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MK Eagle

Bencher
In a game I think Dogs deserved to win by more...

Shaky start - they called great Dogs defence but the Manly I seen attacking early looked nervous, unconfident & off their game.

2 distance tries against the run of play - the 1st a clanger from Whare, never let your winger outside let alone a centre, then also blocked Lyon from making the tackle. Barba try some brilliant counter attack.

T Rex set up 2 tries - imagine if he can actually run onto the ball. Ask Reynolds which T Rex was hardest to defend, the statue or the 1 that steamrolled him 8 metres??

Matai will be lucky to escape suspension as much we need him.

Dogs fowards were better on the night though I thought Watmough was massive. Need to aim up better here to give Foz/Dce that platform of time to create space & help the kicking game.

Matai show & go 76th min , Taufua scores & DCE needs conversion for golden point.

The Best factors - down on form by 20% & Dogs at their best yet only just fall short. Heres something good from a bad situation. Barba well contained & looked vulnerable after getting belted, the ball looked like a grenade as he ran away from it leaving it ALL to his wingers. Was -10 metres until he ran 20 for a try.

If we won & Matai gets 2 weeks which is likely he is out for season. Now if he gets 2 weeks he plays in the GF if we get there & yes - we need him.

This 2nd half habit of low intensity built over several weeks was evident.
 
There were plenty of chances to win that game but we looked to be going for the big try scoring plays rather than building pressure. DCE and Snake would both have some plays they would be happy to have over.

We didn't build pressure from restarts and at times looked a bit dis-organised.

If Lyon is okay we will still give it a tilt, probably the loss we needed - and since the finals system has been flipped we know we get another shot and get to play a queensland team in Sydney.

It could be a lot worse.
 
Completely disagree that the Dogs were at their very best, the were @ maybe 80%, the amount of dropped ball from both sides was awful. Dogs were more direct with their play, too often we were shallow or on a standing start.
 
voicefromthehill said:
Completely disagree that the Dogs were at their very best, the were @ maybe 80%, the amount of dropped ball from both sides was awful. Dogs were more direct with their play, too often we were shallow or on a standing start.
I'll put it this way VFTH - they were closer to their best than we were.
If they were at 80% we were at 60%.
The reason their were huge error rates were nerves & heavy collision, plus the fact there was so much lattitude in the ruck slowing the play the ball area. This effects the timing creating foward passes & dropped ball. The call on lack of direct play is spot on.
 
MK Eagle said:
voicefromthehill said:
Completely disagree that the Dogs were at their very best, the were @ maybe 80%, the amount of dropped ball from both sides was awful. Dogs were more direct with their play, too often we were shallow or on a standing start.
I'll put it this way VFTH - they were closer to their best than we were.
If they were at 80% we were at 60%.
The reason their were huge error rates were nerves & heavy collision, plus the fact there was so much lattitude in the ruck slowing the play the ball area. This effects the timing creating foward passes & dropped ball. The call on lack of direct play is spot on.

Yep 60% for us is on the money. Nerves may have been an issue, but nerves should settle - we just seemed distracted. I don't know what our game plan was but it appeared to be

1. Bash em, try and put them off their game
2. Bash em
3. Bash em

When that didn't work we got lost.

Like him or loathe him Gould was right when he said "Manly have practiced playing poorly in the second half"
 
Good thread. You guys have nailed it. Both teams were committed and extremely physical, but neither played well. The Berries took their chances. We blew 10 or more serious shots at tries.
 
Another factor was (dare I say it )..the battle of the fullbacks and centres.
In the first half Barba was content to catch and pass to avoid any heavy defence that would invariably come his way - I doubt he took a tackle at all, whereas Snake is such a integral part of our play that he conversely takes more tackles.
In the 2nd half when the game was there to be won, Snake was way more fatigued and while trying for the big plays just didn't quite get there, whereas Barba was as fresh as - the frick!
Please don't take this as a slight on Brett because he played his guts out, just my observations and opinion.
The battle of the centres...well ours was in the garage whilst their Jaguar was playing against a very willing Saab Turbo.
 
Speaking of Morris , has anyone else been surprised at his increase in size , strength and speed this year compared with last year ? For most of the year it has taken 2 and 3 defenders to stop his progress , he scored a try against the Tigers earlier in the year where he was held up by multiple players and his hand emerged to slam the ball down like The Incredible Hulk , in the Origin series he threw Inglis around in defence and flew through the air like Superman stopping Inglis in his tracks (albeit with the help of the goalpost). You have to "marvel" at his surprising improvements. I'm sure it's just the high tech facilities and the power of positive thinking . Having a coach who believes in you can apparently do these things .
 
I think the comments on 'direct play' are correct. We were far to lateral when near their line. Hense we got thrown over twice? Reminded me of the Newcastle game in Newcastle.
 
As the proud owner of a Saab 9-3 wagon, I'd take it over a Jag anyday.

Better engineering quality, despite that 20 years of Generic Motors ownership.
 

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