Manly have the most Improvement in them.

[HappilyManly]

https://silvertails.net/threads/most-inexperienced-team-in-nrl-history.56843/

This Team still has a lot of learning to do and young enough to do it

 

[Blake A]

I think the Roosters are the clear cut favorites to win it. Apart from them, I am pretty comfortable thinking we can win the whole thing. I hope we somehow avoid them throughout the finals.

 

[KOMORI]

So what you're saying is, Round 24 will be Battle of Brookvale II?

Well.. unfortunately that will see us lose too many players...

 

[QueefRichards]

Well.. unfortunately that will see us lose too many players...

If it meant we'd go on to win the grand final again I'd take it

 

[cherry_poppins]

The grammar on the thread title could use most improvement 😀

 

[Kevinward777]

This is a really smart post that raises some excellent points.

I don't think either are quite there yet but I do envisage that in a couple of years time, Jake and Tom will be the "clutch" players you are talking about. Tom will get a lot of the errors out of his game and Jake will continue to develop his leadership skills. Between them, I think we will be good in big games. I question if that will happen this year though. The boys probably need to lose a couple of tight finals or feature in a prelim before they'll be battled hardened.

I also think your post points to the fact that many have forgotten very quickly just how special the Stewart boys were...the reason is as you have pointed out; clutch. They never, ever, ever for one moment, stopped competing. Ditto Lyon.

I can’t recall seeing Jake stop competing... in fact, I can’t think of a more competitively involved player than Jakey boy.

Turbo has also increased his involvement ten fold under Des... the amount of plays those two are involved in each game is mind boggling.

 

[HappilyManly]

the entire Manly squad has a total of just 45 finals games between them, trailing Melbourne (176), the Sydney Roosters (176), South Sydney (101), Parramatta (62) and Canberra (55).

https://coupler.foxsports.com.au/ap...ac3ccacaa494206574a?__twitter_impression=true

#YesWeCan

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Eels have had the softest draw this year and have only beaten a top 8 side 3 times this year. Canberra, penrith and rabbits. All their wins have been against cellar dwellars.

And Rabbits was during origin. Raiders played crap, and in their earlier match the raiders won 19-0.

 

[HoldenV8]

Personally right now I'm hoping that the 10 day break between last Thursday and this Sunday is exactly what the players need.

Starting with the win over the Worms a few weeks back, 6 days later we then beat the Scum in what's easily been our toughest game of the year. Then 6 days later (notice a pattern there?) we were back at Brookie where we were flat after the Melbourne win, but with the Knights struggling we still won comfortably. Then another 6 day break and we're in Auckland where we were very flat and lost. Then, you guessed it, 6 days later its back home at Brookie where we were again flat, but still had another comfortable win against the Tigpies.

Our last 5 games have been played on a Sunday arvo, Saturday night, Saturday arvo, Friday evening and Thursday night. And the travel has been from Sydney to Melbourne to Sydney to Auckland and back to Sydney. And even though its a 10 day break, our next game is away in Canberra so even more travel.

I honestly think the last month with all being must win games, we've just become a bit jaded. Hopefully the 10 days is just what they need and we'll be fresh to face Canberra who I actually think are going to be tougher to beat right now than Melbourne were.

The way I break down the top teams is that the Roosters at thier best are a level above everyone. The Storm are not far behind but they are more consistent, Canberra are having a breakout year so it's really hard to judge how they will handle finals footy. Manly at thier best can beat anyone but we struggle with consistency and discipline.

The question also remains how we'll handle the Finals.

As far as our full squad goes, those who have played Finals football are:

DCE - 13
Jorge - 8
Walks - 7
Hodkinson - 6
Thommo - 3
Api - 2
Jake - 1
Tom - 1
Siro - 1
Marty - 1
AFB - 1
Perrett - 1

None of the rest have played NRL level Finals football and neither Hodko or Perrett are likely to add to their totals this year.

In the first week of the finals, players like Garrick, Suli, Parker, Fainu, Waddell, Jetski, Boyle and Paseka, and maybe Elliot and/or Croker depending, will be in their first ever NRL Finals game.

