Does Manly pack have enough Mongrel ?

[BOZO]

Bozo's world view - everyone is a failure aside from one winner each year, so pretty much everyone is doomed to spend most of their lives as a failure.

Can it really be inspiring or motivating to be constantly telling people they are failures and losers?

Come on Bozo, own up! You don't believe this at all, do you?? 🙂

Yes feathered friend I really believe in this ....
Show me a gracious loser and I’ll show you a failure

The fact is there is only one premiership winner and being content and happy with finishing below that and being content with second best is a North Sydney mentality

Manly prides them selves to be the best and we should live up to our Legendary clubs reputation of being the best and Being number one because we should Never settle for second best .

That is my mind set and that is how I strongly feel feathered friend

 

[rifraff]

I don't know if our pack has enough mongrel.. Our wingers and centers don't help them all that much either. With the hit-ups out of trouble

 

[nightster]

I think the win against the Eels was more down to their complete capitulation for four weeks of the competition. They got their mojo back after losing it badly. I remember we shot out of the blocks and they were lethargic but we gave them a few chances with the ball and they shot themselves in the foot...then they lost two players to the bin.

It's strange but I remember being worried after a few of our big wins because I kept noticing that we'd give the opposition chances with the ball in good territory. I thought maybe I was being a hard task master at the time but it was a trend I was noticing. We'd beat a team by 30+ but possession and field position would be relatively even. It was only our attacking prowess (often from inside our own half) that allowed us to win so many games. I remember I kept thinking, if we gave this much ball to Melbourne, Souths or Penrith, we'd be losing by 20, yet here we are in front by 20.

Unfortunately, my fears were more than realised when our biggest achilles heel was turning over cheap ball to give quality opposition time to attack our red zone; the rest is history.

There was also the trend of our forwards not bending the line ... we stand too bloody flat

 

[winnyason]

Imo Bullemor and Keppie have ability to take forward starting roles

 

[Shoe1]

I don't know if our pack has enough mongrel.. Our wingers and centers don't help them all that much either. With the hit-ups out of trouble

Jeez, looking pretty bad for 2022

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Jeez, looking pretty bad for 2022

gee the whole place is imploding - we have such poor players in most positions according to some. Forwards not good enough, wingers and centres don't do enough... Pretty sure we will be ok... a couple of other roster changes to supplement Bullemore, some improvement from within and we will be fine.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Whilst we may have our roster already sorted I’m still of the belief we are a dominating forward ( Marty was this but not now) and a strike centre short of a Premiership.

Brad Parker / Morgan Harper won’t lose you a game but they are unlikely to win one for you either.

Just like Kite / Lyon were part of the turning point for us in 2006/7/8 I reckon we need both to do it again.

Because of the $$$ Marty will stay in 2022 and do a job but he’s no longer intimidating to many sides.

 

[The better Robbo]

Whilst we may have our roster already sorted I’m still of the belief we are a dominating forward ( Marty was this but not now) and a strike centre short of a Premiership.

Brad Parker / Morgan Harper won’t lose you a game but they are unlikely to win one for you either.

Just like Kite / Lyon were part of the turning point for us in 2006/7/8 I reckon we need both to do it again.

Because of the $$$ Marty will stay in 2022 and do a job but he’s no longer intimidating to many sides.

I think with the addition of Bullemore, Davey basically being a new signing and Olakau-atu, Keppie, Paseka to get even better our forwards look really good.
I definitely agree a strike centre and another quality ball playing fullback option is what we desperately need!

 

[George Rose's Butcher]

I think with the addition of Bullemore, Davey basically being a new signing and Olakau-atu, Keppie, Paseka to get even better our forwards look really good.
I definitely agree a strike centre and another quality ball playing fullback option is what we desperately need!

Davey was looking great and at the eels forced his way into the starting side over Lane.

 

[maxta]

Davey was looking great and at the eels forced his way into the starting side over Lane.

Hard to get an honest opinion on Davey's ability as very limited gamed time,,,,the 1 thing that did stand out about him, was he played with Massive energy and that inspires me.

 

[manly al]

Any forward pack is going to get gassed and less effective with less mongrel factor irrespective of their ability with only 38 or 40 % possession which Manly experienced on quite e few occasions last season in some big games particular .Not sure how this can be rectified in the off season , maybe just trying to hone in the better attacking options and always respect possession . Sure that between Keppie, Paseka , Olakatu - atu , Jake even Schuster can manage some regular or more consistent strong pack input going forward , Sure also that Croker can continue to play his solid role , Bullemor looks very promising and hopefully will not take a backward step . Really hope that Marty and Alioia and not only because they are are pretty good money , can be consistently strong in the ruck area and certainly contribute more then this recent season . Again however need at least an even share of possession for any pack to be able to exert some real authority in the middle and not to be inevitably on the back foot without it .

