey
May
Wong
Walker
Tupanoia
Whyte
And the list goes on.. star studded attack and we kept them to 3 tries, 1 was pure luck and against the run of play the other 2 they basically score against any team in the comp.. it's not like they are mugs..
Our goal line D repelled them when needed.
And it's the up the middle bash up with all that energy that made sure the Roosters couldn't get into our red zone area in the first place..
Have a listen to the Roosters presser, Robinson states the Roosters were never in the game Manly controlled the match for the full 80 minutes, they hung in tough but at no point did he feel like the Roosters were winning that game.. and with the stars they have in their side that's the only reason they "hung in there".

Give the boys some credit, it's footy you hardly ever keep an opponent to zero, even if your playing the wooden spooners they are bound to get a try or two so let alone a competion favourite.

We had 58% of possession.enough to win by 20+ at least. Yet Roosters had more line breaks than us with no ball.
One of our tries was off a lucky kick, another off a Roosters dropped ball.

Manly didn't really have to defend their line, yet still let in two soft tries close to our goaline in the first half. They were the only times Roosters were in our 20 and 2 tries scored.

As I said, we need to improve our goal line and edge D quite a bit to be competitive with the best

How do you think Roosters would have gone if they had 58% of the ball?.

 

[The Indian]

Our try line and edge defence is not good enough.
It's fine to be bashing the attacking team for a few sets, but consistency and doing it over and over is what separates us vs the real premiership favs.

If we can fix that we can go deep.

Yeah I agree - reckon if you split defence up into two parts: a) attitude/physicality and b) structure the first category ( intent/grunt) has been much improved and we've physically got on top of our opponents with aggression which is great to see. BUT in both games our opponents with very limited opportunities have been able to strip us for numbers on the edge quite easily and score simple tries just on the back of simple shape plays. So on that structure scale we've got work to do to match it with the top teams.

But the signs are very promising early in most other areas. Attack is really humming.