Des out coached by Fitzgibbon tonight

[The Who]

yawnnnnn.... with three props out... just what better selection inspiration did you have last night?

How about sticking to his original selection and retaining DeLuxe in the 17?
I don't get the reshuffle, unless DeLuxe was unable to play for some reason. Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[mjb136]

The error Des made, was not marching out of the coaching box and yanking Harper off with a lasso.

 

[Eagle 1]

yawnnnnnnnnnnnn.... I have watched the video a number of times and for the life of me I can't see Hasler out there on that right edge making those diabolically poor decisions. Nor did I see Hasler drop that ball from the kick off etc etc. Not sure the game plan was at fault - poor player performance/execution in that first half played a HUGE role, combined with the injuries to the three props, combined with players playing out of position ie Davey at prop and Lawton starting and not being a super sub, combined with the 40km an hour wind in the first half meaning their kicking game got a boost and DCE's huge boot was nullified, combined with an accepted poor selection with Harper over Koula... I think those areas need to be looked at before Des' game plan.

Agree 100%, when you get one guy who puts in a Tommy Turbo performance and singlehandedly destroys the opposition, scores or sets up 6 tries and all this in the 1st half !!. This takes 0 coaching ability from Fitzgibbon..

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Wow so many excuses and so much acceptance of a 32-0 scoreline at halftime. Where are the spirits and ruthlessness of the great Manly teams through the 70s mid80s mid90s & 2006-2013. Disappeared into a sea of millenial ho hum mediocrity acceptance and excuses. The Barrettt poison is still alive and festering in this club.

And in the lead up to 2006-2013 we copped some absolute hidings, remember 72-12 at Penrith and being down 38-0 to the Sharks at HT

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

How about sticking to his original selection and retaining DeLuxe in the 17?
I don't get the reshuffle, unless DeLuxe was unable to play for some reason. Can anyone enlighten me?

Look Barney Rubble is a reserve grader really - but a good honest toiler. I don't think he adds anything other than to give the big boppers a break and hold the fort. In hindsight we probably could have used his energy and to take some time while Davey/Sipley was off. Des certainly does some things selections wise that I certainly don't agree with... Harper/Koula being one.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

You don’t need to be Einstein to work out that Des selections have been very questionable. Maybe he can now pull ha head out of his arse and start putting together a team that is competitive when all fit -
1.Turbo
2.Garrick
3.Kalou
4.Walker
5.Tiptoes
6.Schuster
7. Foran
8. Aloia
9. DCE
10.Paseka
11.Davey
12.Big O
13. Jake
Res: Tapau, Keppie, Lawton, Weekes
Harper, Parker and Saab are shot birds and need out !!!!!

Let’s not tell Des to get his head out of his arse then select DCE at 9 …

 

[Keffola]

How about sticking to his original selection and retaining DeLuxe in the 17?
I don't get the reshuffle, unless DeLuxe was unable to play for some reason. Can anyone enlighten me?

The only reason we could hook Harper for Koula though was because of the change though right?

Lets face it DeLuis hasn't set the world on fire in the games he's played for us. He would have changed nothing if he was on the bench.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Agree 100%, when you get one guy who puts in a Tommy Turbo performance and singlehandedly destroys the opposition, scores or sets up 6 tries and all this in the 1st half !!. This takes 0 coaching ability from Fitzgibbon..

Certainly highlights the disgraceful performance of the right side defence... nothing to do at all with what Des did or didn't do... except and this is a big except... not have Koula in from the start... Now maybe he would have got towelled up as well.. we will never know but he certainly couldnt have done any worse. BUT and this is a huge but... what if Talaki absoultely destroyed him and for a youngster his confidence was then shot and he was not the same player again? Then we would have been all screaming at Des for throwing him to the lions. You are damned if you do and damned if you dont. But I would have taken a punt on him.

 

[mickqld]

Certainly highlights the disgraceful performance of the right side defence... nothing to do at all with what Des did or didn't do... except and this is a big except... not have Koula in from the start... Now maybe he would have got towelled up as well.. we will never know but he certainly couldnt have done any worse. BUT and this is a huge but... what if Talaki absoultely destroyed him and for a youngster his confidence was then shot and he was not the same player again? Then we would have been all screaming at Des for throwing him to the lions. You are damned if you do and damned if you dont. But I would have taken a punt on him.

Was the backpedalling, arm grabbing, and static line all the fault of Harper or was he getting nothing from his inside defenders. Yes Harper was owned and should've been replaced after 20 min but he wasn't the only culprit out there.

 

[ManlyTragic]

I think Harper may need counseling after reading these post!

Just sayin’

 

[Eagle 1]

Certainly highlights the disgraceful performance of the right side defence... nothing to do at all with what Des did or didn't do... except and this is a big except... not have Koula in from the start... Now maybe he would have got towelled up as well.. we will never know but he certainly couldnt have done any worse. BUT and this is a huge but... what if Talaki absoultely destroyed him and for a youngster his confidence was then shot and he was not the same player again? Then we would have been all screaming at Des for throwing him to the lions. You are damned if you do and damned if you dont. But I would have taken a punt on him.

True, we will never know, if Kalua would of nailed some T's on Talaki in the 1st half. Talaki was completely contained in the 2nd H though. Anyway for what's it's worth, I'd take the punt on Kalua to take up the challenge on Talaki, on what I saw from him in the 2nd H.

