If we had 2 x DCE

[maxta]

The first would stay at 7 where DCE plays for Qld and australia
The 2nd DCE would play at 9 and I reckon he has the attributes to do so, including handling the defensive load
Plays heads up footy and is quick and zippy through the middle, most importantly knows how to bring his forwards through the line with timing and iscolating defenders....he laid on two ripper tries last night that close to the line and 1 from dummy half was a Harry Grant replica, plus has the ultimate short kicking game which from dummy half particularly close to the tryline - is invaluable.
Anyways, we only got 1 DCE and he is our Best 7, but moments he flashes out of dummy half shows the impact a 9 can have in the modern game and how much it can improve your go forward

 

[Chip and Chase]

The only highlight from last night was that ball he threw to Guac for his try. Can he etch that into his brain so we see more of that please. Much, much better than crowding him out and then turning him under. The kid is a strike weapon for us, hopefully DCE can work more of those short balls with him.

I'm not sure about DCE's defence anymore, it's really dropped off the last couple of seasons. Both in his hit and stick ability and his reading. He seems to be all jumper grab, judo throw style these days. And he rushes up and in and puts pressure on his outside defenders. His missed tackle count had to be higher than Harpers last night. I don't think he'd cut it defending in the middle these days

 

[Marto1970]

The only highlight from last night was that ball he threw to Guac for his try. Can he etch that into his brain so we see more of that please. Much, much better than crowding him out and then turning him under. The kid is a strike weapon for us, hopefully DCE can work more of those short balls with him.

I'm not sure about DCE's defence anymore, it's really dropped off the last couple of seasons. Both in his hit and stick ability and his reading. He seems to be all jumper grab, judo throw style these days. And he rushes up and in and puts pressure on his outside defenders. His missed tackle count had to be higher than Harpers last night. I don't think he'd cut it defending in the middle these days

E was still rushing up in the second half but Koula was going with him ,Harper and Saab are backpedaling all the time

 

[Rocky]

DCE to hooker - been banging this drum for a while (as have some others)

In my view it's the only "tweak" to the current squad that could give us the upside the win a competition. A spine of TT,JS,KF and DCE is the only current path I can see where we could have the firepower to beat a Melbourne or Penrith (obviously the forwards to need put in as well).

I'm not saying it would work - to be clear. I view it as the only roll of the dice we have within us to beat the top teams.

1. Tommy
2. Garrick
3. Parker
4. Koula
5. Saab/Tupilotu
6. Schuster
7. Foran
13. Jake
12. Davey
11. Haumole
10. Paseka
9. DCE
8. Aloiai

14. Marty
15. Bullemoor
16. Walker
17. Keppie/Sippley/Lawton

 

[tookey]

We would have dropped the ball twice from the kickoff with two DCE's

I would rather two Tommy T's

 

[alafua8]

DCE to hooker - been banging this drum for a while (as have some others)

In my view it's the only "tweak" to the current squad that could give us the upside the win a competition. A spine of TT,JS,KF and DCE is the only current path I can see where we could have the firepower to beat a Melbourne or Penrith (obviously the forwards to need put in as well).

I'm not saying it would work - to be clear. I view it as the only roll of the dice we have within us to beat the top teams.

1. Tommy
2. Garrick
3. Parker
4. Koula
5. Saab/Tupilotu
6. Schuster
7. Foran
13. Jake
12. Davey
11. Haumole
10. Paseka
9. DCE
8. Aloiai

14. Marty
15. Bullemoor
16. Walker
17. Keppie/Sippley/Lawton

Great team ,this is the line up that can move us to the next level with maybe Lawton at 15 and Bullemor/Sippley/Keppie sharing 17 .Hope they will all be fit at the same time .

 

[frank stokes]

The only highlight from last night was that ball he threw to Guac for his try. Can he etch that into his brain so we see more of that please. Much, much better than crowding him out and then turning him under. The kid is a strike weapon for us, hopefully DCE can work more of those short balls with him.

