Post-Game Discussion Dragons v Manly [Round 19, 2022]

[Eagle 1]

what’s this ? DCE comes up against a mid table Dragons team who played moderately well, and now we know what his level is because against that standard he was garbage.
DCE did nothing in attack, his 5th tackle kicks were short & straight to the Dragons fullback all night, & spend most of the game drifting to the other side only to do nothing worthwhile With the ball.

Oh, and Dessie game plan to attack on Manly’s left side away from Koula & Huomole is utter idiocy.
Des sacking is long overdue.
Foran on the right side with Koula & Huamole is a must. Any competent coach will see that as obvious.

Photo of how utterly clueless DCE is in defence, where he just rushes up to the middle of nowhere, and spends the rest of the time ball watching. Photo is for the Dragon’s last try. Manly have numbered up 2 v 2 but DCE comes in for no reason with a 3 on 2, and does nothing in D

Not defending DCE, but gota say, the possession flow to Saints 1st half was 58 to our 42 and marginally better by fulltime 54 to our 46. Penalties were 8-5 to Saints and they never give out the 6 agains, I'm sure we lost this as well. When you have so much ball, players like Hunt can really dictate the match to such an extent that when we do get the ball you tend to want to do something out of the box so to speak, which usually leads to mistakes. I agree about DCE's defensive reads, they are some of the worst I've seen.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Maybe he was wearing a mask? Also, if he does play again this season, it won't be for a couple of months.

Negative. No mask worn.

 

[jbb/james]

Not defending DCE, but gota say, the possession flow to Saints 1st half was 58 to our 42 and marginally better by fulltime 54 to our 46. Penalties were 8-5 to Saints and they never give out the 6 agains, I'm sure we lost this as well. When you have so much ball, players like Hunt can really dictate the match to such an extent that when we do get the ball you tend to want to do something out of the box so to speak, which usually leads to mistakes. I agree about DCE's defensive reads, they are some of the worst I've seen.

Very true but manly had the first opportunity to put pressure on. With some better touch it may have been us that had early possession rates Backed by the ref . DCE kick to the in goal early missed the mark by a very large way. it seemed the emphasis was on trick shot as opposed to a composed outcome.

the rest is history .

manly blew it early, the dragons dd not

 

[40 nil]

Negative. No mask worn.

Okay, I don't know what the current protocols are for outdoor situations

 

[HK_Eagle]

And just quietly… I’m ropeable, pi$$ed off and gutted we threw away that Saints game. How bl00dy moronic and self-destructive.

 

[Eagle 1]

Very true but manly had the first opportunity to put pressure on. With some better touch it may have been us that had early possession rates Backed by the ref . DCE kick to the in goal early missed the mark by a very large way. it seemed the emphasis was on trick shot as opposed to a composed outcome.

the rest is history .

manly blew it early, the dragons dd not

Yeah, the DCE missed opp for a line drop out was telling, game changing, and a lost opportunity we didn't recover from.

 

[manly al]

Also could not understand the emphasis on taking so many one of runs in the middle for a good part of the 2 nd half . Even on the 3 rd and 4 th tackles , Only seemed to be troubling the dragons spreading the ball a bit wider [ even taking into account Haumole 's limited attack ability ] Previous weeks had no problem with more attacking footy and scoring points with some constructive ball movement .[ as foz mentioned once previously , pulling an opposition apart with some organized attack Wet track but must have been obvious that just so limited continually rucking the ball up in the middle and when the possession flow was more Manly 's way plus the serious requirement to find some points somewhere . Think that a scoreless 2 nd half for Manly probably says it all , why persist with negative tactics when it was getting nil results

 

[Rafferty]

Also could not understand the emphasis on taking so many one of runs in the middle for a good part of the 2 nd half . Even on the 3 rd and 4 th tackles , Only seemed to be troubling the dragons spreading the ball a bit wider [ even taking into account Haumole 's limited attack ability ] Previous weeks had no problem with more attacking footy and scoring points with some constructive ball movement .[ as foz mentioned once previously , pulling an opposition apart with some organized attack Wet track but must have been obvious that just so limited continually rucking the ball up in the middle and when the possession flow was more Manly 's way plus the serious requirement to find some points somewhere . Think that a scoreless 2 nd half for Manly probably says it all , why persist with negative tactics when it was getting nil results

That’s it Al, our defensive in the middle was always going to be the issue however our backline was our strength and we just didn’t play to it or use it to our advantage and I get the whole laying the platform and earning the right, our halves can only work well off the back of our forwards doing their job thing.

Not only was our backline our strength, it was there weakness, no Suli, Ravalawa and losing Ramsey during the game, we had speed to burn out wide but instead played one out junk up the middle for the best part and failed to put them under any pressure where they were most suspect.

