How things can change so dramatically so quickly.

[weev]

We are the definition of a 1 man team that's how..
Not saying the youth isn't helping, but Schuster played in 3 or so of the thrashings this year before tom came back..
Tom elevates the players . Tom frees up DCE and foz to play their game .. tom opens up the field for Parker and Saab and Harper n Garrick to make all those line breaks and long field movements..
This will get shot down, ofcourse, but I watched an entire season last year and a month this year of complete and utter ineptness from alot of these same players, and the ONLY reason they look great atm is because tom literally drags them to his level..
Guarantee the next game tom sits out we get 40 put on again..

Perfect example of the opposite is storm.. no papa, no Munster, no Hughes,no grant . Thats their entire rep quality spine, and they put 36 on Raiders... If that was Manly, Raiders woulda damn near hit 100 points ..
Reimes Smith, Addo carr, Nico Hynes, Olam, ALL stepped up and scored tries, set trys up.... We watched NONE of our backline score a single try in nearly 20 games because 1 bloke was injured... Ppl just seem to forget lol.. go ahead, hit the thumbs down, disagree etc, and go back to being shocked when we get flogged again every single time tom misses a game

We have origin to test this theory of whether we can play well in non - turbo mode.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

I just find it hard to believe everyone is having a love fest with mostly the same players that almost won our first wooden spoon last year and we're well on the way to this year's spoon if not for Barrett and his useless dogs.

This is the same team.. people want to keep arguing and carrying on that tom isn't the be all and end all of this team but he well and truely is and it's clearly backed up by the last year and a bit worth of patheticness weve dished up .

We were literally in a race with the dogs and Broncos for the spoon a month ago, we had a points average of 9 pts a game and a f/a of almost -200... Tom is the reason we now score 30 plus every game... Tom is the reason we have a positive f/a now . The rock hard facts have been Infront of us for well over a season now, no tom = no win... Not just no win, no tom = 40 point floggings.. these are absolute FACTS as we have lived thru it .
I just don't see why noone sees it now we are winning.. 6 weeks ago 90% of this forum wanted the same coach and players that they are gushing over now fired ... Another fact

Im getting confused now. We appear to be On the roundabout to nowhere.

I think when you say 90% of the forum wanted x players fired you are way off the mark.

There were and still are a small perhps 10-15% band of brothers and sisters that thought and think that way still.

The team just needed time and some tuning to come good and now we can see that.

you are dead set kidding yourself if you ever thought we were in a race for the spoon. It was round 4 FFS.

I for one was continually smacked down by these sunny day supporters for continually stating we would come good. Just wait a few weeks and lets support the team. New players need time to bed in. New defensive pattern takes time to work. Tommy will make a difference. Blah nlah blah.

As i said in an earlier post Tom hasnt made the player around him better. Hes just given them a second more time before the defence gets to them because they are so worried about turbo. Everyone in our team are professional NRL grade players. Fact.

 

[Kevinward777]

Can we just agree to disagree?All arguments and counter arguments are identical. For three pages!

Haha - classic.

 

[Kevinward777]

I don’t think we would have turned it around if walker was still fullback....... or 5/8!

just sayin’

But why would he be with Foz, Turbo, and Schuster available? He was filling in while Turbo was out, and he was there for our season defining round five victory. He filled in okay in 2019.

 

[ManlyTragic]

But why would he be with Foz, Turbo, and Schuster available? He was filling in while Turbo was out, and he was there for our season defining round five victory. He filled in okay in 2019.

Sorry bro...... but I have problems remembering back as far as 3 week let alone 3 years!

wasn’t that the year that COVID thing started?

 

[robbiea]

Tom is our catalyst.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I was unaware the the jury was out and your other factors were accepted as fact .... personally I discount the co-vid explanation as nonsense, all teams were in the same situation ... and whilst I respectfully won't enter into a debate on the loss of Keith Titmus as a reason, it is something that can't be qualified ... the figures of win/loss with and without Tom on the other hand can .... and the numbers would still be overwhelming even with a 50% seasonal adjustment and discount for an early plea ...

I confess I don't really understand what you are getting at. In the past you have implied that the coach is lacking, maybe that is what you are on about?
Which is fine. Some perfectly respectable posters provided their reasons for believing Des has lost it. Including purported inside info. And some helpful facts about early onset dementia.
And hey it's fine by me if you can't understand what has happened to the team. You can still enjoy the game I'm sure, and I know you're pleased by the turnaround in our fortunes.

 

[Moops]

Haha - classic.

There is only one way this debate will be settled and none of us want that to happen...

 

[Moops]

AKA .. the great Proclaimer ...

Yep, some people are tempting fate, aren't they? The footy gods may strike down Turbo next week and this debate will suddenly heat up again...

 

[Woodsie]

I confess I don't really understand what you are getting at. In the past you have implied that the coach is lacking, maybe that is what you are on about?
Which is fine. Some perfectly respectable posters provided their reasons for believing Des has lost it. Including purported inside info. And some helpful facts about early onset dementia.
And hey it's fine by me if you can't understand what has happened to the team. You can still enjoy the game I'm sure, and I know you're pleased by the turnaround in our fortunes.

