Groundhog Day

[maxta]

First season game = flat and a loss....nothing new right ??
Only first game ?
Very true but to make a statement would have been nice and no doubt Des went after this game which showed many similar issues to recent years

A tough top 4 team bustle us with and without the ball and Manly unable to match the fire and burnt on the scoreboard

A Penrith team, pretty much holding down and and offside all game, playing the ball off the mark, sledging and bullying for 80 mins - do Manly need more mongrel....are we too "nice"

Too much enthasis on "Save us Tom" while the opposition without their Star player Cleary just simply rip in harder with more energy relying on "every man" to play their part and take responsibility?

Slow lethargic middle ball distribution making the attack easy pickings combined with most field position poor and playing in ugly area's of the park, again being bustled by swarming defence

The attack and defence playing with more fatigue after being worked over both in attack and defence leading to flat predictable play, leading to errors and lacklustre defensive contact when on the back foot and 80% of the game played in Manlys half

Could go on, but only rd 1
The Groundhog Day does exist though....I mean until we can overcome this blueprint when playing a top 4 - 6 team of physical up tempo footy, including getting pushed around and allowing it....the wrong end of the scoreboard will be a guarantee
Can we ask Ben Kennedy to get involved with the coaching staff about competing, as we have a soft underbelly against intense physical footy sides and I know 100% we are gunna face many more in 2022

Look lost in these style of games, like strangers- Penrith were a unit and played like it.
Manly players are bonded and leaping over each other beating up Dogs or Cowgirls by 60 points....these tougher games it's like they become lost and the comradery disappears??
Isn't this the time you want a brother having your back, the easy times everyone is your friend...the war like games are when you really need them - need each other

Anyways back to sleep - I got work tomorrow

 

[The Insomniac]

Great summation Maxta. Gotta grow some mongrel quick. Won't pick out individuals but a cupla forwards just clocked off in defense @ critical times. Seemed gassed. Not many teams would have beaten Penrith last night but expected better.

 

[MadMarcus]

Brilliant post. 100% spot on. I would have given it 6 “agrees” if I could!

 

[Yaz Eagle]

Mongrel and a hooker who is a natural hooker. Will be interesting to see how Segeyaro goes tomorrow for BWSE.

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

Bang on, maxta. Yes, it's the first game of the season and you have to fight the tendency to overreact, but it's always a worry to see your team look so far off the pace of the game. And we've had a couple of glaring issues for years now (yes, even last season).

First, the lack of grunt in the pack. When the going gets tough, we get comprehensively beaten. Call it "mongrel" or anything else, we don't have it. That's why I'm still pissed that AFB decided to go. Yes, he had problems with injuries and general dickheadedness, but he carried our forwards at times and was never bullied. I really thought we could build a premiership-winning pack around him. But he's gone now and nobody else, with the possible exception of Haumole, has stepped up to fill the void.

Second, the lack of polish and composure in attack. The great Bozo- and Des-coached Manly teams ran like well-oiled machines. They were incredible to watch with the ball in hand. These days, unless we're playing off the cuff, or capitalising on turnovers, we generally look like a rabble. And man, at times it seems like we have the NRL monopoly on making crucial mistakes. Dropped balls, dud passes, poor timing - invariably, instead of building pressure we shoot ourselves in the foot. Which leads to more tackling, more fatigue and more errors.

Can we fix it? No idea. But win a few games and build some confidence and everything will look better. Then we can see how the season pans out.

 

[qldeagle]

First season game = flat and a loss....nothing new right ??
Only first game ?
Very true but to make a statement would have been nice and no doubt Des went after this game which showed many similar issues to recent years

A tough top 4 team bustle us with and without the ball and Manly unable to match the fire and burnt on the scoreboard

A Penrith team, pretty much holding down and and offside all game, playing the ball off the mark, sledging and bullying for 80 mins - do Manly need more mongrel....are we too "nice"

Too much enthasis on "Save us Tom" while the opposition without their Star player Cleary just simply rip in harder with more energy relying on "every man" to play their part and take responsibility?

