Honest but fair summary of today's game

[Kalvin]

Sums it up I say

 

[davohan123]

Sums it up I say

 

[sheridanstand78]

Tonight was all about attitude, they had it we did not. It was a game that we frittered away by failing miserably at the 101 basics of the game. St George did that and thoroughly deserved the result.

Manly need to get their act together and develop some resilience as they fold way to easily when the ball is turned over. Tonight 3 of their tries came directly from our turnovers, not good enough!

 

[LeonardCohen]

The first Sloan try was not FG standard. Tom needs to develop some hard edge and desperation to his game. Chances are he was never gonna get Sloan but no way a player like Slater gives up and watched the try happen.

 

[HK_Eagle]

The first Sloan try was not FG standard. Tom needs to develop some hard edge and desperation to his game. Chances are he was never gonna get Sloan but no way a player like Slater gives up and watched the try happen.

I was alarmed last week when the rookie ran over the top of him for a try, but yes, that was disconcerting to see him surrender so meekly on that Sloan try. Perfect representation of the team’s overall resilience (or rather, lack of).

 

[Leader of the Flock]

It looked to me that the boys turned up expecting an easy victory, then when they started making errors they just couldn’t regain their early confidence and flair, and no one wanted to put in effort to regain control of the game.

 

[maxta]

I think it was clear early they were prepared to run through brick walls, where we tried to pretty much out finesse them, which against a team who were always going to come out hard....a big mistake.
After playing sideways against a team prepared to cop a few bruises and do what it takes, we had to match them physically and fell well short.
Our abilty to break over the advantage line was tarnished by soft, flat footed attack, which then led to mistakes and pushed passes gifting them field position and many opportunities
Fact is the hungrier team won while the other team expected to turn up and let their mate get it done....unfortunately about 14 of the 17 had the same idea and it backfired
This comp is too close to turn up half hearted, or you will come away empty every day

 

[simon64]

Honest assessment.

They were sh!t but we were sh!tter.

If we were a racehorse, the stewards would be launching an inquiry.

 

[Under the Sticks]

I reckon there was a bit of deflategate going on too.

Never seen two teams in such dry weather drop the pill so much. Seemed suss.

And then there was Lomax horror goal attempt which also looked really suss.

 

[effnic]

Manly players had a Dragons in a multi and Dragons players had Manly in a multi. Only explanation i can think of for putting us through one of the worst games in NRL history.

 

[StuBoot]

I think it was clear early they were prepared to run through brick walls, where we tried to pretty much out finesse them, which against a team who were always going to come out hard....a big mistake.
After playing sideways against a team prepared to cop a few bruises and do what it takes, we had to match them physically and fell well short.
Our abilty to break over the advantage line was tarnished by soft, flat footed attack, which then led to mistakes and pushed passes gifting them field position and many opportunities
Fact is the hungrier team won while the other team expected to turn up and let their mate get it done....unfortunately about 14 of the 17 had the same idea and it backfired
This comp is too close to turn up half hearted, or you will come away empty every day

Yep, it was like we had jet lag three weeks late.

 

[Waz13]

The first Sloan try was not FG standard. Tom needs to develop some hard edge and desperation to his game. Chances are he was never gonna get Sloan but no way a player like Slater gives up and watched the try happen.

Slater would have lunged at Sloan like a rabies infected rat. legs first claws extended scratching and hissing, even if he didn’t get near him. That said Toms effort to stop rawalawa was solid.

 

[Waz13]

I think it was clear early they were prepared to run through brick walls, where we tried to pretty much out finesse them, which against a team who were always going to come out hard....a big mistake.
After playing sideways against a team prepared to cop a few bruises and do what it takes, we had to match them physically and fell well short.
Our abilty to break over the advantage line was tarnished by soft, flat footed attack, which then led to mistakes and pushed passes gifting them field position and many opportunities
Fact is the hungrier team won while the other team expected to turn up and let their mate get it done....unfortunately about 14 of the 17 had the same idea and it backfired
This comp is too close to turn up half hearted, or you will come away empty every day

I actually didn’t think they beat us through the middle so much as we just turned over way too much ball and just didn’t show them enough respect. The few times we actually decided to get in the grind a bit we were going through them. Just felt like there was zero actual game plan. Just get back to the roll through the middle approach and when on attack set up to the right (or left) post 15 out with a quick play the ball then sweeping shift. When they do that (with sone depth) it’s very hard for the opposition to stop Tom, brooks n co.

 

[Rafferty]

Honest assessment.

They were sh!t but we were sh!tter.

If we were a racehorse, the stewards would be launching an inquiry.

And the owners would be sending the nag to the glue factory.

 

[Rorz]

For a supposedly professional football side,they instead looked like part timers that play together occasionally.
The money there on to play just 80 minutes of football,that’s it,you would expect better than what they delivered,
Bellamy would’ve been furious,not Seibold he casually said the Dragons were the better team,but did anyone tell him we made them look the better team.
The supporters deserve better than what they served up,that was utterly abysmal.

 

[Once Was Brissie Kid]

I've no idea if this is the case, but with Souths, Roosters, Parra and then Penrith next week & a trip to NZ to follow, i reckon Manly may have tried to get away this week (training and prep) with a much lower level intensity. And paid for it.

