Just does my head in

[madmax]

Hows Walker going for ya ?

Pretty decent playing out of position! Better than quite a few others for sure.

 

[Eagles4Life]

And also look at the past situation and pattern with previous established and notable Manly halves , Tooves , Des Monaghan , half backs to 9 and not too much fan fare or concern and all doing very well there . So maybe DCE to 9 now , not as radical as it may seem and with Foz to take on the 7 role . Schuster or Walker to 6 [ and i think Dylan would not be concerned whether he played centre or 6 , just be pleased to get away from full back i "d say ]

Even Hasler spent some time as a nine.

 

[Highflier]

I like DCE to 9 aswell. If he doesn't like it then maybe it might force him to move on to another club. Win win really. Every time DCE goes to 9 he looks dangerous. It also allows Fuz and Schuster in the halves with Cust as utility. All of a sudden our spine looks good.

You could at the very least ,try it.
If we get beaten again by more than 40 to say 6 then we know it didn’t work .But I actually think that will give DCE a freshen up and give a game controller like Foran a chance to work with the creative Schu.
I agree when DCE does go to 9 we look better same as with Cust to a degree
The results for the last 12 months have been abysmal,the above experiment could be no worse imho.

 

[susan]

Bedsy played half early on.. Joey played for the blues there.
The new quicker game suits players with halfback skills as well.
We have to have Foran DCE and Shuster playing in positions where they can hurt the opposition. Trying to get three into two by wearing out Shuster in the pigs isn’t helping.

 

[HoldenV8]

100 per cent !

Only thing is I don’t want to consign Walker to the release list till he gets a proper run at centre for a decent stretch. Centres are thin on the ground right now as pretty sure Staggs is staying at Broncos , plus he’d break the bank.
if he goes ordinary or gets injured long term again yep he needs to go but if he gets back even close to his best he can win matches for you .

Its frustrating when people say we need to release Walker because he hasn't provided value for money. The fact is that we bought him as a centre, yet this is his 6th season with Manly and he's really only played one of those years as a centre. Otherwise he's played mostly 5/8 with some fullback thrown in.

Walker has played 85 games for Manly:
Centre - 36
5/8 - 44
Fullback - 5

The only year with us he has played exclusively as a centre was 2017. Funny ... he won the Dally M Centre of the Year in 2017.....since then he's only played 11 games there, and none since Round 17 of 2019 (a 20-21 loss to Souffs at ANZ).

Play him as a centre and you'll probably get the best out of him. Problem is that we haven't done that very much.

 

[manlyfan76]

Its frustrating when people say we need to release Walker because he hasn't provided value for money. The fact is that we bought him as a centre, yet this is his 6th season with Manly and he's really only played one of those years as a centre. Otherwise he's played mostly 5/8 with some fullback thrown in.

Walker has played 85 games for Manly:
Centre - 36
5/8 - 44
Fullback - 5

The only year with us he has played exclusively as a centre was 2017. Funny ... he won the Dally M Centre of the Year in 2017.....since then he's only played 11 games there, and none since Round 17 of 2019 (a 20-21 loss to Souffs at ANZ).

Play him as a centre and you'll probably get the best out of him. Problem is that we haven't done that very much.

I think part of it is he only plays 15 games a year then his off seasons are too drama filled.

 

[HoldenV8]

The story of Dylan Walker since he has been at Manly:

2016 - bought as a centre, but played 5/8 due to Killer's reluctance to play in the halves. They finally swapped mid-season.

2017 - We got Blake Green and Walks was back to centre where he won the positional Dally M.

2018 - Missed the first 9 games after PM's XIII injury, but still played centre despite no Green. After Croker's injury he was back to 5/8 and still played there after his own injury (eye socket thanks to his fight with Curtis Scott) and Barrett wanting to play Hodkinson off the bench.

2019 - Again missed the start (stood down) and returned in the centres. Then after losing Elgey and Croker, along with Des being a bit reluctant to continue playing then rookie Cust, Walks was back to 5/8.

2020 - With Fainu stood down and Api let go, Croker was moved to backup dummy half. But with Des again reluctant to play Cust or drop either Parker or Suli (or Garrick or Jorge), Walks was again the 5/8 until his foot injuries killed his season.