The saving grace might be that despite the lack of Finals experience outside of DCE, Jorge and Walks, a few of the boys do have a fair bit of representative experience with Origins and/or tests so hopefully they won't be too overawed.

 

[Moops]

I clearly remember when we lost to the Storm in 2011... we went down but the team showed the sort of mettle that wins this game. I thought at the time “we are genuine contenders this year”...

We showed that same mettle down at AAMI Park a few weeks ago.. and I got that same tingle...

Was it 2008? I remember that game as well and walked away thinking we would beat them if we played them again. It was the night that Kitey fired up as well...We lost but we bashed the snot outta them.

 

[Jethro]

Eels have had the softest draw this year and have only beaten a top 8 side 3 times this year. Canberra, penrith and rabbits. All their wins have been against cellar dwellars.

And Rabbits was during origin. Raiders played crap, and in their earlier match the raiders won 19-0.

Here is a list of games that the Eels have won this season against (at the time) Top 8 sides:

Round 4 - Saturday 6th April 2019

[Ladder Position 6] - Eels 24

[Ladder Position 3] - Sharks 12


Round 6 - Monday 22nd April 2019

[Ladder Position 8] - Eels 51

[Ladder Position 5] - Wests Tigers 6


Round 8 - Sunday 5th May 2019

[Ladder Position 5] - Eels 32

[Ladder Position 8] - Dragons 18


Round 12 - Friday 31st May 2019

[Ladder Position 8] - Eels 26

[Ladder Position 1] - Rabbitohs 14


Round 15 - Saturday 29th June 2019

[Ladder Position 8] - Eels 22

[Ladder Position 4] - Raiders 16

P.S. Note that all of their wins above were all 'Home' games. They have not won against a Top 8 Side at an 'Away' game this year.

 

[Shoe1]

The grammar on the thread title could use most improvement 😀

Reminds me of Lady Macbeth

Who would have thought the old man would have so much blood in him

 

[Class of 96]

The Manly team that played the Tigers the other night would have been walloped if it was playing Melbourne.

And yet, in the not too distant past, they didn’t wallop us. I agree we are a work in progress, but look out in 20/21.

 

[mjb136]

Here is a list of games that the Eels have won this season against (at the time) Top 8 sides:

Round 4 - Saturday 6th April 2019

[Ladder Position 6] - Eels 24

[Ladder Position 3] - Sharks 12


Round 6 - Monday 22nd April 2019

[Ladder Position 8] - Eels 51

[Ladder Position 5] - Wests Tigers 6


Round 8 - Sunday 5th May 2019

[Ladder Position 5] - Eels 32

[Ladder Position 8] - Dragons 18


Round 12 - Friday 31st May 2019

[Ladder Position 8] - Eels 26

[Ladder Position 1] - Rabbitohs 14


Round 15 - Saturday 29th June 2019

[Ladder Position 8] - Eels 22

[Ladder Position 4] - Raiders 16

P.S. Note that all of their wins above were all 'Home' games. They have not won against a Top 8 Side at an 'Away' game this year.

Think that makes it even worse!

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Here is a list of games that the Eels have won this season against (at the time) Top 8 sides:

Round 4 - Saturday 6th April 2019

[Ladder Position 6] - Eels 24

[Ladder Position 3] - Sharks 12


Round 6 - Monday 22nd April 2019

[Ladder Position 8] - Eels 51

[Ladder Position 5] - Wests Tigers 6


Round 8 - Sunday 5th May 2019

[Ladder Position 5] - Eels 32

[Ladder Position 8] - Dragons 18


Round 12 - Friday 31st May 2019

[Ladder Position 8] - Eels 26

[Ladder Position 1] - Rabbitohs 14


Round 15 - Saturday 29th June 2019

[Ladder Position 8] - Eels 22

[Ladder Position 4] - Raiders 16

P.S. Note that all of their wins above were all 'Home' games. They have not won against a Top 8 Side at an 'Away' game this year.

