How much is that halfback in the window ?

[SeaEagleRock8]

When DCE was lured into his backflip with a mega deal the club's thinking was hardly mysterious. You need ace halves to win a comp, but we'd just managed to lose both of ours. But we still wanted to be a premiership contender - not a rebuilding club, or a mid-table club.

However the ace halfback alone is never going to win you a comp. Best example I can think of is Thurston who finally won a comp in his 11th season with the Cows. Eleven seasons during which he regularly won awards, but just didn't have the team around him to go all the way. The ace half is the "cherry on top" but can't do it all himself.

Because Manly has always had such lofty ambitions, to actually win the premiership, I can understand the decision to keep the necessary 'cherry' on hand. But the reality is during all this time we've struggled to put a complete quality side together to give him the platform. Maybe at some stage we should have tried to trade DCE away and concentrate on first re-building a solid base roster, and just hope we'd be able to nab another top half when the team was peaking, as we did with Orford.

If he stays or goes now I don't care. But if he does go I can see a period of intense frustration for Manly fans as we try to develop a quality replacement. I really think a lot of the strong points in DCE won't be appreciated by some here until he's gone!

 

[Captain Moondog]

Not sure how much the half back in the window is but I went to visit my brother in Collaroy last week and he picked up an inflatable Nate Myles in a second hand shop for a buck.

 

[simon64]

When DCE was lured into his backflip with a mega deal the club's thinking was hardly mysterious. You need ace halves to win a comp, but we'd just managed to lose both of ours. But we still wanted to be a premiership contender - not a rebuilding club, or a mid-table club.

However the ace halfback alone is never going to win you a comp. Best example I can think of is Thurston who finally won a comp in his 11th season with the Cows. Eleven seasons during which he regularly won awards, but just didn't have the team around him to go all the way. The ace half is the "cherry on top" but can't do it all himself.

Because Manly has always had such lofty ambitions, to actually win the premiership, I can understand the decision to keep the necessary 'cherry' on hand. But the reality is during all this time we've struggled to put a complete quality side together to give him the platform. Maybe at some stage we should have tried to trade DCE away and concentrate on first re-building a solid base roster, and just hope we'd be able to nab another top half when the team was peaking, as we did with Orford.

If he stays or goes now I don't care. But if he does go I can see a period of intense frustration for Manly fans as we try to develop a quality replacement. I really think a lot of the strong points in DCE won't be appreciated by some here until he's gone!

You make some great points SER8.

I'm not trying to rip in to DCE. He's a quality player who is below his best for reasons that are not entirely attributable to him in my opinion.

But I also understand the sentiment that he's supposed to justify making a million plus a season with more than average performances. Regardless of who is around him. He's the captain and the most experienced player in the team.

We need a couple of quality front rowers to set the platform; players we might be able to afford with a little more space in the cap (Daly I'm looking at you). But right now we are sadly deficient in that area. Oshay is probably the only one I think is up to the standard. The rest are either a shadow of their former selves like Marty or just not intimidating enough like Paseka and Sipley. When I see the Rorters with JWH, Lodge, Collins and Taukeiaho as their front row rotation, ours is fair dinkum Z grade compared to that.

I hope we fix this over the off season because 2023 might be a long year. We haven't been able to match it with the Penrith's and Melbourne's for a long time.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

He is on

1.2 MILLION dollars per year.

There are 25 games in a year but his maximum is 22 due to Origin.

I know training, pre season, blah blah blah, but all of that is to support the game.

That's $54,545 per game.

Not only was he not worth 10% of that on Saturday, I struggle to think of a single game this year where he's come close to earning that.

Wow , when you break it down like that , phew !!!!

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

There’s no way he’ll just go to the club and say , “ I’m not worth 1.2 million cut me back to $700k “ so we are stuck with him at 1.2 million for 2023.

BUT

Boy there will be lots on here livid if his 3 year extension as anything like that.