 

[manly al]

Thing that really impresses me with Koula is that he does not seem overawed regardless of the caliber of the opposition , especially defensively and has that ability or is capable to make something out of nothing in attack . Plenty of opinion that he can be a very capable full back as well and obviously could manage a wing spot also but at centre is where we need he right not and no doubt longer term . Koula , Haumole , Schuster [ at his best ] Tent , Sabb ,. these and the mainstays [ including Garrick ] are the type of players who will give Manly the best prospects of a premiership in the next few seasons .

 

[Red Pill]

I think Harper may need counseling after reading these post!

Just sayin’

Agree! Hopefully He doesn’t.

 

[Red Pill]

Thing that really impresses me with Koula is that he does not seem overawed regardless of the caliber of the opposition , especially defensively and has that ability or is capable to make something out of nothing in attack . Plenty of opinion that he can be a very capable full back as well and obviously could manage a wing spot also but at centre is where we need he right not and no doubt longer term . Koula , Haumole , Schuster [ at his best ] Tent , Sabb ,. these and the mainstays [ including Garrick ] are the type of players who will give Manly the best prospects of a premiership in the next few seasons .

Agree he is a great prospect. He will make some silly mistakes as he develops.

 

[swoop]

Our coach is out coached by just about every other coach. WTF would you put Harper in the team just after recovering from covid and poor form prior to that when Koula had an outstanding game last week especially in defence. Why wasn't the team up for this game, this is not the first time it's happened. The Sharks wanted it more and blew us of the park.

 

[pjayz]

The only reason we could hook Harper for Koula though was because of the change though right?

Lets face it DeLuis hasn't set the world on fire in the games he's played for us. He would have changed nothing if he was on the bench.

DeLuis is an excellent defender, you only need to look back at his previous games to see that. We were missing three middle forwards and we select a centre on the bench alongside Walker who is a small “forward”.

If there was any doubt over Harper’s health (as was reported) he should never have been picked in the first place. Personally his play towards the end of last year and the start of this year - coupled with the impressive showing of Koula in limited time - warranted Koula’s elevation over Harper.

I believe one or two changes can actually make a big difference in a game. A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. With Koula in the centres and another middle forward on the bench (which we desperately needed) we would either have won that game or gone extremely close.

Des is a human being, something that is lost on this forum at times. He does makes mistakes, and last night was an example of that. What I will say, is that hooking Harper is not something I thought I’d see Des do at half time, so that was positive. I can’t see Harper in the 17 next week.

 

[StuBoot]

32-0 was diabolical, but just from looking at how all the scoring was at one end of the field, the wind clearly was worth like 20 points or so. If we didn't gain even more injuried players to the point we ended up with a 1 man bench, I seriously think we could have caught the Sharks.

Yes harper had a terrible game. I have a soft spot for Harper because when he came into the team last year, he added quite a lot of enthusiasm and played better than Suli. But I agree as the season got longer his form dropped and never really recovered. To be honest with the amount of strapping he has, feel like he's had niggling injuries for a while. Time for him to see if he can recover and regain some form and confidence in reserve grade.

If the team had given up and the Sharks had run up a cricket score, I can understand the doom and gloom, but we only just ran out of puff while missing 3/4 of our prop rotation, missing Trbojevic, missing Schuster and in game lost Walker, Paseka, Davey.

Geez we have some harsh markers on the forum.

Yep, there is the glass half empty and the glass half full types.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't happy at 32-0 at halftime ( especially getting texts from mates saying "enjoying your birthday" ) but I've also watched enough footy to know that a wind like that can't be understated - the old days of 6-8 pt wind is now like an 18-20 pt wind and momentum is hard to stop when a team gets on a roll.
Our completion rates were pretty good, we just didn't have enough ball and Talaki had a day out that players have sometimes - do we forget what sort of performances Turbo put out last year, game after game? Yes, Talaki was aided and abetted by some of our defence but we can't begrudge him a game like that, he's certainly put other teams on notice.

Missing Josh and Marty plus Keppie can't be underestimated, we haven't lost this year when Josh has played.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing as the move to put Koula on the bench was to cover concerns about Harper's COVID recovery, yes, maybe he shouldn't have started but he earned the right to start based on what he showed last year, that's how Des works.

We showed serious ticker to make a game of it when at halftime it looked like it could be 50+.

There'll be a lot that don't agree with me but if you look at the final score and stats without knowing what the halftime score was you'd probably say fair enough, they were a bit better over the course of the match.
Is there really any difference if it was, say 16-6 at halftime and ended up 34-22?
Would people feel better?

I think we'll take a lot out of that second half, we played the long game v the Knights and blew the score out at the back end. We've seen the emergence of Tippy - who I must admit hadn't really set my world on fire but now he's a regular for me - and Koula plus Garrick has stepped up and Guac too.

I must be going soft in my old age.

 

[Woodsie]

What a laugh ... Remember the mandatory beginning to every single post 4 years ago ..

"Now that we have a good coach" ... or this classic .. "Des will get the best out of him"

And the same naive numbnuts are still arguing that Dessie is a God ... he's not, he's just a very good coach that makes as many mistakes as the next guy.

 

[47MVEagle]

I believe one or two changes can actually make a big difference in a game. A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. With Koula in the centres and another middle forward on the bench (which we desperately needed) we would either have won that game or gone extremely close.

We did go extremely close to winning.

 

[47MVEagle]

I came away feeling strangely content after last night's game.

Yes the first half was very frustrating but we showed in the second half we're capable of adjusting after halftime input from Des, which tells me he still knows how to read a game & knows what changes need to be made to improve & our players are able to take it onboard & execute it.

Whatever his reasons for starting Harper, he adjusted & improved our performance.

After all, if our poor performance was all on Des, surely our improved performance was also on him?

I find that encouraging.