In praise of the Wolfman

[Brissie Kid]

I've put up with enough. The Wolfman's game in the grand final was ok by me. Just how would YOU stop those Roosters wingers? How would YOu catch that poorly directed pass from Lyon? People forget the magic try he scored in the final. We love you Wolfman!

Comments like this below from are rubbish imo.

Will Evans
Written on Friday, 11 October 2013

Wolfman's howler enters Grand Final hall of infamy

David Williams, a rookie-season premiership-winner in 2008, missed Manly's 2011 Grand Final triumph with a neck injury; the popular 'Wolfman' may be wishing he sat this year's decider out, too. Nine days earlier, Williams produced a freakish and decisive try to help propel the Sea Eagles into the big one, adding to what has been a career-best season for the winger. But after failing to contest two bombs – one which led directly to opposing winger Daniel Tupou's try, and another which gave the Roosters more possession and saw them climb back into the match – Williams, who also made three handling errors, joins the list of lamentable Grand Final shockers. He sits in snugly with Parramatta's 1976 fall guy Neville Glover, and Anthony Mundine, who botched a crucial try for St George Illawarra in 1999. The performance did the hapless Williams' bid to re-sign with Manly few favours.

http://backpagelead.com.au/index.php/league/11168-difficult-year-finishes-on-a-high

 

[Frogz]

Sorry BK, but somewhere in between both comments is about right....He did have a shocker though, of the worst kind.

 

[The Who]

He had a poor grand final, but to put his performance in the same boat as Neville Glover is demeaning to Wolfman.
Wingers should contest the bomb. It's a lottery, but to allow your opponent free catch on the ball, when they have momentum, will fail most times.
The modern winger has to be able to leap. Our two best wingers are not built for this aspect of the game, and it is one of their rare weaknesses.

 

[HappilyManly]

Wolfie made 3 unenforced errors in the GF.
Two uncontested balls, and once trying to pick up a loose balll instead of diving on it - this ultimately led to Tupou try.

Killer also knocked on after Wolfie looked at the Player instead of the bomb comming his way. So Manly had a defensive set up already, before Guerra's try which can only be Horo/Ballin's error.

I think that Wingers and Fullback errors are judged more harshly than missed tackles or dropped balls, due to the elapsed time between a bomb being kicked and taken - a good 3 seconds of anticipation which then resulted in disappointment
Whereas SBW strolling past Choc is simultaneous action and error occurence

So his GF errors hardly qualify him for the Writer's hall of howlers

Wolfie has good looks, wit and freakish footy skills so the 'Tall Poppy' Brigade will besmirch his reputation.

Some of you may recall that Wolfie was rumoured to be out for the Shark's Semi as he had hurt his lower back taking a bomb in the Captains Run.

Knowing how.much effort Wolfie has put in to overcome his career ending injuries, he will work on ball security and continue to amaze us with his skills

The Magistrate was right, 'Mr Williams is a trifle hard done by'

 

[MadMarcus]

I can't understand all the criticism he is copping for not contesting the bombs. That was obviously the strategy- and I think it was the right one. The problem was that his tackling after Tupou caught the ball wasn't quite strong enough to prevent Tupou scoring.

What do all these people criticising him for not contesting the bombs think would have happened if he contested them? Do they think he would have out-leapt Tupou, or somehow put enough pressure on Tupou to force an error?

The much more likely scenario would be that Wolfie would have been stuck in mid-air left to watch Tupou ground the ball. Then people would have been criticising him for contesting a ball he was never going to win...

We really needed to put more pressure on their halves to stop them from getting those kicks in the right position. We achieved that for most of the match with only a few lapses (one was because there was broken play off the back of a Roosters error if I remember correctly).

Wolfie had a tough gig and he did his best. The people leveling criticism at him like Evans obviously have no idea how hard it is to defend on your own line against an opposing winger who is a foot taller than you.

 

[Brissie Kid]

Thank you MadMarcus for setting it out so well.

