Defensive structures

[Brookie Bob]

A concerning element is how a few players appear to have regressed in terms of their defense over the last few years. Garrick has gone backwards since his arrival in 2019, Parker appears worse than last year, Foz missed 6 tackles (I believe), DCE missed 7 (I think). Gosiewski was ok till he got injured (hard to tackle with your right arm hanging uselessly at your side) - but he was a reputed defensive 'up in your face maniac' when he arrived at Manly. Not now. Jake made more than 40 tackles, but rarely drove them backwards, as he has done in the past. Marty Tapau used to scare opposition forwards, but no longer. Paseka has all the physical attributes to be a genuine enforcer, but isn't consistent in that role. Our forwards were actually bigger overall than the Roosters, at least in kgs and cms - but it didn't look like it in practice. Davey and Aloiai are the new kids in town, and played with the most aggression. Coincidence? I don't know.

I don't see the mongrel in our forwards, or backs, defensively. Defense and confidence are strongly linked - what is sapping the confidence of these guys?

 

[Brookie Bob]

T

Great post , welcome Bob

Thanks Mark - I've been reading the banter on here with some amusement for some time now. Did you ever post on OEE?

 

[Simonmyers11]

i think its the way to defend in the modern game. Chooks, melbourne and penrith do it very well, but they also have very good structure when they do it. they number up, and have the pace to slide and cover and generally dont miss too many one on one tackles. In saying that, its not perfect. Souths still got Melbourne back pedaling on occasions and ran in some good edge tries as they have very good components of sucking defenders in and stripping them for numbers. Trick is to move up first and cut down opposition time, not a rushing defense which was horrible last year, just first movement should be all up together and slide as one while numbering up. Foran and Parker were like they were stuck in mud. The try when they just easily ran around Parker was laughable

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Send Terry Randall in. Punch a few of the lads out, starting with Jake and Marty. Warn them he will be back to mete out more punishment if they don’t switch on and buck the f-ck up.

That is all.

 

[The Who]

Send Terry Randall in. Punch a few of the lads out, starting with Jake and Marty. Warn them he will be back to mete out more punishment if they don’t switch on and buck the f-ck up.

That is all.

More practically, let's put the Workers team against the Eagles team in opposed training sessions.
The Workers would more than hold their own.

 

[frank stokes]

More practically, let's put the Workers team against the Eagles team in opposed training sessions.
The Workers would more than hold their own.

It would not be a contest if you go off their last starts... blacktown were playing worse opposition sure but they were all effort whereas half of 1st grade wanted to be somewhere else after 30min...

 

[mickqld]

More practically, let's put the Workers team against the Eagles team in opposed training sessions.
The Workers would more than hold their own.

At least the BWSE players were aggressive unlike the limp di*k first graders.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

I'm not suggesting that, just searching for explanations really. I agree they should use adversity to bond together, obviously it's just not as simple as flicking a switch this time.

I don't really give 2 hoots about the feelings of the players, I care about my feelings and I feel a lot better when we are beating the Chooks not getting flogged by them.
Just a bit of musing to self I suppose, but I'm far from convinced by the explanations - and suggested solutions - I've seen here so far.
for example - I recall the Knights the year one of their players suffered a catastrophic injury. A bit different to the Titmus situation but not totally. They went from 3rd to nowhere in quick time. Despite having Bennett at the helm. They replaced Bennett but merely went on to win a bunch of spoons.
So sure, tinker with team selection, or bring in a better coach if you can actually find one - but be aware that things could actually get worse.

yep agreed - I am not seeing too many unemployed quality coaches out there just waiting for an NRL job.... the good coaches have an NRL job!

 

[maxta]

Defensive structures have always been applied in any era of footy, but personally what I witnessed was far worse than the systems in place and players being on the wrong page....it was lack of desire and commitment, without this - NO structure will be effective.
Easts constantly won the battle that middle third and played the ball 3 times as quick as Manly most the game....that left side defence was diabolical, but certainly not helped where it always begins, in the middle.
Defence represents your attitude, you can make a bad read or miss a tackle and still have help from your mates to close most plays down....there was zero communication and the way the white flag went up after their second try was shocking.
Before any tactical challenges are put to the players in defence or attack, they need to have some desire to cop more bruises and play as hard as the opposition, you want to defend well, it starts with wiilingness to put your body on the line and I'll go as far as to say, that did not happen in round 1.