 

[manly al]

Wish that D C E could put as much pressure on opposition to full backs and wingers with bombs and kicks through as Raiders Forgoty and other halfs can or do . Other halfs on probably about 1 / 3 of Dally 's wage . D C E does do so much better when his side is on the front foot more but he is being paid 1 . 2 or 3 mil to guide [ or expected to ] his team around the park when things are not so favorable momentum wise as well . Just seems a fairly straight forward approach really , either pass or selectively pass early or to the line with a reasonable positioning of his support runner and just to cut down the time the opposing defence has to read the play , Stop starting or running across the ruck , just easy pickings for his support players then and easy pickings himself when he takes on the line from in many instances , a standing start or even stationary . Really should be at the stage now of literally screaming at his side of the defensive line to number up properly or not rush up himself on occasions . Probably will always remain a very talented and capable player but just seems to assume sometimes[ or many times unfortunately ] that things do not need that much attention outside of his own playing zone range . anyway just seems unfortunate that other halfs again on far less money seem able to simplify their game and get better results in many cases .

 

[Peter C]

Wow , when you break it down like that , phew !!!!

However , if you break down Tommy's figure, it's far more frightening.

 

[manly al]

However , if you break down Tommy's figure, it's far more frightening.

Sadly you are right

 

[deanm]

Not sure how much the half back in the window is but I went to visit my brother in Collaroy last week and he picked up an inflatable Nate Myles in a second hand shop for a buck.
View attachment 22097

Still too expensive !

 

[40 nil]

Craig Field

A trivia question: Craig Field was the first NRL player to do what? Not an indiscretion, but a regular positive feature of play in most games these days.

 

[R3]

Not sure how much the half back in the window is but I went to visit my brother in Collaroy last week and he picked up an inflatable Nate Myles in a second hand shop for a buck.
View attachment 22097

It probably smells like my-
Nate Myles Poop Scoop

 

[HK_Eagle]

Given where we are at with DCE and the team constructed around him (and the limits with the cap restrictions) I don't see us winning a premiership. With everything going our way over a season, we could certainly be a top 4 team, but even then I couldn't see us as serious contenders... lucky perhaps?

Thus, I would certainly welcome the idea of moving DCE on, and investing in a young half on a low/minimum contract. Sure, it would be a calculated gamble, but at least it could free up some wriggle room in our cap so we can strengthen other areas that have suffered so badly over the last decade.

Putting personalities and individuals aside. I think the club needs to address the cap imbalance in our side's make-up. IMO, that is the real issue for our team.

 

[HK_Eagle]

I know that DCE is no where near his best at the moment but the halves will always find it hard to dominate when the pack are making paltry metres each set.

As for Foz, you say that we will miss his game management. Well, against the Raiders he put up a bomb that way way too deep, was easily caught in the in-goal by Canberra & gave them 7 tackles from the 20. He also put in a kick (from our own 10 meter line!!!) to no one & found touch 30 metres from our line, gifting the Raiders another attacking set on our line, which they scored from, on the 5th tackle.

What I am highlighting is the DCE bashing is over the top & anyone can pick examples from any player making errors & executing dumb plays.

Yes, Foz had an off game against the Raiders, but he has consistently shown superior game management over DCE throughout the whole season. Using the one off game as the anchor to your argument is misleading. If you think DCE is suddenly going to start managing games consistently after Foz leaves then you are doing so in hope and not based on behaviours to date.

 

[manly al]

A trivia question: Craig Field was the first NRL player to do what? Not an indiscretion, but a regular positive feature of play in most games these days.

40 / 20 playing for the West tigers ?

 

[40 nil]

40 / 20 playing for the West tigers ?

🙂 Yes, it was a 40/20 - in 1997 when he was a Sea Eagle. I only know this because I recently watched highlights of that game.

 

[Son of Manly Beach]

Hard to disagree with your list.
Real shame that we had Hynes and let him go.

I think Jerome Hughes is a fantastic player and is a huge factor in the current Storm side.
Sam Walker is the other one who's playing style is great.

DCE is a top bloke and has been awesome on so many occasions.
Unfortunately, he now looks out of ideas...Some of this would have to be due to the pack he's playing behind though

 

[manly al]

🙂 Yes, it was a 40/20 - in 1997 when he was a Sea Eagle. I only know this because I recently watched highlights of that game.

i don 't recall that one but did not have coverage for every Manly game in 97 , One i was thinking of was in 99 when he transferred to Balmain [ not Wests tigers at that stage ] early in that season , well pretty sure he did another one then and against Manly then , Recall Terry Hill gave him a bit of a rugged tackle some time after he kicked it as if to say , why didn 't you do the same for us during some previous Manly games