Manly’s biggest strength is their biggest weakness

Mitch

Bencher
Not sure if this article had been posted elsewhere but raises some interesting points none the less around our roster etc.



They simply cannot win without him – and there’s irrefutable proof.

And now Manly’s on-field failure without Tom Trbojevic has club legend Max Krilich demanding the champion fullback boycott this year’s State of Origin series.

After the Sea Eagles faded from finals contention this season, injuries have highlighted a lack of depth in the playing roster and a horribly unbalanced salary cap which has the club facing an uphill battle to challenge for top-four honours in 2021.


The Daily Telegraph can reveal Manly, over the past three seasons, have won just eight of their 28 games with Trbojevic unavailable. A miserable 28.6% win ratio.

With Trbojevic in their line-up, the Sea Eagles win 21 of their 41 games for a success rate of 51.2%.

When Trbojevic collapsed in round six, so did Manly. It would be difficult to find another player whose team relies so heavily on the availability of just one player.

The hamstring injury to Trbojevic, still only 23, was a gut-wrenching reason why Manly bombed out this year.

He wasn’t the only significant injury, however.


Throughout the year, Addin Fonua-Blake (knee), Reuben Garrick (shoulder), Dylan Walker (foot), Manase Fainu (stood down/shoulder), Josh Schuster (ankle), Cade Cust (ankle), Jorge Taufua (Achilles), Joel Thompson (ankle), Brendan Elliot (knee) and Moses Suli (foot) all missed parts of the season.

Manly aren’t using their bulging casualty ward as an excuse for their horrible season. But it certainly is a legitimate reason why they went from top-four contender to also-ran in a matter of weeks. Former Manly premiership-winning captain Max Krilich is adamant Trbojevic should withdraw from State of Origin.

“Manly pay him a huge amount of money and I think he has to put his loyalties to the club first,” Krilich said. “He has to worry about getting ready for next year and not worry about State of Origin.


“When he doesn’t play, clearly Manly struggles. He is a terrific player, I won’t say he’s a superstar but he’s a very good player and we need him on the field if we are to be a success next season. Manly needs him 100 per cent fit.

“We can’t afford him to go down again. It stuffs our salary cap. We have to make sure he’s fit and gets his hamstrings and body right and we can move ahead to next year.”


NRL physio Brien Seeney has predicted Trbojevic should make a full recovery for next season.

“The hamstring is the most commonly strained muscle in the NRL and it has the highest recurrence rate as well, up to 30 per cent,” Seeney said.

“So we’re not looking at a case where this is a shock and we can’t believe he has suffered three hamstring strains because there are plenty of players throughout the game who will suffer multiple strains in their careers within a short period of time.

“Usually, the best-case scenario is about a 10 per cent chance of re-injury. That is what they would be aiming for. As long as he gets through the off-season and doesn’t suffer any re-strains or re-aggravation then his prospects are pretty good moving forward.”

THE ROSTER

Manly’s forward power will be severely depleted through the departures of seasoned first graders Addin Fonua-Blake (New Zealand Warriors) and Joel Thompson (St Helens).

The Sea Eagles have some fine young forwards emerging in Sean Keppie, Taniela Paseka, Haumole Olakau’atu and Toafofoa Sipley. It’s time to promote rather than recruit

And Manly’s ability to recruit a big name is slim given more than $3 million of their cap has been spent on the Trbojevic brothers and Daly Cherry-Evans.

Manly could benefit from a strike winger or centre. The club will also be looking to either buy or manufacture a hooker for 2021. Kieran Foran’s expected recruitment will give Manly some class and experience.


THE MOMENT ALL HOPE WAS LOST

Round six, Manly v Canberra, Campbelltown Stadium. Turbo collapses. The Sea Eagles have won just three games since then. Say no more.

THE COACH

During phone conversations, Des Hasler would sigh in disbelief at his injury toll.

“It keeps getting worse every week,” Hasler would say.

It has placed Hasler under pressure and exposed a lack of depth in their roster. Manly have also been accused of being too top heavy in their salary cap.

“Everyone said early in the season that we would lack depth which was right in the end. We’re not like the Roosters and some of these other clubs that have enormous depth

“The club does have a lot of young kids coming through which is really going to help our future,” Krilich said.

THE STATS

Manly average just 18.3 points per game in 2020 and are on track for their worst regular season average since 1992 (15.2 per game). In the NRL era (1998-2020) they have finished the regular season averaging fewer than 20 points on just three occasions – 18.9 in 2016, 19.1 in 2015 and 18.9 in 1999.

The Sea Eagles have conceded 20 points or more in eight straight matches; they have only conceded more on one occasion since 1998, in 2003/04 (18 matches).

SHINING LIGHT

Cherry-Evans and prop Marty Taupau put in every week. He copped a lot of traffic this year but Cherry-Evans played tough.