As for Evans, I seem to recall from the videos that Glover was thrown the ball to his chest, with no tackler in front of him. Mundine was over the try line and dropped the ball cold. How anyone can put Wolfman's examples in the category of Glover and Mundine is baffling.

 

[globaleagle]

Wolfman sucks.

























And by sucks I mean he's totally awesome!

:d

 

[MK Eagle]

Tupou will score another 70 tries above wingers throughout his career.
Wolfs protection on that lottery play was non existent.
Also had ordinary inside service at key moments.
After watching the game on replay Wolf actually made some impressive runs through heavy traffic when players had hands on hips.
In reality it was far from his best game, but there were 5-6 big plays in attack & defence that had a massive impact on the result & Wolf can only lay claim to 1 imo.
Its often easiest to focus on a wingers blunders than bigger name players who missed vital tackles, dropped bombs or throw poor passes.
Hoping Wolf is found, could be a bigger hunt than the elusive Bigfoot....

 

[Nike]

he didnt suck, he got outplayed. **** happens and he'll learn from it, it's just a shame it had to be in a grandfinal.

 

[Mals]

Has Wolfy re-signed with MWSE?!? That is the question I want answered.

 

[HappilyManly]

Has Wolfy re-signed with MWSE?!? That is the question I want answered.

Monday is the start of the pre-season, so we will know then as the Press will be hounding him about the GF

Manly may need to send Wolfie to rehab at Curly too

 

[Arko-admirer]

I have said previously that I thought the match turning point (without having watched a replay) was Williams letting an uncontested bomb bounce off his chest near our line, which eventually allowed the Roosters to score.

The only charitable explanation is that he must have lost it in the lights.

 

[ALinda]

Has Wolfy re-signed with MWSE?!? That is the question I want answered.

Don't we all Mals!!

To answer this thread, as I said in another one, nobody's perfect. For Wolfman to cop the brunt of the GF loss is unfair and I'll be shattered if he leaves.

Speaking of re-signing, we still haven't been officially advised (at least not to my knowledge) that Killer has re-signed, which is also of much concern!

 

[IQofalimabean]

Wolfman had a good year overall. But something was wrong with manly's right side defense, even before the finals started. Hopefully, it gets sorted before the finals next year.

 

[niccipops]

I was chatting to my uncle the day after the GF. He's a parra fan but don't hold that against him. Top bloke.
We were talking about the game and when discussing the Tupou try, Ray just pointed out that the guy was twice as tall as Wolfie and there was no way Wolf could have got that ball.
A simple physical observation from a someone who doesn't support the Mighty Eagles or the silly chooks.
While he didn't produce his performance of the year in the GF there's something about Wolfie that makes me believe he'll work overtime to correct any errors in his game. I sincerely hope he stays an Eagle.

 

[DSM5]

Well, I'll put this out there. His defensive deficiencies have been obvious for a few seasons, and he doesn't seem to have corrected them. He comes in off his wing when not required and is suspect under the high ball. Id like to see the stats on how many tries he scores, and how many he lets in. he actually reminds me of Eric Grothe. he was a liability, in that he came up, couldn't turn and chase when a grubber was put in behind him, try every time. I also disagree with the Neville Glover Comparison, hes better than Glover ever was. But, I think he's done. If I was him, I'd be looking for a gig in the ESL. We have alternatives.

 

[the mauler]

Funny that no one was complaining when he won the prelim final against Souths. Fickle lot on here. This year has been his best since 08 by far.

 

[mickqld]

Wolf's effort in the GF, while not great, did not cost us the game and comes nowhere near the efforts of that asshole Hayne in costing us any chance at winning that game.

 

[globaleagle]

I was chatting to my uncle the day after the GF. He's a parra fan

Stopped reading there.

 

[niccipops]

I was chatting to my uncle the day after the GF. He's a parra fan

Stopped reading there.

Lol.
Love you Uncle Ray. Your team sucks though.