Statistically St Merge are garbage, I’ve already spelled it out in another post, especially in the second half they leak more points than anyone and we couldn’t construct a single point, going one out up the middle was playing to their strengths and away from ours.

This became blindingly obvious last night as well, playing a slog feast up the middle because it’s wet, is now such an out of date way of thinking, that type of mentality is no longer a winning formula, last nights games were prime examples, yes all quality sides I know, played in similar wet conditions and all 4 sides just played footy, playing a conservative brand of footy because it’s wet is dead for mine.

 

[manly al]

That’s it Al, our defensive in the middle was always going to be the issue however our backline was our strength and we just didn’t play to it or use it to our advantage and I get the whole laying the platform and earning the right, our halves can only work well off the back of our forwards doing their job thing.

Not only was our backline our strength, it was there weakness, losing Suli, Ravalawa and Ramsey during the game, we had speed to burn out wide but instead played one out junk up the middle for the best part and failed to put them under any pressure where they were most suspect.

Statistically St Merge are garbage, I’ve already spelled it out in another post, especially in the second half they leak more points than anyone and we couldn’t construct a single point, going one out up the middle was playing to their strengths and away from ours.

This became blindingly obvious last night as well, playing a slog feast up the middle because it’s wet, is now such an out of date way of thinking, that type of mentality is no longer a winning formula, last nights games were prime examples, yes all quality sides I know, played in similar wet conditions and all 4 sides just played footy, playing a conservative brand of footy because it’s wet is dead for mine.

really good summary and unfortunately again just part of a sad reflection and testimony of the result on Friday night for Manly . Maybe an element of touch footy required to succeed these days but this can still be done effectively with a bit of organized and well drilled attacking mindset

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

And just quietly… I’m ropeable, pi$$ed off and gutted we threw away that Saints game. How bl00dy moronic and self-destructive.

Ah yes, I saw a couple of your posts and just had an inkling you may have been slightly disappointed!

 

[Bomb Voyage]

tl;dr of this whole thread and the game: we played like turds.

on to the next

 

[davohan123]

And just quietly… I’m ropeable, pi$$ed off and gutted we threw away that Saints game. How bl00dy moronic and self-destructive.

And the boys can think about it in September while the are watching other sides play finals footy.

wouldn’t surprise me we finish 9th and look back on dragons eels and cowboys game and that be the difference.

I know I am stating the obvious but Thursday night against easts becomes must win.

 

[Technical Coach]

Defensively there is no confidence that our line will not be broken if we don't slow the play the ball beyond what should be sufficiently necessary.

I get it on tackles one and two pushing the boundaries(to a point), Manly go beyond that point so blatantly it is excruciating to watch, it is like the team are admitting "there is no chance in our defensive line holding tight or being able to scramble on the next play and recover"

Our go forward is not consistent enough to get us out of trouble in a manner that is consistently replicable game in game out. The variety in our lateral spreads is good and effective in generating go forward but it is higher risk and not as easily replicable, we need to compliment this with simple, sharp effective directness to create a go to foundation that can be relied on.

In part this is due to the type of forwards we have along with requiring a half that directs and has a mouth players listen to and are driven by to respond.

Our attack is of replicable high quality spreading towards Forans side as it is the stronger more crisp natural passing side of most, Foran plays technically correct and his technique will hold up under pressure that is why his effectiveness is consistent. DCE is not technically correct leading to inconsistent performances that don't hold up under pressure as well as Foran, DCE is more gifted, spontaneous but less effective and lacking substance.

Yes DCE has his weakness defensively in terms of reads, does have his good moments also. It is much harder to defend on the right(the attacking teams left) and you will notice most commentators will point out stats that show a weakness defensively in this area for basically every club, it is because most crisp, quality, lateral spreads are to the attacking left.Lateral attacking spreads to the right side of the attack unfold much slowly and predictable with less variation looking very amateurish in comparision, making it much easier to read or not get caught out by.

 

[Technical Coach]

And just quietly… I’m ropeable, pi$$ed off and gutted we threw away that Saints game. How bl00dy moronic and self-destructive.

There was more than enough quality in our squad to win this game, there was actually some quality defensive reads and spreads in the game from Manly that i really liked.

In saying that Manly lack the type of quality and substance that is easily replicable day in day out, we don't play in the most efficient smart manner.

Dragons were terrible and even a poorly performing quality side would win this game, bogey team or not.

 

[Chip and Chase]

How many bombs did we seriously contest in the game ?? 3 or 4 max ? Seemed every bomb was 10m too deep or chasers weren't interested.