No coincidence that his best moment did not involve him having to wait for, scramble for or juggle a pass from Croker out of dummy half...
Some STers mocked Api for his "sh*t passing" - well he was Tom *****ng Brady compared to Froggy...

 

[Nordburg]

The only highlight from last night was that ball he threw to Guac for his try. Can he etch that into his brain so we see more of that please. Much, much better than crowding him out and then turning him under. The kid is a strike weapon for us, hopefully DCE can work more of those short balls with him.

I'm not sure about DCE's defence anymore, it's really dropped off the last couple of seasons. Both in his hit and stick ability and his reading. He seems to be all jumper grab, judo throw style these days. And he rushes up and in and puts pressure on his outside defenders. His missed tackle count had to be higher than Harpers last night. I don't think he'd cut it defending in the middle these days

I agree re DCE’s defence,so anyone suggesting he moves to dummy half,has been trying to tackle Talakai around the chest too often.To be fair to DCE though,he’s played a lot of footy and is 33 so his body isn’t going to want to do what it once could.The problem he creates with his rushing up or misreading is not helping those outside him and that’s the concern.And whilst you can take out what you want of the 2nd half,the right side of defence looked a lot straighter and compact and Koula was hitting Talakai square on and with less time for him to get a bit of steam up.Probably had a bit to do with the Sharks 2nd half effort than anything else,but so be it.One thing I found an issue with in the 2nd half was that all the sweeping backline moves were down the left with Foran,the slowest side of attack.Plays should of been set up to utilise Olakau’atu,Koula and Saab more often

 

[Shoe1]

He has been good at dummy half a few times this year, good running from there. I hope that is the plan for his future.

 

[johnperi01]

As bad as Harper was last night, it’s no coincidence that teams target our right side defence, which is led by DCE.
Our left side defence is much more solid, and even though Koula will make a big difference ongoing we still need to address these issues.
Also, our attack looked so much better when DCE shot out of dummy half (Paseka’s try) the most obvious example.
As hard as Croker tries, we will never match the better teams without a quality number 9.

 

[mickqld]

OMG no no no no no no. The only thing saving our arse on several occasions was Croker's defense last night from an even bigger flogging. DCE defense is appalling and it wasn't only Harper out there causing the mess down that side. Jumper/arm grabbing, backpedalling, static frozen in fear defense, all out that side.

 

[frank stokes]

OMG no no no no no no. The only thing saving our arse on several occasions was Croker's defense last night from an even bigger flogging. DCE defense is appalling and it wasn't only Harper out there causing the mess down that side. Jumper/arm grabbing, backpedalling, static frozen in fear defense, all out that side.

No argument that he is a great defender... always has been...
Not a 9 tho and not a 6 as ball-playing is not his strength imo...

 

[manly al]

Interesting suggestion Foz and Shuster in the halves and D C E as a 9 but can 't see it happening . D C E " kicking game still much more effective as the 7 and attacking role and options still much more suited there despite the still occasional lapses there . Think that his defence a still up to par , at least one on one and some decent cover . Again just seems an entirely improved edge when koula is at centre and on D C E "s side

 

[Brookie Bob]

I'm not sure about DCE's defence anymore, it's really dropped off the last couple of seasons. Both in his hit and stick ability and his reading. He seems to be all jumper grab, judo throw style these days. And he rushes up and in and puts pressure on his outside defenders. His missed tackle count had to be higher than Harpers last night. I don't think he'd cut it defending in the middle these days

Last night:

Morgan Harper (41 minutes played)
Tackles Made: 5
Missed Tackles: 3
Ineffective Tackles: 3
Tackle Efficiency: 45.45%

Daly Cherry-Evans (80 minutes played)
Tackles Made: 19
Missed Tackles: 5
Ineffective Tackles: 3
Tackle Efficiency: 70.37%

Stats of course don't tell the whole story, and highlighting two right-side players can be flawed - but it does tell a tale.