Taupau ripped in most weeks but couldn’t muster enough power from teammates to support him.


KEY TARGETS

There has been speculation Manly may make a play for Brisbane powerhouse Tevita Pangai Jr. He would be a superb replacement for Fonua-Blake.

There has also been talk linking Manly to Sitili Tupouniua but the Sydney Roosters star has another year remaining at Bondi and the defending premiers are intent on retaining him.

THE FUTURE

Manly were tipped to be a premiership contender this year – but the season crashed and burned.

Fans are willing to forgive one poor season but the pressure will be on for success next year.

It’s difficult seeing Manly as a top-four threat, though, but the wily old Hasler has always enjoyed shocking critics.

“This season was awful,” Krilich said. “I think we are too top-heavy with half a dozen players in terms of payments. That negates our last 20 players and it showed.”
 
Max References we don’t win with him and then wouldn’t say he’s a superstar?????? He bloody wins game on his own Turbo. He’s the definition of a superstar in this game. God I hope he stays injury free next year.
 
Max References we don’t win with him and then wouldn’t say he’s a superstar?????? He bloody wins game on his own Turbo. He’s the definition of a superstar in this game. God I hope he stays injury free next year.
One year out of three would be good wouldn’t it ??

If he’s out for another full year next year the club really is going to have to consider their options ( as tough as that would be ).
 
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Manly, over the past three seasons, have won just eight of their 28 games with Trbojevic unavailable. A miserable 28.6% win ratio.

And yet ... there are still numbnuts on here that argue with me that our prime recruitment target has to be an outside back than can cover fullback ... without our win % dropping of the cliff, and our season ending ...

And I am not certain that I would be gambling our season on Funa or Hoppa being the answer ...
 
Des made many errors this season but his biggest was not blooding our younger stars earlier and persisting with players that were either out of form or not part of our plans in 21..we have cap issues and we need our youth to come through

Ben t- tall fast skillful trbojevic bloodline
Schuster- he can clearly handle nrl but brought in to late
Okalauatu- has the ability to play 2nd row handles it well good impact hardly used
Tof sip- whats wrong there?..when given the chance always played well
Saddler- aggressive
Fainu- strong good player that alot of other clubs are chasing

Now if these guys were blooded when they should of been 21 would look stronger but instead they have to wait another year and hope injuries get them a gig which means we have to wait to which sets us back another year
 
Ballboy on the weekend.. commentators thought it was AFB.. i was amused. Imagine being payed to commentate and not knowing the differences in players
AFB was on the sideline as well. Sipley is a massive unit - I think he will struggle in the current format. The best use of these massive units in a fast paced game is an offload strategy with multiple nippy players like Tom, walker, DCE trailing them on all sides. Des seems to hate offloads because he tries to manufacture wins off stats.
 
Max References we don’t win with him and then wouldn’t say he’s a superstar?????? He bloody wins game on his own Turbo. He’s the definition of a superstar in this game. God I hope he stays injury free next year.
I agree with the idea that it's too early to call him a superstar. I think he is crucial to our structures though and probably is our most important player in that aspect. He will keep improving and when he is able to create stuff out of nothing, and when his passing game continues to improve he will reach that status.

Im glad Krilich is in contact with Des, I think he would be a good person to balance ideas out with hasler. Agree with it all. Also think media need to start mentioning Fainu next to trbo's name when talking about our record without him because personally I feel Fainu is equally important to our team, if not more due to the importance of dummy halves in today's game.
 
One thing about Tommy, I have never seen him come back from an injury and play well. It always takes him 3-4 weeks to get right. I was not the least bit surprised with his awful game against the Titans. It is so obviously that he comes back and tries to nurse himself through games. If he isn't going to come back and give 100%, then I wish he would just **** off.
 
until des alters the style of defence, especially inside our 20 where we get found short almost every time the ball goes wide we have no hope of being there at the end of the season
 
Even with Tom playing as well as having less injuries, we're not a top 4 side unless Manase is playing.
One thing about Tommy, I have never seen him come back from an injury and play well. It always takes him 3-4 weeks to get right. I was not the least bit surprised with his awful game against the Titans. It is so obviously that he comes back and tries to nurse himself through games. If he isn't going to come back and give 100%, then I wish he would just **** off.
Harsh
 

Staff online

  • Jethro
    Star Trekkin' across the universe
Team P W L PD Pts
2 2 0 36 4
2 2 0 26 4
2 2 0 23 4
2 2 0 19 4
2 2 0 12 4
2 1 1 13 2
2 1 1 10 2
2 1 1 3 2
2 1 1 0 2
2 1 1 0 2
2 1 1 -14 2
1 0 1 -20 2
1 0 1 -24 2
2 0 2 -8 0
2 0 2 -17 0
2 0 2 -22 0
2 0 2 -37 0
Back
Top Bottom