Slow lethargic middle ball distribution making the attack easy pickings combined with most field position poor and playing in ugly area's of the park, again being bustled by swarming defence

The attack and defence playing with more fatigue after being worked over both in attack and defence leading to flat predictable play, leading to errors and lacklustre defensive contact when on the back foot and 80% of the game played in Manlys half

Could go on, but only rd 1
The Groundhog Day does exist though....I mean until we can overcome this blueprint when playing a top 4 - 6 team of physical up tempo footy, including getting pushed around and allowing it....the wrong end of the scoreboard will be a guarantee
Can we ask Ben Kennedy to get involved with the coaching staff about competing, as we have a soft underbelly against intense physical footy sides and I know 100% we are gunna face many more in 2022

Look lost in these style of games, like strangers- Penrith were a unit and played like it.
Manly players are bonded and leaping over each other beating up Dogs or Cowgirls by 60 points....these tougher games it's like they become lost and the comradery disappears??
Isn't this the time you want a brother having your back, the easy times everyone is your friend...the war like games are when you really need them - need each other

Anyways back to sleep - I got work tomorrow

Mate that would have to be one of the best posts I've ever seen. Spot on Champ

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

First season game = flat and a loss....nothing new right ??
Only first game ?
Very true but to make a statement would have been nice and no doubt Des went after this game which showed many similar issues to recent years

A tough top 4 team bustle us with and without the ball and Manly unable to match the fire and burnt on the scoreboard

A Penrith team, pretty much holding down and and offside all game, playing the ball off the mark, sledging and bullying for 80 mins - do Manly need more mongrel....are we too "nice"

Too much enthasis on "Save us Tom" while the opposition without their Star player Cleary just simply rip in harder with more energy relying on "every man" to play their part and take responsibility?

Slow lethargic middle ball distribution making the attack easy pickings combined with most field position poor and playing in ugly area's of the park, again being bustled by swarming defence

The attack and defence playing with more fatigue after being worked over both in attack and defence leading to flat predictable play, leading to errors and lacklustre defensive contact when on the back foot and 80% of the game played in Manlys half

Could go on, but only rd 1
The Groundhog Day does exist though....I mean until we can overcome this blueprint when playing a top 4 - 6 team of physical up tempo footy, including getting pushed around and allowing it....the wrong end of the scoreboard will be a guarantee
Can we ask Ben Kennedy to get involved with the coaching staff about competing, as we have a soft underbelly against intense physical footy sides and I know 100% we are gunna face many more in 2022

Look lost in these style of games, like strangers- Penrith were a unit and played like it.
Manly players are bonded and leaping over each other beating up Dogs or Cowgirls by 60 points....these tougher games it's like they become lost and the comradery disappears??
Isn't this the time you want a brother having your back, the easy times everyone is your friend...the war like games are when you really need them - need each other

Anyways back to sleep - I got work tomorrow

Someone on here the other day had a starting pack without Haumole of Paseka Marty Croker Keppie Lawton Jake. I said at that time that really is a diabolical pack because besides Jake and Marty - Keppie and Croker defensively have a dig but besides Jake and Marty... there is no sustained effort on both sides of the ball. Add Sipley into that mix and the problem just gets worse. Our pack simply lacks effort. You can't have ball distribution if you are coming off your line every set. What you need are people rolling up their sleeves in attack and defence. Players wanting to put a shot on and willing to get back after a kick to to take the hard rucks. So we all need to forget how bad the attack looked... we were coming off our line for 80% of the game and they were fatigued totally and the Panthers had confidence and simply their defensive load was way way less so they could be energetic and smash us. When you have Paseka offering the odd hard run and nothing else, Sipley really offered nothing in defence or attack, Croker did a lot of work in defence but they targeted him and ran over him and his attack is diabolical, Bullemor was good, Haumole good but not quite as damaging because of all the defensive workload we had, Marty and Jake tried their butts off, Lawton was injured straight away, Keppie put some shots on but he is a zero in attack... that is a pack that lacks effort and Des had the mix wrong. Davey might not come back anything like that mirage of a first game last year but we need someone else like that in the pack who offers all effort on both sides of the ball to help Jake and Marty. We need that mongrel dog who will get down in the trenches and fight. So forget how bad the attack looked. Our attack will be fine if we get a 50% share of the ball and we are not coming off our line all night. The good teams still might be able to contain Tom but if we get 50% of the ball and we will score some tries... the good sides might still beat us but we will give a good account. The mix of the pack is where we have the issue. Paseka, Keppie, Sipley are three very similar styles of player and while Keppie will put a shot on, his effort in moving across to close off gaps is poor. When we only have 38% of the ball - wow what a huge disparity and yet our completion rate was super at 81% but you can't expect attack and ball distribution from those stats. Against the good sides we need another at least 1 mongrel dog... who will have a dig every week and give 100% in attack and defence, another Kennedy, Jughead Jones, Kosef, Ian Martin... someone who wants to get in the trenches. To me... the only player on our roster who has those traits is Davey.... now again maybe he never fulfills that promise and he is too slow or his knee hasn't recovered but he is that type of player. So the problem starts with the balance of our pack... it really is that simple. Schu will bring that extra super creativity that we need, Walker will bring effort and some brilliance... they will help massively in other ways but we need one more super fit mongrel dog. Davey is that guy! He might not be good enough class wise or with his age and the knee now but gee he will never let you down for effort. So we need that mongrel dog and a hooker who can defend and attack. Early on when we did have some go forward... Croker had to take some darts out of dummy half on the back of a good ruck... he didn't and therefore the defence never ever had to account for him. Gee it makes it hard especially for the forwards if you can forget all about the dummy half and just tee off on the runner! He needs to pull his effing finger out and take some darts after a good charge. Any good hooker knows that is the time to run and he has to learn how to pass from the ground and hit a target everytime. A great well balanced forward pack and a hooker at least trying to have a run will really help the attack. I think we still have the cattle but the wrong cattle last night and Croker was terrible in attack.