Seems to me would have been far better to put in the bank the 2 points from beating Dragons, than the 50/50 (at best) chances for 2 points vs Parra, Penrith or NZ in NZ.

 

[Seagles68]

I actually didn’t think they beat us through the middle so much as we just turned over way too much ball and just didn’t show them enough respect. The few times we actually decided to get in the grind a bit we were going through them. Just felt like there was zero actual game plan. Just get back to the roll through the middle approach and when on attack set up to the right (or left) post 15 out with a quick play the ball then sweeping shift. When they do that (with sone depth) it’s very hard for the opposition to stop Tom, brooks n co.

I've just watched the replay and up to then only had the radio commentary and comments on here to judge what happened. And I agree that they didn't dominate us through the middle. There were moments when they had repeat sets and got a roll on through us a bit but all teams pretty much do that when the opposition is back peddling with some fatigue. We also did that to them a few times.

It was the inexplicable repeat drop balls and stupid passes that killed us.

For the most part we made good territory but couldn't finish off when we got in their zone. And they did defend pretty well in their 20. The big fellas did a reasonable job without being as dominant as they have been in the earlier games. It's not easy to sustain that every week and so after 3 tough games (including an o/s trip) it doesn't surprise me that we were off the pace yesterday. I am concerned though, that Ben doesn't offer a great deal in attack. I don't like how most of his runs slide off to one side and he gets picked off to easy. And as others have mentioned, he doesn't have an offload. For me, Waddell looks more useful at this point. Even if he isn't necessarily in the team for the Ben type roll.

And Paulo still seems to be out of position in the backline movements. We don't have the class outside back/wingers needed to be a real force. I still feel Saab and Rubes are our best wingers but we need a solid centre to complete the backline. And moving Rubes back to wing and having that class centre, doesn't look like happening anytime soon.

I look at this game as a bit of an aberration coz that level of error rate was unbelievable. Against Penrith I think we can regroup and get the forwards matching theirs but we will struggle out wide again. Yeo and Luia will look to exploit what is a clear weakness on the edge and out wide.

I don't know how we fix that with the current line up.

 

[silvereagle]

I've just watched the replay and up to then only had the radio commentary and comments on here to judge what happened. And I agree that they didn't dominate us through the middle. There were moments when they had repeat sets and got a roll on through us a bit but all teams pretty much do that when the opposition is back peddling with some fatigue. We also did that to them a few times.

It was the inexplicable repeat drop balls and stupid passes that killed us.

For the most part we made good territory but couldn't finish off when we got in their zone. And they did defend pretty well in their 20. The big fellas did a reasonable job without being as dominant as they have been in the earlier games. It's not easy to sustain that every week and so after 3 tough games (including an o/s trip) it doesn't surprise me that we were off the pace yesterday. I am concerned though, that Ben doesn't offer a great deal in attack. I don't like how most of his runs slide off to one side and he gets picked off to easy. And as others have mentioned, he doesn't have an offload. For me, Waddell looks more useful at this point. Even if he isn't necessarily in the team for the Ben type roll.

And Paulo still seems to be out of position in the backline movements. We don't have the class outside back/wingers needed to be a real force. I still feel Saab and Rubes are our best wingers but we need a solid centre to complete the backline. And moving Rubes back to wing and having that class centre, doesn't look like happening anytime soon.

I look at this game as a bit of an aberration coz that level of error rate was unbelievable. Against Penrith I think we can regroup and get the forwards matching theirs but we will struggle out wide again. Yeo and Luia will look to exploit what is a clear weakness on the edge and out wide.

I don't know how we fix that with the current line up.

Good post. I also thought our middles played well just poor execution from our edge / backline guys. I don't think you will see that many number of mistakes in one game ever again (hopefully).

For mine, I think Seibold needs to simplify Cherry's game. He looks like he has a lot going on in his mind out there. Just needs to focus more on getting that lethal right side attack moving.....rather than trying to make the breaks himself. That right side is more often than not just stagnant and I think that is because they don't know what Cherry is doing next. Hence no bodies in motion ala Panthers. When was the last time we saw a great backline sweeping move??? You would think with the likes of Haumole, Reubs and Paulo on your outside and Turbo lurking in and around there, you would have heaps of options. Take a leaf out of Brooks game on the left side. That would be my focus this week. A simple adjustment. Nothing drastic.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

By the look in the faces of the players in the dressing room post game I believe they were as shocked & devastated as we were.

I doubt we’ll see that level of performance again , they are better than that , & we & they , know it.

Would not surprise me if we beat Penrith this week, not an easy task , and probably unlikely , but at home , after that game , and with 3 Penrith players out including “ the man “ anything is possible.

 

[LeonardCohen]

It’s not that we didn’t make ground with the ball…there were some good charges throughout the game from Aloiai, Paseka, Sipley and Brown, but the intensity still wasn’t there. Watch some of our defensive efforts and tell me we turned up and just dropped some balls? It was alarming how passive we were in defence. The only reason we still made yards is because Saints suck, not because we turned up hungry.