Tackle efficiency is a reasonable metric. Everyone else in the Manly team last night tackled at 80% tackle efficiency or above - with the exception of Reuben Garrick at 50%. Garrick must have been sick of seeing 4 to 5 Cronulla players coming at him through our (lack-of) defense line.

So - a poor night out from Harper, with probably some degree culpability from DCE. Even the maligned (reading today's posts) Saab tackled at 80% efficiency, the same as Parker; and not far off Foran (83.33%), Walker (81.25%), Paseka (85.71%), and Lawton (85.29%).

The biggest insight for me was Nico Hynes' post-match interview - he admitted that they had researched it and targeted Manly's left-side defence (O'lakau'atu, Cherry-Evans, Harper, Saab) as the area where we've conceded most of our points this year.

So - put your biggest running attacking weapon (Talakai) straight up against our weakest defensive area, and let the points flow. Not rocket science coaching from Fitzgibbon, but good enough to shred our defense for 40 minutes till we worked out how to counter it.

I've seen a ton of posts on how our centres are not up to it in attack. Ok - I get it; I honestly don't think that we have the $$ across the park to make every position a top-tier weapon in attack. Few teams do.

I do have an expectation that each player can aspire to a tackle efficiency of at least 80% in a game. Is it team defensive tactics or poor personal defense attributes - or a bit of both?

Koula improves our right-side defense - against the same Cronulla attack, his tackle efficiency was 87.5%. Maybe having Koula on our right hand side will improve DCE's defense - if you trust the players around you, perhaps your defensive reads (and execution) will be better.

 

[Brookie Bob]

We would have dropped the ball twice from the kickoff with two DCE's

I would rather two Tommy T's

How about 5?

 

[QueefRichards]

Id rather he gets playing halfback right every week first.

He looked like an impetuous rookie out there last night putting pressure on his outside men both in defense and attack

 

[mave]

Could be the best 9 in the comp.
It's no secret I think it's potentially his best position.

Hopefully with the contract extension, and a smaller pay packet, a stint at 9 is on the cards in the next year or two.

 

[jbb/james]

Oh good lord NO.

DCE loads up on certain skills but is way down on others, like patience, game management,and even game awareness, so the other dce would need to have these .

In the first half last night as they read us the riot act a smart captain would have found the line, gave us a chance to regroup , catch a breath but he played into the sharks hands by taking options that did the opposite , constantly keeping the ball in play . the saying half time couldnt come soon enough was ringing true as we tried to squeeze every available minute out of the first half for our opponents to bitchwhip us silly

Its true we need another top half to compliment Dce but he probably needs to be better and more consistent than the current one and there is no way any team can afford that. Foran is taking more control weekly and we are in trouble next season of we cant find room for him and schuster in the team.

if no salary cap, no reputation just based form and skills and dce is the best 14 in the comp, very craig wing

 

[MissKate]

The only highlight from last night was that ball he threw to Guac for his try. Can he etch that into his brain so we see more of that please. Much, much better than crowding him out and then turning him under. The kid is a strike weapon for us, hopefully DCE can work more of those short balls with him.

I'm not sure about DCE's defence anymore, it's really dropped off the last couple of seasons. Both in his hit and stick ability and his reading. He seems to be all jumper grab, judo throw style these days. And he rushes up and in and puts pressure on his outside defenders. His missed tackle count had to be higher than Harpers last night. I don't think he'd cut it defending in the middle these days

If you look at the stats for other 7’s DCE has made more tackles and at a higher success rate than most of the others this season so far

 

[jbb/james]

If you look at the stats for other 7’s DCE has made more tackles and at a higher success rate than most of the others this season so far

His defence isnt a big issue, some of his reads cause probs but most halfbacks are suspect in some way. Its not what he is there for, his style of defence in my eyes shows a lot about his approach to the attack but thats another can of whoop asss

poor rate of posession is a key indicator in that tackle stat though . Poor ball security and poor game management seem to be the major villians in this story, more than most he has some control of that