Lachlan Croker

[Rocky]

croker is close to my favourite player. gutsy, loves playing footy and is in everything .almost first player picked, captain candidate in the future IMO but not a real good 9. he fulfils the basics but his inability to really engage the defence on a regular basis before service is costly


my perspective is that with frog at 9 that leaves manly with 2 spine positions suffering from major role deficiencies, as opposed to footy ability and skills. in recent seasons the spine has struggled to straighten and focus our attack with tom being the notable exception.

trying to patch these roles has had our team unbalanced and in all sorts and affects jakes game and opportunity to play up front

The lack of real threat in and around the ruck areas allows the defence to read and adjust quite easily
again unless we have tommy, but we need to be turning the ball inside or outside to tom not waiting for him to bust the line and turn it back

I do agree with your points above.

However, I do wonder if he was told to play a certain way by Des. We all know Des preferred his 9 to be a good defender and really just a guy to pass the ball from dummy half.

Croker as we know is a former half so it would surprise me if he couldn't engage the line more.

Let's see what happens next year.

 

[jbb/james]

There’s two major shortfalls we have.

1) an agressive prop that takes no prisoners and can do it game after game.

2) an elusive 9, all the top sides have them, we don’t.

But Froggy has come a long long way already so who knows , maybe he’ll be the Dally M player of the year in 2023.

having jake play first receiver so much is also a major contributor to the lack of ruck threat as much as frog

I could see him captain or thereabouts, so i have him in high regard. an excellent 9/14 playing a horses for courses approach early in games. big game , big pack open with frog as eg

But schuster, frog and dce have a lot of roles to cover next season with improvement needed by all 3

and hell yeah for prop

 

[BOZO]

There’s two major shortfalls we have.

1) an agressive prop that takes no prisoners and can do it game after game.

2) an elusive 9, all the top sides have them, we don’t.

But Froggy has come a long long way already so who knows , maybe he’ll be the Dally M player of the year in 2023.

Hello Mark . I hope your treatment is going well and you are feeling well

Your Two points are spot on

Jake will play prop and he is very tough but is not a very provocative annoying irritating up in your face prop that we need . Jake is too much of a nice guy on and off the field

Froggy is a hard working fellow . Froggy is predictably consistent at what he will give you on the field and his predictability is also not a threat to the opposition .

 

[Pete W]

I do agree with your points above.

However, I do wonder if he was told to play a certain way by Des. We all know Des preferred his 9 to be a good defender and really just a guy to pass the ball from dummy half.

Croker as we know is a former half so it would surprise me if he couldn't engage the line more.

Let's see what happens next year.

Tbh I don't think this is the case. Remember Croker's first year at 9,he was genuinely lost. Whilst he improved dramatically and quickly too, having ability to read the ruck and capitalise is very instinctual. If he could, Des would certainly not stop him from creating advantage. Don't forget Des was coach in 2019, when a rookie Fainu terrorised opposition middles to the point we made the finals with a fairly average team and no Tom. Des didn't tell Manase to not play footy. I'm sure he knew what he had and didn't have with Croker, and like all good coaches you play to your team's strengths. All Des would have done is encourage Croker to keep it simple until confidence and combinations grew. Whether Croker can take the next step, who knows. I'm sure there is still much improvement in him, but to think he will all of a sudden, start running rampant, playing with opposition defences, unfortunately I highly doubt he has this quality. GCKT on the other hand breathes this stuff, meanwhile Croker's fantastic attitude, stamina, and toughness means he could be quite a decent mobile middle without having the responsibility of creating opportunities from the ruck itself

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Hello Mark . I hope your treatment is going well and you are feeling well

Your Two points are spot on

Jake will play prop and he is very tough but is not a very provocative annoying irritating up in your face prop that we need . Jake is too much of a nice guy on and off the field

Froggy is a hard working fellow . Froggy is predictably consistent at what he will give you on the field and his predictability is also not a threat to the opposition .

Not too bad mate , this morning was session 19 of 34 so have passed the half way mark.

Radiation makes you very tired , it’s an afternoon nap for me every day ( lol).

And you piss a lot , and when I say a LOT I don’t mean in amount it’s frequency!!

Which is a pain in the arse!!

I was given some medication for that today , fingers crossed it works as getting up every hour all night isn’t fun!

 

[BOZO]

Not too bad mate , this morning was session 19 of 34 so have passed the half way mark.

Radiation makes you very tired , it’s an afternoon nap did me every day ( lol).

And you piss a lot , and when I say a LOT I don’t mean in amount it’s frequency!!

Which is a pain in the arse!!

I was given some medication for that today , fingers crossed it works as getting up every hour all night isn’t fun!

Good to hear from you and that you are not too bad

I Greatly admire that your great character is greater than the great challenge and adversity you are going though and has not stopped you from doing things that you enjoy

You are an Inspiration Feathered friend to any one that is doing it tough and has read your post

Thank you and God bless you with a quick recovery

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Good to hear from you and that you are not too bad

I Greatly admire that your great character is greater than the great challenge and adversity you are going though and has not stopped you from doing things that you enjoy

You are an Inspiration Feathered friend to any one that is doing it tough and has read your post

Thank you and God bless you with a quick recovery

You gotta be positive !!

 

[BOZO]

You gotta be positive !!

Being Positive is easier said than done

It takes Great Courage and Strong Will to keep positive

Credit to you feathered friend !!!

 

[globaleagle]

And you piss a lot , and when I say a LOT I don’t mean in amount it’s frequency!!

