Manly defence ?

[maxta]

That first half the Manly defence decided to play a compressed line....but the outside defenders were actually running backwards, obviously I refer to the right edge as Parker made his tackles and Ramian was quiet, but when backing off it makes it almost impossible to make a tackle and also supplies the attack all day to make decisions
Koula made some great tackles, but his main strength was being up in Talakis face....and shut him down comfortably....in fact imo got the better of him beating him cold twice and actually got under and drove him backwards in defence....suprise- suprise by being up in his face
The defensive shape was far better 2nd half and Manly were rewarded keep them to 0 in the half
The middle considering missing many central players, contested pretty well and made some decent contacts and were almost even in the tempo regardless of an ordinary reffing performance I was expecting
Anyways, Really hope the defence continues as they left off tonight and keep some steel in the contact and get UP IN THE FACES, not this retreating backwards defence that has never and will never work ..and wipe that first half effort from history

 

[Yaz Eagle]

We will go on another 4 in a row stream and the good thing is we start getting players back - Taupau, Keppie and possible Schu back next week, Turbo in 2 weeks, Aloai in 2 to 4 weeks. The losses of Walker, Paseka and Davey will be offset by the replacements but the 2nd half with virtually no bench shows we have good depth this year. At 32-0 halftime this could have been a bloodbath but to fight back and be in the hunt to win with 5 minutes to go was an outstanding effort.

 

[The Who]

Do you realise Cronulla received five 6-agains and we received none?
We also didn't get our first penalty until the 34th minute, and Guacca was incorrectly sent to the sin bin for tackling the ball. Is the Bunker now allowed to adjudicate on matters minutes after the 'incident'? If so, then their powers are way out of control.

 

[maxta]

Do you realise Cronulla received five 6-agains and we received none?
We also didn't get our first penalty until the 34th minute, and Guacca was incorrectly sent to the sin bin for tackling the ball. Is the Bunker now allowed to adjudicate on matters minutes after the 'incident'? If so, then their powers are way out of control.

I know mate and I think my neighbours know as I bellowed some colourful words at the tv
To be honest - horror start with caught in goal from kickoff and early barrage of points down our right edge....but they got away with plenty
Not to make excuses all day, as when you play with more energy these things swing, as example Koula won 2 penalties with his first 2 carries both leading to tries and also Garrick by fighting to win that quick play ball.
Another key point as we fight back, they kick off and Mutilino obviously knocks on 10m upfield to a Cronulla team mate and they play ....that and the Okalatu tackle had me frothing
In reality though, we got out the blocks slowly and paid the price....the fact the players showed heart 2nd half along with Koula's effort made the final 40m a far better night than how I felt at half time

 

[Remy]

Cronulla really only had one point of attack and that was with the Harper mismatch. Our other edge was clamping up led by Parker, and the middles battle was close. Once Tolu comes on, he just plays simple aggressive up and in defence, doesn't back away for a second, and ended up actually locking down Talakai. And it wasn't like they weren't getting Talakai ball, he was getting ball, Tolu got tested multiple times and stood tall. I would love to judge our defense against a top team with the easy fix of Tolu for Harper.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Cronulla really only had one point of attack and that was with the Harper mismatch. Our other edge was clamping up led by Parker, and the middles battle was close. Once Tolu comes on, he just plays simple aggressive up and in defence, doesn't back away for a second, and ended up actually locking down Talakai. And it wasn't like they weren't getting Talakai ball, he was getting ball, Tolu got tested multiple times and stood tall. I would love to judge our defense against a top team with the easy fix of Tolu for Harper.

Honestly I think the damage was done earlier in the sets , and whilst Koula “ may” have defended differently I really think laying the complete blame at Harpers feet is so easy to do but not necessarily 100% right.

I agree he was terrible , they isolated him and he was like a rag doll BUT he’s not the only one that played badly in that first half.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

That first half the Manly defence decided to play a compressed line....but the outside defenders were actually running backwards, obviously I refer to the right edge as Parker made his tackles and Ramian was quiet

Not exactly.
1st minute Sharks create a 3 on 2 on our left but Parker covers 2 men and just shuts it down.
8th minute a big bust down our left side after a Shark offload and quick shift left us massively outnumbered. Would have been a try but Kenedy dropped it.
15 min Kennedy has an overlap again on our left but doesn't pass and that chance is blown.
19 min Ramien again breaks down our left side because we have no defenders there!
38 minute again we are caught short for numbers on our left, Hines breaks through but blows a huge scoring chance.

That makes 5 big busts down our left side in the first half.

Kennedy muffed chances to score in the 8th and 15th mins. The other three we shut down with desperate scramble to our left but that meant we were very exposed on our right with overlaps, which contributed directly to Shark tries in 1st, 16th, 19th and 39th min.

