Do we need fowards??

[maxta]

In a perfect world it would be great to add Matt Scott & Matulino to our front row roster but in the modern day with a salary cap, its about priorities in key positions...the 1,6,7 & 9.
DCE, Foz & Snake are ALL up with the worlds best in their position & Ballin is only a Cameron Smith away from being a regular rep hooker.
On top of that theres the bonus of 2 world class centres, Taufu & Hiku who are both young future stars of the game.
The backrow boasts Watmough who is in the top few 2nd rowers in the world, the guile, skill & toughness of Glen Stewart (unfortunately gone in 2015 due to following cap regulations - unlike others)
Then There the talented Buhrer, underrated Lawrence, & a handful of players, playing to their optimum potential after being tarnished with the Seaeagles culture....
At full strength this team needs the complete puzzle to compliment itself & after a game like Fridays vs Dogs ppl forget quickly, with the aggressive piece of our puzzle being Choc & Stewart missing, the opposition took us on & won the battle up front. Not just the fact they are Manly's intimidators, add to this they bring a contagous aggressive attitude across the park to the antire team.
Simply...the fowards in the 2014 squad will get the job done.

 

[EagleFromMay1967]

Do we need BACKS? According to Des Hasler's latest selection theory, YOU DON'T. You can make your whole team up of forwards, many of whom can play as skillfully as backs. Make no mistake, this approach could actually work. Wingers have been getting bigger anyway. Apply the same logic to the halves centres, fullbacks and you have THE DOGs.

Jack Littlejohn is not little. We only need 4 more like this and we are there too. I don't like it, but this is where the game could go.

 

[Stevo]

I reckon we are 1 aggressive as **** dominant front rower away from a premiership.

Jason King could be that player if he finds his form and fitness. He probably needs to start though.

 

[maxta]

I reckon we are 1 aggressive as ... dominant front rower away from a premiership.

Jason King could be that player if he finds his form and fitness. He probably needs to start though.

Had high hopes for King after that Souths comeback but lost faith atm, just seems so far off the pace....still see a good shot at the 2014 premiership mate, once Choc & Glen ignite the fuse up front.
I think this has been proven when all available against big mongrel packs already this season.

 

[Captain Moondog]

I reckon we could just sign a bunch of random blokes from the pub to play...let's face it players are irrelevant, so long as you've got a couple of refs bought and payed for you're well on the road to success.

 

[BOZO]

Do we need BACKS? According to Des Hasler's latest selection theory, YOU DON'T. You can make your whole team up of forwards, many of whom can play as skillfully as backs. Make no mistake, this approach could actually work. Wingers have been getting bigger anyway. Apply the same logic to the halves centres, fullbacks and you have THE DOGs.

Jack Littlejohn is not little. We only need 4 more like this and we are there too. I don't like it, but this is where the game could go.

The dogs did not beat us we beat our selves with stupid mistakes and stupid decisions , We could have easily won that game

 

[RiverEagle]

I vote YES.

We need forwards.

Otherwise there's only our backs...

And seven against thirteen is a bit tough to compete!

 

[The Who]

Manly and Easts both were beaten this weekend, showing that their torrid clash at Brookie took a great deal from both teams.
Our forwards were outgunned by the Dogs, but I think this had a lot to do with mental and physical exhaustion.
On paper Easts have the best forwards in the comp, and yet they were humbled by a makeshift pack in a team coming last.
It's obvious that teams can only 'get up' for so many weeks before suffering a letdown. Our classy back can often get us through, and why we didn't use them more against the Dogs is a mystery.
I'm sure our team will lift against this week. If not then there will be cause for concern.

 

[Stevo]

I'm a little bit miffed as to why Jayden Hodges was only given 10 mins late in the second half. He should have been on around the 50 minute mark i reckon.

 

[mozgrame]

I'm a little bit miffed as to why Jayden Hodges was only given 10 mins late in the second half. He should have been on around the 50 minute mark i reckon.

Agree 100% It gave me the dry squirts waiting for him to come on. What was Toovey thinking with that master stroke???

Although, sometimes players don't want to come off either. Maybe Ballin kept sending the trainer back when he was told to put in another solid 5mins, then you're off.........