Which is a pain in the arse!!

I was given some medication for that today , fingers crossed it works as getting up every hour all night isn’t fun!

I daresay, then, that you're doing it wrong!



(Keep fighting!)

 

[MightyEagles]

I do agree with your points above.

However, I do wonder if he was told to play a certain way by Des. We all know Des preferred his 9 to be a good defender and really just a guy to pass the ball from dummy half.

Croker as we know is a former half so it would surprise me if he couldn't engage the line more.

Let's see what happens next year.

I agree with you Rocky, he would have been told to play that way. I know of a former Dog's player who said they were told what blade of grass to run on and weren't allowed to vary. Remember the same happened with Michael Lichaa

 

[Damien2812]

I get that you’re pissed that Des was sacked , ok.

I get that you don’t like the Penn family , ok.

I get that in the old days you had to stick to “ Manly men with Manly DNA” to win , ok.

But riddle me this!!

Were you completely satisfied with the way our previous coach was handling things like , selections , game plans , bringing youngsters through ??

If you were then you don’t have to answer the next question , which is.

Don’t you think it’s time for a new approach , a new coaching set up , a new rehab set up and some more modern ways of thinking to bring our club out of the 90’s and into the current era???

Death riding the new coaches , death riding the players and death riding the organisation as a whole isn’t where thinking fans should be going.

Thinking fans would at least give the new set up a chance.

I know I will!!

I wasn't satisfied with team selections, gameplans, retention and recruitment the last 3 years under Hasler. To think changing the coach and setup will improve our results is ridiculous. What I have learnt since the Penn take over is if the ownership, and football department aren't on the same page you get this basket case results with infighting. I hope Seibold and co can get some stable management and resources this time around from Penn to help move this club in the right direction.

 

[Damien2812]

So your considered response is to publicly throw your pacifier out of the cot ... and hope we lose games .. seriously!!

What do you expect with Spoonbold coaching us? Didn't you see what happened at the Bronco's? If Spoonbold couldn't get through the politics at the Bronco's what does he expect at Manly? Manly is an entire different beast to Brisbane.

 

[Woodsie]

What do you expect with Spoonbold coaching us? Didn't you see what happened at the Bronco's? If Spoonbold couldn't get through the politics at the Bronco's what does he expect at Manly? Manly is an entire different beast to Brisbane.

Mate ... you are dribbling ... the issue isn't how we go with Seibold ... the issue is you stating that you are death riding the team .... so if you are expecting even the slightest bit of respect from me for your opinion ... you are dreaming ...

 

[Rocky]

I agree with you Rocky, he would have been told to play that way. I know of a former Dog's player who said they were told what blade of grass to run on and weren't allowed to vary. Remember the same happened with Michael Lichaa

Yep Ballin, Lichaa and Croker.

Got plenty in common.

 

[Rocky]

Tbh I don't think this is the case. Remember Croker's first year at 9,he was genuinely lost. Whilst he improved dramatically and quickly too, having ability to read the ruck and capitalise is very instinctual. If he could, Des would certainly not stop him from creating advantage. Don't forget Des was coach in 2019, when a rookie Fainu terrorised opposition middles to the point we made the finals with a fairly average team and no Tom. Des didn't tell Manase to not play footy. I'm sure he knew what he had and didn't have with Croker, and like all good coaches you play to your team's strengths. All Des would have done is encourage Croker to keep it simple until confidence and combinations grew. Whether Croker can take the next step, who knows. I'm sure there is still much improvement in him, but to think he will all of a sudden, start running rampant, playing with opposition defences, unfortunately I highly doubt he has this quality. GCKT on the other hand breathes this stuff, meanwhile Croker's fantastic attitude, stamina, and toughness means he could be quite a decent mobile middle without having the responsibility of creating opportunities from the ruck itself

Fair enough mate. However, I'm hoping he can find some more confidence to play more instinctively.

Maybe he just doesn't have it in him. But maybe he can show a bit more under a different coach and system.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I wasn't satisfied with team selections, gameplans, retention and recruitment the last 3 years under Hasler. To think changing the coach and setup will improve our results is ridiculous. What I have learnt since the Penn take over is if the ownership, and football department aren't on the same page you get this basket case results with infighting. I hope Seibold and co can get some stable management and resources this time around from Penn to help move this club in the right direction.

You’ve forgotten Mestrov.

Doing a great job , and you may get your wish ( the same page ).

I’m prepared to give them 12 months, if we are showing improvement by the end of next year I’ll be happy.

My expectations are we finish 11/12.

Better than that we celebrate , worse than that , dissapointed.

 

[double hoops]

We got to the Top 4 with him in 2021.

I get it - he's not in the top echelon of Hookers. But there are only a few of those guys and we aren't getting any of them.

There are plenty of other holes in the roster that I would address before Croker.

And we only got torn a new one in the pre lim in 21. When one Froggy was out injured that game.

 

[Rocky]

And we only got torn a new one in the pre lim in 21. When one Froggy was out injured that game.

True that - without Froggy and Jake in the middle we are just awful defensively.

 

[BOZO]

True that - without Froggy and Jake in the middle we are just awful defensively.

Big Losses last year with Froggy in the middle Pre rainbow game
Round one V Panters 28 to 6
Round 8 V Souths 40 to 22
Round 10 V broncos 38 to 0
Round 12 v Storm 28 to 8
Round 19 V Saints 20 to 6

 

[double hoops]

Just imagine those scores if neither Froggy or Jake were there. Wow.