2021 - Playing the unfamiliar role of fullback (only played once before this year - in 2016) because of Tom's injury 2 weeks out from the season start.

We've rarely let him settle in one position, let alone his best position. The one time we did ... he excelled.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

If in 2022 we bought

A decent 9, the new fella can be backup ( this is on the assumption the court case goes belly up ).

A decent 1 backup ( we are stuck with Tommy Tissue for a few years yet and who knows he might come good).

A decent hard nosed running back rower.

This is after sacking about 6 of the current squad , you’ll all know the ones.

And bring up some juniors AND give them a run.

Even Saab ( who has been terrible ) would probably go ok with a team working hard together.

We don’t need to sack everyone , we just need to clear the deadwood and get some attitude back.

It is NOT rocket science !’

 

[BOZO]

The story of Dylan Walker since he has been at Manly:

2016 - bought as a centre, but played 5/8 due to Killer's reluctance to play in the halves. They finally swapped mid-season.

2017 - We got Blake Green and Walks was back to centre where he won the positional Dally M.

2018 - Missed the first 9 games after PM's XIII injury, but still played centre despite no Green. After Croker's injury he was back to 5/8 and still played there after his own injury (eye socket thanks to his fight with Curtis Scott) and Barrett wanting to play Hodkinson off the bench.

2019 - Again missed the start (stood down) and returned in the centres. Then after losing Elgey and Croker, along with Des being a bit reluctant to continue playing then rookie Cust, Walks was back to 5/8.

2020 - With Fainu stood down and Api let go, Croker was moved to backup dummy half. But with Des again reluctant to play Cust or drop either Parker or Suli (or Garrick or Jorge), Walks was again the 5/8 until his foot injuries killed his season.

2021 - Playing the unfamiliar role of fullback (only played once before this year - in 2016) because of Tom's injury 2 weeks out from the season start.

We've rarely let him settle in one position, let alone his best position. The one time we did ... he excelled.

You said it all feathered friend !

 

[manlyfan76]

If in 2022 we bought

A decent 9, the new fella can be backup ( this is on the assumption the court case goes belly up ).

A decent 1 backup ( we are stuck with Tommy Tissue for a few years yet and who knows he might come good).

A decent hard nosed running back rower.

This is after sacking about 6 of the current squad , you’ll all know the ones.

And bring up some juniors AND give them a run.

Even Saab ( who has been terrible ) would probably go ok with a team working hard together.

We don’t need to sack everyone , we just need to clear the deadwood and get some attitude back.

It is NOT rocket science !’

And coach?

 

[BOZO]

And coach?

Give him a little more time and a little more rope
He will either pull himself out of this
Or hang him self

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

And coach?

I’m basing this on him still being there but either ( through threat of sacking) accepting a decent back up assistant coach with experience OR finally adapting to the new environment.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

It's mathematics. Have a look at club by club of off contract players . Ten would be close to average.

NRL Players Off Contract 2022 | NRL Contracts

A complete list of NRL players who are off contract at the end of the 2022 rugby league season.

www.zerotackle.com

Thanks ... if you look at the names and I only quickly looked at the Raiders and the Storm - many of those will be resigned. So in reality it wont be anything like 10 for a number of clubs. Our roster will turn over massively.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

To be fair, I don’t think people slamming Elliot as no good and then being upset that Des didn’t recruit a fullback backfill is a problem. Elliot wasn’t up to it and just suffered an ACL. Not retaining him was the right play but not replacing him with a more appropriate player is an issue.

It is the same issue as having no hooker which is unacceptable. We were able to bring in players into the top thirty - they just didn’t prioritise the right positions other than front row (given AFB left).

I totally understand your point re the ten contracts coming to an end this year; however, we see players released early all the time - some two years in advance, let alone one. So those two key positions should have been addressed.

Again you are not accepting that there has to be a team or teams wanting to sign the players we are offloading. The reality is that not many of our players in any will be picked up by NRL squads with this new game. Elliott I disagree - he was a very safe and solid backup - not fl;ash but gee we would use him right now.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Lucky for the Roosters, Storm, Rabbits, Eels etc. that they just happened to have the players for a post 2020 game.
Who'd a thunk it?