 

[Eagles4Life]

If our seventeen includes both Davey and Bullemore then YES we potentially have enough mongrel in the pack. It's hard to see where we can fit them both in though. The pack that we finished 2021 with has to show significant improvement against the top teams, if it is going to remain unchanged.

Yes if Walker leaves Bullemore almost certainly goes into the seventeen, as a middle forward/second row option. There is still no place for Davey though, unless we drop one of Paseka, Aloiai, Taupau or Keppie? I think this is extremely unlikely unless Schuster goes to five-eight. I don't believe there is any chance of that happening either (barring injury), as Foran will clearly retain that role.

The question to me is not whether we have enough mongrel as a pack, it's whether we have enough mongrels in the pack. Half of our current pack (as hard-working as some of them might be), just don't fit the description at all. Without changes to its composition, it's hard to see how the pack will consistently win the forward battle in 2022. And thats exactly what we will need to do to win a GF next season.

 

[40 years an eagle]

We have enough in our squad now, they are a very good group. We just need to learn respect for possession so we don't get steamrolled coz we are gassed.

 

[silvereagle]

Half of our current pack (as hard-working as some of them might be), just don't fit the description at all. Without changes to its composition, it's hard to see how the pack will consistently win the forward battle in 2022. And thats exactly what we will need to do to win a GF next season.

I agree with your composition comment. We definitely have the "mongrel" cattle for next year given the new additions (Bully, Davey, Burbo etc). In my opinion however, Des was playing two of our key forwards out of position and, as we saw against the heavyweight sides, weakend our pack considerably. This was particularly the case in attack but also noticeable in our defence. Could have been purely as a result of lack of other options. Will be interesting to see the 2022 composition given the additional options. If no changes, then I suspect we will struggle against the same sides with the same issues.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

We have enough in our squad now, they are a very good group. We just need to learn respect for possession so we don't get steamrolled coz we are gassed.

I’m still of the belief we need a big dominant forward , Tapau was that but he’s no longer feared by the opposition.

He’s been great for us for a number of years and his partnership with AFB was great but he’s definitely not worth $850k ( if that’s correct and it probably isn’t ).

 

[The better Robbo]

If our seventeen includes both Davey and Bullemore then YES we potentially have enough mongrel in the pack. It's hard to see where we can fit them both in though. The pack that we finished 2021 with has to show significant improvement against the top teams, if it is going to remain unchanged.

Yes if Walker leaves Bullemore almost certainly goes into the seventeen, as a middle forward/second row option. There is still no place for Davey though, unless we drop one of Paseka, Aloiai, Taupau or Keppie? I think this is extremely unlikely unless Schuster goes to five-eight. I don't believe there is any chance of that happening either (barring injury), as Foran will clearly retain that role.

The question to me is not whether we have enough mongrel as a pack, it's whether we have enough mongrels in the pack. Half of our current pack (as hard-working as some of them might be), just don't fit the description at all. Without changes to its composition, it's hard to see how the pack will consistently win the forward battle in 2022. And thats exactly what we will need to do to win a GF next season.

Im not sure Schuster is a walk up starter at 2nd row like most on here seem to think. He was used there more out of necessity last year and then just kept the spot. I think he'd be way better used in the #14 role that Walker played last year. Basically like an extra 5/8 but a big body that can defend! And only playing 60 odd minutes, he shouldn't fatigue.
Walker either leaves or back to centre.
Our pack had no real balance last year!

 

[mickqld]

Imo Bullemor and Keppie have ability to take forward starting roles

I agree with that. Bullemor has that Watmough look about him and Keppie has that S Burgess look about him. Those 2 as clones are exactly what our pack needs. I hope they both spend some time watching clips from those 2 players. Learn to run though brick walls and hit like bulldozers.

 

[rifraff]

Jeez, looking pretty bad for 2022

I wasn't bagging our three-quarters, but how many teams can you name that make less metres out of trouble. Penrith forwards look better off the back of a To'o run, Roosters better because they have Tupou.

If we had a To'o or a Tupou would our forwards have looked better? I think they would have. I don't think people would have complained about our pack as much either.

Are we good enough to go to the next level with what we have. Even with our timid pack and hopeless three-quarters? Injury free and with a little bit of luck. Of course we can..

 

[Darren]

We won't win the prize with Parker and Harper as main centres. You need more than that.

 

[The better Robbo]

I wasn't bagging our three-quarters, but how many teams can you name that make less metres out of trouble. Penrith forwards look better off the back of a To'o run, Roosters better because they have Tupou.

If we had a To'o or a Tupou would our forwards have looked better? I think they would have. I don't think people would have complained about our pack as much either.

Are we good enough to go to the next level with what we have. Even with our timid pack and hopeless three-quarters? Injury free and with a little bit of luck. Of course we can..

100% just watch the grand final again and look at the difference it makes when your outside backs get you out of trouble. If the sets gets off to a bad start then your are pretty much screwed for the entire set and this is just repeated time and time again!