 

[winnyason]

First season game = flat and a loss....nothing new right ??
Only first game ?
Very true but to make a statement would have been nice and no doubt Des went after this game which showed many similar issues to recent years

A tough top 4 team bustle us with and without the ball and Manly unable to match the fire and burnt on the scoreboard

A Penrith team, pretty much holding down and and offside all game, playing the ball off the mark, sledging and bullying for 80 mins - do Manly need more mongrel....are we too "nice"

Too much enthasis on "Save us Tom" while the opposition without their Star player Cleary just simply rip in harder with more energy relying on "every man" to play their part and take responsibility?

Slow lethargic middle ball distribution making the attack easy pickings combined with most field position poor and playing in ugly area's of the park, again being bustled by swarming defence

The attack and defence playing with more fatigue after being worked over both in attack and defence leading to flat predictable play, leading to errors and lacklustre defensive contact when on the back foot and 80% of the game played in Manlys half

Could go on, but only rd 1
The Groundhog Day does exist though....I mean until we can overcome this blueprint when playing a top 4 - 6 team of physical up tempo footy, including getting pushed around and allowing it....the wrong end of the scoreboard will be a guarantee
Can we ask Ben Kennedy to get involved with the coaching staff about competing, as we have a soft underbelly against intense physical footy sides and I know 100% we are gunna face many more in 2022

Look lost in these style of games, like strangers- Penrith were a unit and played like it.
Manly players are bonded and leaping over each other beating up Dogs or Cowgirls by 60 points....these tougher games it's like they become lost and the comradery disappears??
Isn't this the time you want a brother having your back, the easy times everyone is your friend...the war like games are when you really need them - need each other

Anyways back to sleep - I got work tomorrow

Way I see it mate blessing in disguise, Desmond may have to make changes.
That said our pigs could not keep up bar Marty

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Sipley really offered nothing in defence or attack

He seemed to cop a knock quite early charging for the tryline, he stayed on but got replaced fairly early. I wonder if he was affected by that? I expected a bit more from him after his trial form.

(Sorry I couldn't get through your whole post, if you write so many words consider breaking it down into paragraphs or its too hard to read!)

 

[mjb136]

We were cooked after 20 minutes, and it is clear our forward pack could not match it with Penrith. That is my concern for this season along with Edge defence, way too many holes found last night, realistically it should have been 40+ to 6.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

He seemed to cop a knock quite early charging for the tryline, he stayed on but got replaced fairly early. I wonder if he was affected by that? I expected a bit more from him after his trial form.

(Sorry I couldn't get through your whole post, if you write so many words consider breaking it down into paragraphs or its too hard to read!)

Sorry man... just English.. pretty easy to read if people want to but happy for people to pass over and read something else.

 

[mickqld]

There's just too many plodders, short cutters and just average players for us to seriously be any better than 4th and I doubt we'll get that high again. The forwards just get owned by the top tier packs. Biggest mistake of all was letting AFB go. We have no enforcer, no dominator. Taupau is clearly past it and Paseka just isn't up to it. Sipley was our best prop and that's not a compliment.

 

[delz]

Same old Manly! Looks like things will never change. Might have hope against the lesser sides but when we come up against the top teams we have no idea. Same mistakes, same excuses, and yet Des does nothing about it.

Next week will be the same story, no go forward, lack of possession, dropped balls at crucial times, etc., etc. Since our last GF appearance back in 2013, they have been hard to watch, and unfortunately, besides last year's run to the semis, I find it hard to have any real confidence when playing any game.

The old DNA of being Manly as well and truly disappeared.