DNA said:
I know you guys feel very bad but at 18-8 all you needed to do was hold in defense and the game was yours. If we couldn't cross your line anymore at 18-8 that would have been the final score. Why did we get across? The ref only awards the tries. Your line had to hold tight and the game was yours. Yet there were missed tackles and wrong choices made by defenders.
SBW was a miss tackle. Forget the forward pass. Had he been tackled there would be no talk about it and no try. Why was Tupou allowed uncontested to take the ball and score? With Jennings it was 2 on 1 could the ball have been batted away? It all came down to protecting your lead and the game was won. A couple of miss tackles and game over. Defense is what wins grand finals.
DNA as I've said before, you're welcome here and your posts are a good read.
But all you have to do is reverse the tale and you will get a sense of the disappointment felt by Manly fans. The argument that Easts were the best side all year doesn't hold water because we are not the EPL and don't employ a first past the post system. You already received your reward for that. It's called a minor premiership.
The decisions that were made not only had direct consequences, but also indirect ones like fatigue (through making extra tackles) and field position.
I'm sure there were times this year when Easts copped repeated rough calls in matches. The standard of refereeing has been an issue all year. But this was more than a regular season match.
Accept your win and celebrate it. We would be doing the same. But insinuating that all we had to do was keep tackling and we would have won is an over simplification.
Personally. I'm over the loss. It's happened and it's over in my book.
2014 promises to be huge for Manly and finding motivation to go one better won't be hard for the boys. We have the best halves combination (and by a considerable margin too) in the competition. And a level of toughness that never ceases to amaze me. I simply can't wait for it to all start again.
I hope it's a Manly v Easts grand final again. We have a good record in repeat situations (40-0 anyone ?)