You started well by confessing you don't really understand my point ... and then went on to tell me what it is ...

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Good, well I'm glad that's all cleared up!

 

[Bearfax]

I have always considered Des a good coach. However I have also tended to feel that he has a blind spot and is a little too loyal to the players he has selected, when the combination isnt working. It seemed that when he got the right players on the field his skill is shown. But its getting the right players on the field he seems to have some difficulty with, when things are failing. It took injuries to get Schuster, Harper, Keppie, Olakau'atu (sure he was injured for a bit but not selected early on) on the field and yet they have been four of our best in recent weeks

 

[Stewbojevic]

I have always considered Des a good coach. However I have also tended to feel that he has a blind spot and is a little too loyal to the players he has selected, when the combination isnt working. It seemed that when he got the right players on the field his skill is shown. But its getting the right players on the field he seems to have some difficulty with, when things are failing. It took injuries to get Schuster, Harper, Keppie, Olakau'atu (sure he was injured for a bit but not selected early on) on the field and yet they have been four of our best in recent weeks

Definitely agree with what you’ve said here. I think he may be a bit conservative too, which is why we struggle when we don’t have Tom playing because he adds that X Factor.

If you look at Des’ successful teams they all had a naturally gifted fullback who could turn the game in a play and finish off structured movements. Stewart, Barba, Turbo.

 

[Cliffymagic]

Would like to see either Garrick or Harper fill in while Tom is out for origen.
Both players would be super confident ATM. Harper loves talking so would be my first pick.
Hopefully someone other than Walker has been doing some training drills there.

 

[Stewbojevic]

Would like to see either Garrick or Harper fill in while Tom is out for origen.
Both players would be super confident ATM. Harper loves talking so would be my first pick.
Hopefully someone other than Walker has been doing some training drills there.

I like the sentiment but also want to keep Harper at centre!

 

[40 years an eagle]

How things can change so dramatically so quickly...take 2.

The great performances by what we all thought was a stop-gap signing, has really thrown the cat amongst the pigeons in regards to ongoing player retention.

Since his Manly debut after being signed while coming back from a serious achilles
injury, Karl Lawton has displayed qualities we were nowhere near prepared for. He is a footballer, plays with skill and passion and could cover just about every position on the park. He does all the 1%'ers, the hard stuff, backs up and has a great attitude. He has been a recruiting revelation.
His very attractive GF stalked him on social media to meet him and was quoted saying "I hope he doesn't get knocked around so he doesn't remember me", so it appears he is a good guy to boot!
This guy is almost too good to be true...can we have 3 of him please?

His emergence has thrown the contractual future of 3 or 4 players at MWSE in a spin.
The futures of Cust, Walker, The Frog and Sirloin are all affected by his ability to make them surplus to our needs...he can cover all those guys probably better than any of them can, it seems
It is not just Karl Lawton...it is how players with his attributes can be invaluable in this "new game". His type are a squad-changer!

I'm not saying we can dump several players because he can cover them all, as an injury would void his value, but geeze i'd like to have 3 of him.

I hope he has lit a light globe in Des' brain.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

The court jester from 1983 (or is he 83 years old?) has gone very quiet.

 

[Waz13]

How things can change so dramatically so quickly...take 2.

The great performances by what we all thought was a stop-gap signing, has really thrown the cat amongst the pigeons in regards to ongoing player retention.

Since his Manly debut after being signed while coming back from a serious achilles
injury, Karl Lawton has displayed qualities we were nowhere near prepared for. He is a footballer, plays with skill and passion and could cover just about every position on the park. He does all the 1%'ers, the hard stuff, backs up and has a great attitude. He has been a recruiting revelation.
His very attractive GF stalked him on social media to meet him and was quoted saying "I hope he doesn't get knocked around so he doesn't remember me", so it appears he is a good guy to boot!
This guy is almost too good to be true...can we have 3 of him please?

His emergence has thrown the contractual future of 3 or 4 players at MWSE in a spin.
The futures of Cust, Walker, The Frog and Sirloin are all affected by his ability to make them surplus to our needs...he can cover all those guys probably better than any of them can, it seems
It is not just Karl Lawton...it is how players with his attributes can be invaluable in this "new game". His type are a squad-changer!

I'm not saying we can dump several players because he can cover them all, as an injury would void his value, but geeze i'd like to have 3 of him.

I hope he has lit a light globe in Des' brain.

Great player and quality pick up. Have said it in another thread he’s the first guy picked in the 14 jumper. Guys like Lawton and Connor Watson are so valuable these days as the cover so many positions.

In relation to the guys you mention, I’d keep Frog (if Fainu goes to the clink) maybe Cust and that’s it. Siro and Walker gone for mine.

 

[Kevinward777]

Would like to see either Garrick or Harper fill in while Tom is out for origen.
Both players would be super confident ATM. Harper loves talking so would be my first pick.
Hopefully someone other than Walker has been doing some training drills there.

Great call.

 

[Kevinward777]

The court jester from 1983 (or is he 83 years old?) has gone very quiet.

Nah he's he's around, courting other like-minded posters in various threads.