Defence

It is the wingers job to time his run and leap to where the ball is coming down .... not where he hopes or would like it to be ...

The notion that the kicker is in any way responsible for the wingers success at catching the ball baffles me ... I know the response I would have gotten from Ray Ritchie or biscuits if I had used that excuse ...

Zac Lomax turns ordinary kicks into pay dirt every week ...

PSS ... Thanks for your kind words ....
Sincerely happy to see you back Woodsie.....and I totally agree with your point, the catch should be made regardless of where it comes down......my point I probably expressed poorly, was the Manly attack in the red zone, the kicks are always "off" too far/wide/short and Saab regularly makes the grab, but is not in a position to plant the ball down, if the kicks were more on point, would be rewarded with more tries as the the preying mantis like Saab would cash in with better service and this would become another option than the "in vogue" shift with backdoor plays to 2nd runners, which seems our only real weapon near the line.
To take it a step further while on the talk of attacking on the line, would like to see a rampaging Oka (from the deep) running unders lines at an iscolated half, or being dropped under near the line.....our forward seem to flat when near the line and we have big men, I feel off say a Harry Grant type who can engage the ruck defence - Paseka, Oka, Sipley would be scoring far more regularly
 
It is the wingers job to time his run and leap to where the ball is coming down .... not where he hopes or would like it to be ...

The notion that the kicker is in any way responsible for the wingers success at catching the ball baffles me ... I know the response I would have gotten from Ray Ritchie or biscuits if I had used that excuse ...

Zac Lomax turns ordinary kicks into pay dirt every week ...

PSS ... Thanks for your kind words ....
Yeah welcome back, missed ya bigtime
 
Saab regularly makes the grab

^ this is the point we disagree on ... he is as often no where near the ball, or completely stuffs up his timing and leap imo ... he gets the odd good one, and does something useful with it ... but Tommy T is way better, as is Lehi.

But as I said, I believe he is better than useful when the ball is coming directly towards him in defence, not so much when coming from the side or overhead
 
For the record mate, while I'm having a go at recruitment, I'm also arguing against myself here, in that I actually think we already have the tools at the club (barring maybe ONE speedster at prop), to make things more competitive for us:

1. Jake Simpkin needs to be hooker, simple as that. Almost a 70% win record at Hooker with us (very shortsample size), versus Croker who sits in the 40's.

2. Caleb Navale should be in the 12 or 13 jersey. Has the leg speed. Has the intensity. Just needs to be mature enough to carry that from week to week, but we've nurtured him slowly, and really embraced the kid, so I think he could do it.

3. One of Tommy Talau (Dene Halatau type role) or Jake Arthur should be in the other backrow / lock spot. That automatically makes us MUCH more agile, especially defensively.

4. Ethan Bullemor is our starting prop. He makes more impact than almost all of our forwards barring maybe Olakau'atu. Forget contract values, time for us to make footballing decisions that improve the team.

08. Taniela Paseka
09. Jake Simpkin
10. Ethan Bullemor
11. Haumole Olakau'atu
12. Tommy Talau
13. Caleb Navale

And then Jake Trbojevic, Jazz Tevaga, Corey Waddell, Josh Aloiai, Lachlan Croker, Nathan Brown, Siosiua Taukeiaho, Toff Sipley, Michael Chee Kam, Chris Patolo, Ben Trbojevic can fight it out for the last 4 spots. My selection would be:

14. Jazz Tevaga (could play forward or hooker)
15. Josh Aloiai
16. Siosiua Tuakeiaho
17. Chris Patolo

I've left some fan favorites out there I get it. But we NEED to change. Siebold has come 12th and 7th so far, and in my view, that's un-Manly like despite the club (and some fans) praising ourselves.

For the record, our backline is blue-chip.
I've said it before but I really disagree about Bullemor in the starting side. He's smaller and faster which is much more suited to the later periods after the bash and barge phase is over. I agree that his impact is excellent but I think being on the bench is a significant factor behind why that is the case.
 

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