Lack of patience

[Dankseagles]

Stoked we are in the top 4. And hope we can stay in the top 4. But for mine what is holding us back is the lack of patience especially from DCE and co. Pushing passes and kicking early is doing my head in.

Repeat sets, completed sets and pressure win games. Not miracle balls.

PS how good is Paseka coming along. We finally have that X factor/beast mode off the bench.

 

[sheridanstand78]

In the last two games especially the first halves Manly have been manic and impatient with the ball and the errors are starting to cost us points on the rebound. What I did like about yesterday is in the 2nd half, much better ball security, structure and getting repeat sets and wearing the Tigers down. That was a lot more like it!

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

You’d think des must have told them at half time the same thing to be patient.Eventually it paid off they just have to do it week in week out.

 

[jbb/james]

I think if you look at the tape dce has tried to inject himself early in the last couple of games . Most of the season he has sat back and waited until manly had full control of the game , but recently he has tried to be a halfback . When the defence is still fresh its a different ballgame to playing off the back of tommy for dce

You might find coincidently cherry just offloading to tommy behind the line and letting him play make , has dropped off lately too, thus toms touches were down recently until yesterday where he found other ways to get involved

Maybe dce has been told to put his big boy pants on

 

[Chip and Chase]

Been a criticism of DCE for a while. His game management isn't in the top class. That's why everyone keeps telling us he needs a stable pony at 5/8.

 

[sheridanstand78]

The success we enjoy is all on the back of playing rapid fire football and it is evident that opposition teams are being coached at all costs to slow us down. The Knights to a degree, the Warriors and for long periods last night the Tigers were laying all over the play the ball and Manly's exuberance of youth gets the better of them at time when measured play is needed to overcome these tactics.

One thing I want to see more of is what we saw in the 2nd half when we got 4 goal line drop outs and snuffed out any chance the Tigers had of a revival, that is what wins big games and we need more of that,

 

[EagleGT]

IMHO the problem is the speed of the ruck (or lack therof). Since the emergence of the latest ball stripping craze the referees are allowing defenders to wrestle with the ball to a ridiculous extent. Previously, you may recall penalties for "hand on the ball" in the ruck. Now it's not just a hand on the ball, it's a full-on wrestle with the ball which is being allowed to go on way too long. The Tigers (and the Warriors last week) were allowed to do this in virtually every tackle which kills momentum and allows the defensive line to get set. It seems every team has now identified this as a way to slow down the play-the-ball. Except us, it seems. We don't seem to do it. You will note that our "average play-the-ball speed" seems to be always slower than our opposition, even in games we win easily.

This is leading to rushed plays and the perceived lack of patience as the defensive line is too well set allowing the defenders to move up quicker.

Last night could have been a cricket score if the referees has policed the ruck effectively.

 

[The Who]

I'm not a Walker fan but I must say that last night was his best for Manly in a couple of seasons.
Keep up the good work Dylan. I'd love you to convert me to being a fan.
Now, if only the Magic Pudding would step up and have some impact.
I was very impressed with Elliot who is much more elusive than he's given credit for. Jetski and Garrick were excellent.
I think we will step up when we play the Faders and I'm confident we can beat them. I think our record in Canberra is good.

 

[Dankseagles]

Anyone else impressed by Paseka last few weeks? Coming along nicely. I reckon he has some confidence under his belt, is fit and injury free and will start to throw his body around even more.

I'm going to check the odds for him scoring a try against the Raiders. He got a sniff last night and its only a matter of time.

 

[HoldenV8]

Agreed. This is why Green was such a good partner for DCE.

Walker is a great ball runner but offers nothing in terms of game management and a calming influence.

Once DCE gets flustered he panics and over plays his hand. We still lack a quality organising half to complement his running game. Until we get this I reckon we won't ever get consistent top quality footy from this team. Sure we will have our 80min performances every so often but we will continue to fall in a heap like we did against the warriors until someone can manage us out of those sticky situations.

We have played poorly now for the last 3 games. Appear to be still struggling post Storm game. Lucky we have only faced 3 bottom 8 teams.

Hard to fathom that Dylan Walker is the 5/8 we've been looking for. But you can't deny that he is going great guns there right now.

Who'd have thought that after the failed experiment to play him in the halves like Barrett did?

The best thing that can happen to this team right now is the 10 day break between last nights game and next week in Canberra. Some of the boys definitely could use the break to freshen up. I think what will happen is now last night is done, especially with it being a win, you'll probably find that Des will give them a 3 day weekend to get some rest and relaxation and have them back on deck on Monday morning.

Starting with the Doesn't-matta game, we had that, then went to Melbourne, back to Sydney, to Auckland and back to Sydney with only a 6 day turnaround between the games. And all of them were must win games. It has to take its toll at some point.

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Dylan is going ok but in my opinion, he isn't going to get us a premiership as a 5/8.

Personally, I would love to see him back at centre. With a quality half who has the skills to guide us out of sticky game situations, I think we can challenge for the comp.

Agree with your comments about the schedule. It's been tough. I can see us really struggling against the Raiders. They are the best quality side we have faced in a while and they will be hungry for the top 4.

If we show up against the Raiders the way we did against the Tigers, we will get hammered.

I think his performance against the Storm indicates otherwise. He can be composed if he wants to be against the top sides but linking in with my next point is that agaisnt middle-to-crap tiered teams he probably looks a bit too experimental/panicky for people’s liking. All experience to add for the big games. He’s been great I believe but these panicky games (from everyone) against sides we are expected to towel up probably gives off the impression that he “doesn’t look like a premiership-winning half”.

My next point I was going to make is that we (everyone) seem to try too hard and panic against crap teams, get frustrated and crack. Totally unpatient against the Warriors, but we were much better against the Tigers (whilst still lacking a little patience and pressure building). Thankfully now we only play tougher teams meaning we hopefully won’t panic as the expectation is not to dominate the scoreboard, but purely to win.

 

[The better Robbo]

Agree to disagree.

Walker is a centre playing 5/8.
The panicking we all watch is because our halves really lack game management. DCE is a ball runner. So is Walker.

In my opinion, we looked much more organised and dangerous when Cust was in the team. He offers more (tries and try assists) and has the ability to read a game. Not saying he is an elite level half... Just that he is a better companion for Chez than Walker is.

When we have a legitimate half alongside Cherry, we resemble a top level team. We haven't looked that way for a while.

At the moment, we look like an unorganised, rudderless team who is struggling for options. We will get found out by the top teams over the next month unless something changes.

I tend to agree. Walkers game has been alot better since moving to 5/8 but as a whole our team has been off. Coincidence? Im not sure. We tend to overlook our teams performance when discussing how well walker is going