Croker Experiment OVER!

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Strange that jakes absence hasnt been talked about more as first receiver and link man. It had some impact on frogs rhythm yesterday , due to his absence no one stepped into the void of moving the team about and the forwards were one out

the reliance on jake to take so many creative middle plays has pushed dce wider and he needs to take more of that slack while jake is out, as the forwards one out are easy to handle. Losing the link man did no favours for either players game yesterday . Frog or chez

manly will look best if frog is a bench player covering halves, hooker and back row utility but

foran and croker represent the best value spine players in the game. If we started from scratch with those first 2 and there salaries and recruited from there we would be a far stronger team

manly have invested in cherry for 3 more years. This pretty much means we need to recruit

a top 9
develop shoe into a top 6 very quickly
hope tom stays injury free because that's what that recruitment decision means for us fans . Dce needs all of these positions functioning at high kevels before his special skills shine

my conclusion, dce stays, frog goes, from hooker anyway
big froggy fan though
Great point about Jake 👍
 
I don't see Croker as a 14, I want my bench players making impact.

If he was to be in the 17 with a more creative hooker I'd have him playing the first 20 to take the sting out of the match then subbing off
 
Ooooft some fire in this thread.

Many that have come in to bat for Croker are right. He has improved greatly, he is whole hearted and his defence is fantastic.

Ultimately though Snake is correct, in that is, if we are looking at premierships as our goal we need better output out of the 9 jersey (yes yes along with plenty of improvement elsewhere).

I stated in the threads after Fainu's conviction my two preferred options and they are.

Either speak to Peter Mauzolus at Souths about 2023. I believe he is under contract but if they re-sign Cook then we may angle him for a release.

Great young talent. Have both under contract with Croker given the respect of starting the year at 9 but the expectation that the role becomes Mouzolus's long term.

Or failing that, come Nov1 lets talk to Reece Robson for 2024......underrated player imo and a good upgrade for us.

Robson isn’t underrated anymore. He won’t be leaving Nth Qld, especially for Manly. Thanks for naming some names though.

Anyway, the main issue with Snake’s point is that he doesn’t like Croker because he used to be a 5/8. He wants a hooker who isn’t makeshift, they need to have played hooker all of their lives. Snake wouldn’t play Ben Hunt at hooker for Qld because he’s a halfback for the Dragons. It’s an absurd argument, Damien Cook was a fullback in lower grades, even Fainu played in the halves as a junior. Cam Smith was a halfback before joining Melbourne.

With all the money tied up with the big 3, you’re not going to land Reece Robson, Brandon Smith, Cook, Grant, Api. Reed Mahoney is earning over 600k at the Dogs. JMK has been great, but he’s also a makeshift hooker and isn’t better than Croker.

If we aren’t going to compete with Croker at hooker, or someone of similar capability then they’re going to have to have a huge shake up with the top tier contracts, because you’re going to have to pay up massively to land a big fish.

Mamouzelous is contracted until the end of 2024, Cook will be 33/34 by then. They probably see him as the heir apparent.
 
Mamouzelous is contracted until the end of 2024, Cook will be 33/34 by then. They probably see him as the heir apparent.

They no doubt do but whether he and his manager are willing to sit in reserves 2 more years...
 
Not as skilful however his kicking game is a plus. But could see him also doing a nik kosef role of starting at 6 for 25 before resting a 9. Then schuster eased on A bit

surely now the waiting for manase as a recruitment strategy is done
 
My thoughts are Croker has come on so much and is now a decent option at 9.

But fact is that he is really good enough.

Why didnt we make a play for Verrills???? Api was looking for a team, we werent interested.

Erin Clark at the Titans would of been a good option but he re-signed.

Best option now might be someone like Ben Marschke from the Chooks, but he hasnt played first grade this year, however was good when i saw him last year.
 
My thoughts are Croker has come on so much and is now a decent option at 9.

But fact is that he is really good enough.

Why didnt we make a play for Verrills???? Api was looking for a team, we werent interested.

Erin Clark at the Titans would of been a good option but he re-signed.