 

[Franko]

At least the BWSE players were aggressive unlike the limp di*k first graders.

something our team doesn’t seem to bring, no aggression in defence

 

[wombatgc]

If you want to see slide defence working properly, watch the first half of the Titans v Warriors game. The Titans had a shiit load of ball on the Warriors 20, but the defence and talk you could hear through the mics from the Warriors , just shows when everybodys on the same page in slide defence, it looks almost effortless. Some might say, yeah but that was the Titans. That’s the old Titans, the new improved Titans (at least on paper) thru plenty at the Warriors.

 

[John Nicholson]

For far too long we, the Club and commentators have held the tackle count in high god-like regard.

We used to have the "Luke Williamson Enhanced Tackle count", which would give him 40-45 tackles every game. Only had to be 3rd or 4th man in, put one hand on the attacking player and voila, our defensive effort was great.

Now a days, we seem to have the "Mystic Missed Tackle count", whereby a player is not attributed to have missed a tackle if he didn't touch the man with the ball.

Let's be fair dinkum again - we are sugar coating our stats. We all know that the team missed more than reported. How can you have 9 easy tries scored against you when only 39 for the whole game is reported?

The real figure last week was probably double that.

What about the 6-10 tackles missed, before the last defensive effort for each try, was made (and recorded)? You cant just blame the LHS defence, where the actual tries eventuated.

We have defensive holes all over the park and will never win if we don't tackle.

Forget the stats, the only ones which matter are the final score line.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

It also helps when the coach selects the right players in the right positions

Which NRL side do you coach? Just interested in your credentials for excellence...

 

[frank stokes]

Which NRL side do you coach? Just interested in your credentials for excellence...

I reckon @KaZa wouldnt even need to be a pre-school teacher to get a better result than last weekend... or the 2020 game against the tigers... or both games last year against the Knights/Titans/Warriors...

...actually @KaZa could probably USE pre-schoolers in the squad and get a better result then the Souffs game...

 

[pjayz]

Which NRL side do you coach? Just interested in your credentials for excellence...

Yes, because coaches never make mistakes and fans are all idiots with low IQs who can’t apply observable evidence, common sense, or any insight of any value.

Blind Freddy can see we have better options available to us than some of the players that are in. Most here have been calling for Schuster, Olakau’atu and Cust for a start. Most of us on here have been calling (last year) to recruit for our troubled and vital positions of hooker and fullback - neither happened and look where we are: Tom out again with injury and no recognised nine for another year.

Des is a human being. He stuffs up at times like anybody else.

 

[The Indian]

Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell will be licking their lips attacking our edges on the weekend. One thing I will say is Souths forward pack is rather ordinary so that may be our one hope to slow down the bunnies edge attack. But if their forwards get on top at any stage then Walker and Mitchell are going to have a picnic that could make last week look respectable.

I expect we'll get a much better effort this week.... for a while at least. But I can't forget the last time we played Souths and how they cut us to ribbons at will.

 

[KaZa]

Which NRL side do you coach? Just interested in your credentials for excellence...

I didn't say I can coach better. But clearly everyone can see Dessies selections were wrong. Unless you agreed with it?

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

T

Thanks Mark - I've been reading the banter on here with some amusement for some time now. Did you ever post on OEE?

Sure did mate , Aaron Markie and I are great mates, to this day.

I go back even further online to the early days of Internet forums when Bryan Gaensler ran a very very basic forum ( forget the name of it ), mid to late 90’s

 

[globaleagle]

Sure did mate , Aaron Markie and I are great mates, to this day.

I go back even further online to the early days of Internet forums when Bryan Gaensler ran a very very basic forum ( forget the name of it ), mid to late 90’s

I wont tell you again Mister....

it's here!

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Home Page

^^^^ click on that link^^^^^

 

[Brookie Bob]

I hope Des and the players have a look at 'The key to defending on the edge', a video put up yesterday on the NRL TV website. Some good insights there.