Is a good loss a thing?

[LeonardCohen]

Depends how you define '1st grade quality'. To me it means a player who is a regular 1st grader.

As for Manly, we are not top tier but are getting closer to that. Maybe not improving as fast as the Bulldogs, but this only highlights the fact that it's all about recruiting (or developing) better players.

Manly has plenty of good players but we need more, simple as that!

Interesting…

I kinda think our roster is better than the Dogs, regardless of who they’ve recruited. It’s just working for them because their coach obviously knows what he is doing and is getting the best out of some average talent, much like Bellamy.

I know they signed Crichton, Mahoney and Kikau but the rest are all pretty run of the mill and were signings many experts were critical of. Compare Tom and DCE to Tracey and Sexton?! We’ve got superior speed on the edges and our own big weapon in Olakau’atu to cancel out Kikau. They’ve got Hughes starting in the front row and Salmon playing a heap of edge. Who are they really? Hughes is fresh on the scene and Salmon was the weak gutted dog that got a game at Penrith when everyone else was injured. Now he’s a regular starter in the forwards, having played most of his junior years in the backs. Neither are established first graders. Then you look at their bench and it’s very thin.

The reason they went and signed so many players is because they turned over the entire squad of 30 players in the space of three years. They had the coin to go to market. We’ve already got our big name equivalents on the roster to begin with, hence our lack of marquee signings.

 

[Cameron]

it’s a moral victory for us. Shows we have ticker! We can win this comp with our best team on the park.

Is that you Ben Stokes lol. Sorry mate could help but have a dig at pommies.

 

[Cliffymagic]

I dont think the roosters put the cue in the deck. They came out to test thier finals intensity and pulverized us for 20 min or so. Then they started to tire. Perhaps we start with some full on intensity now to give us any hope.

 

[silvereagle]

Now, I do concede that Ola, Hoppa, Koula, Garrick and Saab could all make a difference to our attack inside 20. So there’s that.

This is the part that gives me lots of confidence that we can still compete for the title this year. Get these guys back into the team and I think we compete against any of your "Top 4" sides. On top of this we get Ben back into that backrow position where he belongs. The way he smashed Leniu will do me any time any day. In addition we hopefully get Aloiai back running fit and healthy again on two legs. He was a passenger from the opening run so all credit to him for gutsing it out the way he did. Then I think we compete a little differently to what we saw against the Roosters.

Lets move on from Saturday. That was simply a case of one team turning up to win while the other team turned up to play.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I kinda think our roster is better than the Dogs, regardless of who they’ve recruited. It’s just working for them because their coach obviously knows what he is doing and is getting the best out of some average talent, much like Bellamy.

Yep looks that way, they are chalk and cheese compared with last year's version. 2nd best defence in the comp after being a distant last in 2023 is a feather in Ciraldo's cap any way you look at it.

One thing that has worked for them is those 'average players' are all competent and mobile, they didn't buy any lumbering giants. Which I thought would leave them struggling up front, but it's turned out the opposite.

 

[eaglebuzz]

We were playing with a spare parts second row, a back rower at centre, a starting front rower picked up a cork at the beginning of the game, and we lost a centre and winger to HIAs in the first half, and only lost by 4.

We were outplayed on the weekend but at full strength, or even with just a little more of our best 17 available, we would have won that match. At full strength we would have murdered them.

The sky isn't falling yet.

 

[The Who]

Interesting…

I kinda think our roster is better than the Dogs, regardless of who they’ve recruited. It’s just working for them because their coach obviously knows what he is doing and is getting the best out of some average talent, much like Bellamy.

I know they signed Crichton, Mahoney and Kikau but the rest are all pretty run of the mill .

You forgot Burton and Addo-Carr. Each of those five would be on big money; much more than they were receiving at their old clubs. Plus next year they have recruited Tupouniua and, if reported correctly, Stefano....
Gus has found a sombrero.

 

[MW66]

To answer your question, NO. When the whips were cracking early, we were lacking. Some of the turnstile defence was particularly concerning.

 

[LeonardCohen]

Yep looks that way, they are chalk and cheese compared with last year's version. 2nd best defence in the comp after being a distant last in 2023 is a feather in Ciraldo's cap any way you look at it.