Not sure they are "lucky" - their game plan was very different to ours. It was more about ball movement. Ours was a strangle and grindstone type of game and so we had players who fitted that style but they don't fit the new game at all.

 

[Hotspur2014]

The story of Dylan Walker since he has been at Manly:

2016 - bought as a centre, but played 5/8 due to Killer's reluctance to play in the halves. They finally swapped mid-season.

2017 - We got Blake Green and Walks was back to centre where he won the positional Dally M.

2018 - Missed the first 9 games after PM's XIII injury, but still played centre despite no Green. After Croker's injury he was back to 5/8 and still played there after his own injury (eye socket thanks to his fight with Curtis Scott) and Barrett wanting to play Hodkinson off the bench.

2019 - Again missed the start (stood down) and returned in the centres. Then after losing Elgey and Croker, along with Des being a bit reluctant to continue playing then rookie Cust, Walks was back to 5/8.

2020 - With Fainu stood down and Api let go, Croker was moved to backup dummy half. But with Des again reluctant to play Cust or drop either Parker or Suli (or Garrick or Jorge), Walks was again the 5/8 until his foot injuries killed his season.

2021 - Playing the unfamiliar role of fullback (only played once before this year - in 2016) because of Tom's injury 2 weeks out from the season start.

We've rarely let him settle in one position, let alone his best position. The one time we did ... he excelled.

You don’t use a hammer to tighten a screw !
You don’t use a centre to play fullback !
Using the right tool to do a professional job is therefore very important, BUT at Manly not so !!

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Its frustrating when people say we need to release Walker because he hasn't provided value for money. The fact is that we bought him as a centre, yet this is his 6th season with Manly and he's really only played one of those years as a centre. Otherwise he's played mostly 5/8 with some fullback thrown in.

Walker has played 85 games for Manly:
Centre - 36
5/8 - 44
Fullback - 5

The only year with us he has played exclusively as a centre was 2017. Funny ... he won the Dally M Centre of the Year in 2017.....since then he's only played 11 games there, and none since Round 17 of 2019 (a 20-21 loss to Souffs at ANZ).

Play him as a centre and you'll probably get the best out of him. Problem is that we haven't done that very much.

totally agree - a quality centre if we play him there!

 

[manlyfan76]

Thanks ... if you look at the names and I only quickly looked at the Raiders and the Storm - many of those will be resigned. So in reality it wont be anything like 10 for a number of clubs. Our roster will turn over massively.

I agree that good players will be signed as a matter of course.
Point is nearly every club has ten players off contract every year.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

If in 2022 we bought

A decent 9, the new fella can be backup ( this is on the assumption the court case goes belly up ).

A decent 1 backup ( we are stuck with Tommy Tissue for a few years yet and who knows he might come good).

A decent hard nosed running back rower.

This is after sacking about 6 of the current squad , you’ll all know the ones.

And bring up some juniors AND give them a run.

Even Saab ( who has been terrible ) would probably go ok with a team working hard together.

We don’t need to sack everyone , we just need to clear the deadwood and get some attitude back.

It is NOT rocket science !’

I agree that good players will be signed as a matter of course.
Point is nearly every club has ten players off contract every year.

um yes most clubs have at least 10 unsigned now but most wont have 10 by season's end because a number will be resigned as per Raiders and the Storm (the only two I looked at) so probably 5/6 - we will have probably 9/10 plus maybe Marty and Fainu gone as well. We will be the outliers I gather with us getting rid of a heap.

 

[simon64]

I wouldn't get rid of Walker. I still think he has plenty to offer if he plays in his rightful position.

I've already said I'd target Nicho Hynes and Connor Watson.
I'd look at Jayd'n Sua as a decent money signing.

I'd be releasing the usual suspects.

Jake would move straight back to prop. He plays that way anyway.

With any luck, Lawton lives up to the hype because I'm not confident Manase will ever be back. Maybe make some enquiries about luring Starling away from Canberra. He's not going to see much game time playing behind Hodgson.