The other 2 Shark tries:
27 min Brailey sprints across field again creating an overlap.
29th min - quick spread to Sharks left, late in count and Saab is back, 4 on 2 overlap created.

Our attempt to compress in the middle (possibly feeling vulnerable there because of missing 4 of our top forwards) left our edges exposed for numbers. Twice the Sharks bungled their chances on our left, but on other occasions the numbers drawn to cover our left meant our right was vulnerable and they took full advantage.

2 final points - first, the Sharks attacking formations, ability to quickly shift after an offload and the passing skill of Brailey Moylan and Hines were excellent.
Second, by the time our right side was faced with overlaps they did not react well. A couple of times Saab should have come in and at least attempted to take someone (Talakai!) and Harper missed tackles on Talakai. But on several occasions we were simply outnumbered.

Harper's confidence will be shot but Saab's decision making and technique looked poor too (as well identified ages ago by @Woodsie) 🙂

So in short I don't think the failings on our right side are all their fault.
I also don't agree Harper should never play again.
I haven't re-watched the 2nd half but whatever we changed seemed to work, including Koula who was very good, and despite injuries I thought Manly showed admirable guts.

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Honestly I think the damage was done earlier in the sets , and whilst Koula “ may” have defended differently I really think laying the complete blame at Harpers feet is so easy to do but not necessarily 100% right.

I agree he was terrible , they isolated him and he was like a rag doll BUT he’s not the only one that played badly in that first half.

Usually i’d agree

But I do genuinely think that the play defence broke down purely due to Harper.

We started terribly but there was no reason to continually get drawn in or stand flat footed. 4 times on our line (tries, not counting the freakish offload one) and 1 or so in the sharks 20 (line break, leading to a try a few plays later)

The other side defencively shifted and scrambled well (as usual).. But when Harper plays the other side constantly gets exposed between olakautau, harper and saab

 

[maxta]

Not exactly.
1st minute Sharks create a 3 on 2 on our left but Parker covers 2 men and just shuts it down.
8th minute a big bust down our left side after a Shark offload and quick shift left us massively outnumbered. Would have been a try but Kenedy dropped it.
15 min Kennedy has an overlap again on our left but doesn't pass and that chance is blown.
19 min Ramien again breaks down our left side because we have no defenders there!
38 minute again we are caught short for numbers on our left, Hines breaks through but blows a huge scoring chance.

That makes 5 big busts down our left side in the first half.

Kennedy muffed chances to score in the 8th and 15th mins. The other three we shut down with desperate scramble to our left but that meant we were very exposed on our right with overlaps, which contributed directly to Shark tries in 1st, 16th, 19th and 39th min.

The other 2 Shark tries:
27 min Brailey sprints across field again creating an overlap.
29th min - quick spread to Sharks left, late in count and Saab is back, 4 on 2 overlap created.

Our attempt to compress in the middle (possibly feeling vulnerable there because of missing 4 of our top forwards) left our edges exposed for numbers. Twice the Sharks bungled their chances on our left, but on other occasions the numbers drawn to cover our left meant our right was vulnerable and they took full advantage.

2 final points - first, the Sharks attacking formations, ability to quickly shift after an offload and the passing skill of Brailey Moylan and Hines were excellent.
Second, by the time our right side was faced with overlaps they did not react well. A couple of times Saab should have come in and at least attempted to take someone (Talakai!) and Harper missed tackles on Talakai. But on several occasions we were simply outnumbered.

Harper's confidence will be shot but Saab's decision making and technique looked poor too (as well identified ages ago by @Woodsie) 🙂

So in short I don't think the failings on our right side are all their fault.
I also don't agree Harper should never play again.
I haven't re-watched the 2nd half but whatever we changed seemed to work, including Koula who was very good, and despite injuries I thought Manly showed admirable guts.

Watched a different game I think
How many tries did Cronulla score down Parker's side ?
Now how many down Harpers ?
It's a pointless arguement, especially after seeing the difference when Koula got up on Talekai and he did zip
As for Harper he will play again, but hope Des rewards Koula for his efforts and he is chosen for the next game

 

[Remy]

Honestly I think the damage was done earlier in the sets , and whilst Koula “ may” have defended differently I really think laying the complete blame at Harpers feet is so easy to do but not necessarily 100% right.

I agree he was terrible , they isolated him and he was like a rag doll BUT he’s not the only one that played badly in that first half.

But you don't think that if initially, Koula started in place of Harper, it would not have gone down like that. I think it changes a lot. Confidence and defence broke down from the bath that Harper got from Talakai. I really think that simple fix could've changed our fortunes, and we really could've won that, also without Turbo. Would've been massive for us.