One thing that has worked for them is those 'average players' are all competent and mobile, they didn't buy any lumbering giants. Which I thought would leave them struggling up front, but it's turned out the opposite.

Absolutely agree. The strength of Penrith’s game the last 4-5 years is the mobility of their pack in defence. Their middles move really quickly and cover ground that alleviates the threat on the edges because those defenders are not getting sucked infield all time. That’s why they’ve been the benchmark in D during this period.

He’s gone to the Dogs and it’s taken them a while to adapt but he purchased the right players to do the job. Mobile middle forwards that scramble and play uptempo footy.

 

[Tragic Eagle]

As long as it doesn't happen again this season!

 

[LeonardCohen]

You forgot Burton and Addo-Carr. Each of those five would be on big money; much more than they were receiving at their old clubs. Plus next year they have recruited Tupouniua and, if reported correctly, Stefano....
Gus has found a sombrero.

Yeah the Stefano thing has really baffled me. Surely they’re at capacity already?

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Neither are established first graders.

By the way, quite right about Hughes, he's come from nowhere and has been good, but it's not true that Salmon wasn't an established first grader. As a utility he didn't have a regular starting spot but did play over 40 games with Penrith in his last 2 seasons there, including winning two grand finals, and was pretty much a fixture in their best 17.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Absolutely agree. The strength of Penrith’s game the last 4-5 years is the mobility of their pack in defence

With all the giants Manly has under contract, surely our next forward signings must be smaller types. Ideally with Brown's current attitude and energy.

At least Seibold moved on Tuilagi and Schu, and is bringing Navale through, so I don't think he's totally blind to the defense issue. Our match v Dogs will be very interesting from a coaching duel viewpoint.

 

[Pete W]

This is why I believe Talau should be moved to edge forward (to replace Lawton), Navale and Dunford in the middle to join Bullemor and Brown. And Croker to lock forward. This will greatly improve pack mobility.
I wouldn't carry any more than 2 big boppers. For mine, Paseka and Laiafi.
Jake is the only exception.

(This means unfortunately letting go of guys like Sipley, Aloiai, Lodge, James, Condon, etc)

 

[Rocky]

This is why I believe Talau should be moved to edge forward (to replace Lawton), Navale and Dunford in the middle to join Bullemor and Brown. And Croker to lock forward. This will greatly improve pack mobility.
I wouldn't carry any more than 2 big boppers. For mine, Paseka and Laiafi.
Jake is the only exception.

(This means unfortunately letting go of guys like Sipley, Aloiai, Lodge, James, Condon, etc)

Croker to lock.....my rosterbating fantasy coming true.

 

[LeonardCohen]

By the way, quite right about Hughes, he's come from nowhere and has been good, but it's not true that Salmon wasn't an established first grader. As a utility he didn't have a regular starting spot but did play over 40 games with Penrith in his last 2 seasons there, including winning two grand finals, and was pretty much a fixture in their best 17.

geez I have to think very specifically about what I say or you’ll find a hole in something 😂
Established starting forward is probably more what I meant. He pretty much always came off the bench for Penrith as a utility and couldn’t nail down a starting spot. He’s certainly not what I would consider hot property as an edge forward and I was surprised the Dogs thought to use him there as a permanent fixture.

 

[LeonardCohen]

This is why I believe Talau should be moved to edge forward (to replace Lawton), Navale and Dunford in the middle to join Bullemor and Brown. And Croker to lock forward. This will greatly improve pack mobility.
I wouldn't carry any more than 2 big boppers. For mine, Paseka and Laiafi.
Jake is the only exception.

(This means unfortunately letting go of guys like Sipley, Aloiai, Lodge, James, Condon, etc)

You can bet we won’t be letting Aloiai go because he just re-signed. I think Navale should definitely be there somewhere. I also don’t think Aloiai is lacking speed and mobility when fully fit. But he should probably be interchanged with Paseka. I’d use Tent like NAS at Melbourne. He should come off the bench and destroy tired defenders. There’s just not enough energy and intent in his game to combat an opposition that comes out firing.