Geez I knew they were pretenders but this just makes it so much worse. Why couldn't we get a draw like theirs holy ****

 

[Jethro]

Geez I knew they were pretenders but this just makes it so much worse. Why couldn't we get a draw like theirs holy ****

I totally agree.

Their draw has been a draw that you could only dream about.

They only had to play the Roosters once (Rnd 3 at Home) and the Storm once (Rnd 9 Away) and with the remaining games, it is only us (Rnd 25) and possibly the Broncos (Rnd 24) to possibly make them lose any more games.

They are up against the Bulldogs this week who have just won their last three games in a row so who knows, hopefully, the Dogs can make it four in a row but it will be tough for them to beat them as it is an Eels home game.

Here is the link to their draw for this year:

https://www.nrl.com/draw/?competition=111&season=2019&team=500031

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

We just need to be patient with our attack & stop kicking on 2nd & 3rd tackles.

 

[HappilyManly]

We just need to be patient with our attack & stop kicking on 2nd & 3rd tackles.

And pass to a support player in the clear 😛

 

[yokahontas]

About a month ago I would have agreed with you. We looked a formidable side at times. Our defence was desperate and we looked like we had turned a corner.

To me though, we have looked off for the last 3 weeks. We have been fortunate to face some of the lower ranked teams lately but we aren't anywhere near being a premiership threat. Problem for me is we have played badly for weeks.

The Manly team that played the Tigers the other night would have been walloped if it was playing Melbourne.

I hope that our recent drop in form is related to increased training?... Or perhaps we are just looking past these lower ranked teams? but I'm not convinced.

Something needs to change and change quickly for Manly. We now only play top 8 teams for the rest of the year and there won't be any Tigers or Knights teams to hide our struggling game play.

I hope you are right and we can string 80mins of footy together. If we do, I can't see it happening consecutively for a few weeks to go deep into the finals... We just don't show the composure that the quality sides do. We can only hope though. Go Manly.

The July/August drop-off in form has very much reminded me of previous seasons under Hasler, so my guess is there’s a good chance it’s training related. Even in the premiership years, we dropped a game we were expected to win in mid to late August, and went on an unbeaten run from there.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Personally right now I'm hoping that the 10 day break between last Thursday and this Sunday is exactly what the players need.

Starting with the win over the Worms a few weeks back, 6 days later we then beat the Scum in what's easily been our toughest game of the year. Then 6 days later (notice a pattern there?) we were back at Brookie where we were flat after the Melbourne win, but with the Knights struggling we still won comfortably. Then another 6 day break and we're in Auckland where we were very flat and lost. Then, you guessed it, 6 days later its back home at Brookie where we were again flat, but still had another comfortable win against the Tigpies.

Our last 5 games have been played on a Sunday arvo, Saturday night, Saturday arvo, Friday evening and Thursday night. And the travel has been from Sydney to Melbourne to Sydney to Auckland and back to Sydney. And even though its a 10 day break, our next game is away in Canberra so even more travel.

I honestly think the last month with all being must win games, we've just become a bit jaded. Hopefully the 10 days is just what they need and we'll be fresh to face Canberra who I actually think are going to be tougher to beat right now than Melbourne were.



The question also remains how we'll handle the Finals.

As far as our full squad goes, those who have played Finals football are:

DCE - 13
Jorge - 8
Walks - 7
Hodkinson - 6
Thommo - 3
Api - 2
Jake - 1
Tom - 1
Siro - 1
Marty - 1
AFB - 1
Perrett - 1

None of the rest have played NRL level Finals football and neither Hodko or Perrett are likely to add to their totals this year.

In the first week of the finals, players like Garrick, Suli, Parker, Fainu, Waddell, Jetski, Boyle and Paseka, and maybe Elliot and/or Croker depending, will be in their first ever NRL Finals game.

The saving grace might be that despite the lack of Finals experience outside of DCE, Jorge and Walks, a few of the boys do have a fair bit of representative experience with Origins and/or tests so hopefully they won't be too overawed.

Or the complete opposite , totally overawed!!