Best option now might be someone like Ben Marschke from the Chooks, but he hasnt played first grade this year, however was good when i saw him last year.
Someone mentioned some time back that Verrills wouldn’t play for Manly. If true, it presumably has something to do with his brother’s death.

Not having a CEO for much of the season didn’t help. Based on the jersey fiasco, Wolman was an ‘Interim CEO’ with the emphasis on ‘Interim’. Looks like he didn’t do anything, other than show up at games sporting a Manly scarf.
 
So……..we go from one game from a GF to this ****fight, and you want to blame the bloke who has made the most tackles for the team for the year. Then , after running backwards tackling his guts out makes it to nearly every play at dummy half for the next set over and over for eighty minutes. Maybe the issue might be elsewhere Snake, i reckon you should give yourself a month for this thread ya dope. Go find us some front rowers that don't go on strike.
 
I’m a big Croker fan, but accept his limitations. The thing is, if every other player was as dedicated and got as much out of their ability as Croker does, we would be having a far different season. For mine, you could replace Croker with a Robson type and it wouldn’t move the needle performance wise unless others improve their attitude and desire to win football games.
 
Matt Ballin was great, and all we needed at that time. The game has evolved mate, that type of 9 is no longer adequate
That's the thing - Des is still operating off his 2004- 2013 game plan with only minor tweaks.
 
I’m a big Croker fan, but accept his limitations. The thing is, if every other player was as dedicated and got as much out of their ability as Croker does, we would be having a far different season. For mine, you could replace Croker with a Robson type and it wouldn’t move the needle performance wise unless others improve their attitude and desire to win football games.
All good points.

Bit of a chicken egg type situation at the moment. Croker would look fine in a gun team...but we don't have a gun team, so Froggy's weaknesses are under the microscope given it's an important position.
 
Matt Ballin was great, and all we needed at that time. The game has evolved mate, that type of 9 is no longer adequate
You summed it up there Pete . Well said feathered friend !

Since Matt Ballin the game has changed

And so has the the dynamic power play of a influential game changer number 9
 
I feel like the fact we were “one game away from a grandfinal” last year is really going to hinder us..
It’s a Band-Aid season that everyone is going to hang their hat on as the reason to argue this team isn’t a total basket case..

Here’s a little fact.. in 2008 the eels came 11th
In 2009 off the back of an absolute freakish year from Hayne they made the grandfinal…
In 2010? 12th
In 2011? 14th
2012? Wooden spoon
2013? Wooden spoon..

That team was garbage.. but they rode 1 absolute freak to a grandfinal 1 year so they must have been a good team right???

Manly rode into the finals on the back of turbo having an absolute freak year… I will bet my left one on the fact Tom won’t ever have a season that dominant again…

Hayne never did after 09
Barba never did after 2012
Tom is a great player but it won’t happen again..

So we need to stop saying “we nearly made a grandfinal that one time so we don’t need to fix the glaring issues with this team” and actually start fixing the issues.. and hooker has been an absolute major issue for us since we let api go… we need a hooker.. a proper hooker.. not a half that couldn’t hack it and gets slotted at 9 because he have no other options.
 
I feel like the fact we were “one game away from a grandfinal” last year is really going to hinder us..
It’s a Band-Aid season that everyone is going to hang their hat on as the reason to argue this team isn’t a total basket case..

Here’s a little fact.. in 2008 the eels came 11th
In 2009 off the back of an absolute freakish year from Hayne they made the grandfinal…
In 2010? 12th
In 2011? 14th
2012? Wooden spoon
2013? Wooden spoon..

That team was garbage.. but they rode 1 absolute freak to a grandfinal 1 year so they must have been a good team right???

Manly rode into the finals on the back of turbo having an absolute freak year… I will bet my left one on the fact Tom won’t ever have a season that dominant again…

Hayne never did after 09
Barba never did after 2012
Tom is a great player but it won’t happen again..

So we need to stop saying “we nearly made a grandfinal that one time so we don’t need to fix the glaring issues with this team” and actually start fixing the issues.. and hooker has been an absolute major issue for us since we let api go… we need a hooker.. a proper hooker.. not a half that couldn’t hack it and gets slotted at 9 because he have no other options.
Hayne won Dally M player of the year in 2014 , Tied with Thurston.
 

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