Anyway, Hodges would have given that spark we seemed to miss. He may be our Segearo, without the mistakes hopefully.

 

[Snake]

Our classy back can often get us through, and why we didn't use them more against the Dogs is a mystery.

Because there was no space for them. The referees let the Dogs lay around the play the ball all the night and spoil the game. It's pointless going wide off slow play the balls when the opposition have had so much time to set their defence.

You could make an argument for why we didn't move the ball around a bit more and tire their big forwards out, but the entire team was lacking in intensity, not just the forwards. The trend for the match was set very early when we came out flat, and in the modern game momentum is very hard to wrestle back. Every time it looked like we might have some, our lack of intensity would produce a mistake, a jersey grab, or a poor option; the rest is history.

---

Do we need BACKS? According to Des Hasler's latest selection theory, YOU DON'T. You can make your whole team up of forwards, many of whom can play as skillfully as backs. Make no mistake, this approach could actually work. Wingers have been getting bigger anyway. Apply the same logic to the halves centres, fullbacks and you have THE DOGs.

Jack Littlejohn is not little. We only need 4 more like this and we are there too. I don't like it, but this is where the game could go.

If the Bulldogs had their halves, they win that game by 20, and we are not even in the contest. Some of the last tackle options from the Dogs were ordinary, and for all their dominance, they could only come up with one genuine try; the other three being off a Manly mistake, a jersey grab, and a blatant forward pass.

They threw nothing at us in attack, despite all their dominance in the ruck area. Throw one or two backs into the mix and we get flogged.

 

[double hoops]

I reckon we are 1 aggressive as ... dominant front rower away from a premiership.

Jason King could be that player if he finds his form and fitness. He probably needs to start though.

 

[bennyeagle]

How many minutes did king play on Friday night ? He looked miserable !

 

[double hoops]

Completely agree. Although if all of our forwards were a little more agressive, when they work together they could still get the job done. Starling and JSL have particularly looked a lot more confident in the last four weeks. Still think Lauaki size in small bursts or Tysons aggression could add something.

 

[mozgrame]

Tyson's aggression would have been a nice fit in the dogs game. One thing that irked me a little was the way Foran allowed the mutts to get under his skin. He is way too tough and classy to bother with the sh1t, but they annoyed him, and it affected his game a little.

 

[double hoops]

Even our coach was was found a little lacking @mozgrame in the composure department and let some dogs supporter in the crowd get under his skin at half time. Had to laugh when 2v said he replied 'Am not'. Twas a perfect audition for the finals really, we had 2 big games back to back. We learnt something, when the refs allow a slow game in the ruck, we mentally weren't tough enough and lost our composure, not even sure we needed a second game plan on friday night we just had to execute better. It's all good, it is still round 18 after all, now Donny and the boys to get to work in fine tuning these guys for the finals.

 

[tookey]

How many minutes did king play on Friday night ? He looked miserable !

Miserable? To me King has played two seasons too long as his body is not up to first grade standard any more ?

He played a whole 12 minutes Basically we played the dogs with 15 men as hodges only come on for 8 minutes

Poor use of our bench once again

 

[Manly To Win!]

Yes, we need another classy prop to take the pressure off Lawrence. Lui and Starling are showing good signs, but they're not in the above average class yet. And King needs to be tapped on the shoulder and told to retire.

 

[The Eagle Has Landed]

Our bench isn't all that. We need someone scary coming off it like Fa'oso used to do and terrorise the opposition. Surely Ligi Sao or Lauaki are in the mix there somewhere. As others have said King looks old and slow and his plodding runs are ineffective.

 

[Killer03]

If Kingy was fit I think he's the perfect person for this job. An experienced front rower with a bit of mongrel.......but I must say I think it's time to retire. I love Kingy, he's Manly through and through, but we are carrying him now.

It's a pity we don't have Kitey, whilst he's not super aggressive I think he's the leader we could use at the moment. Our forwards are doing a good job standing up to the other packs, but inexperience is seeing them find it hard to back up. Now the loss of Gift and Choc is huge. A forward leader doesn't have to be a prop, we only have to look at 05 and 06. It was the ooomphh of BK that showed the way.