Game Day: Manly v Cowboys [Round 9, 2016]

[Fluffy]

At 20 minutes in we were down 16 nil and 4-0 on the penalties with 24% possession. The damage had been done.

From there we went 18 all and had the cowboys struggling at time creating a few more cracks in the middle than normal.

In the end the score flattered the girls a bit - felt like a 10 point loss watching it.

Wright played well given he had his first training session with the team on Monday looks a great depth pickup who will genuinely pressure Tafua.

Godinet went ok took some tough swirling bombs when at fullback.

Killer moved to 5/8 when Walker went off and looked better than Walker.

Lussick made a big hit on Tamou early then went missing. Would rather BJ start and Starlo on the bench.

All in all a lot of effort and the crowd showed that after giving a warm clap for a losing team. Boys should hold their heads high and hope we can get over these injuries soon.

 

[The Who]

Let's get fair dinkum: When the 'Boys used their backs they looked like they knew what they were doing, and scored six backline tries. It could have been more but the Bunker took pity on us.
When our backs got the ball we were bereft of ideas. Two kicks produced our first two tries. What ever happened to one of our backs beating an opposition player with a step, pace or guile (Tom Turbo excepted this season)
The final try was the best piece of attacking play I've seen from this team this season... but it was initiated by a forward offload to another forward.
Our forwards are more than holding their own. Our backs are not up to standard. Even when we had our full complement of backs we've struggled to score.
Hurry back Turbo.

 

[HappilyManly]

http://www.nrl.com/rd-9-press-conference-sea-eagles/tabid/10959/contentid/841418/default.aspx

Presser

 

[pjayz]

http://www.nrl.com/rd-9-press-conference-sea-eagles/tabid/10959/contentid/841418/default.aspx

Presser

I have to say I'm a little worried about some of his comments. I like Barrett and have stood up for him, but Godinet our best player tonight? Good on him for having a go but looked out of his depth for mine.

Walker should not have moved to fullback IMO, that was a mistake. We should have kept the combination with DCE instead of adding to the constant disruption to that combination (injuries have made it hard enough). It would not have won us the game of course, but it just didn't bring any long term or short term benefit - strange call.

If you are going to bring up someone from the lower grades who may not quite be up to standard, it's better to have them on the wing like Lavaka, rather than into a key position in 5/8 when you didn't have an injury to cover in the halves in the first place.

Anyway, plenty of ticker in this team, we just need to settle on combinations and hopefully be done with the injuries (now that we are done with the 5 day turn-a rounds).

 

[HoldenV8]

Although he looked good at the end when the Cows had switched off a bit, I too thought Godinet looked out of his depth out there.

In all honestly I think our backline should have been:

Wiliame, Green/Lavaka, Killer, Skivy, Wright, Walker, DCE.

Walker to fullback was a strange choice that didn't work and he should have been left at 5/8, if nothing else just to give some stability to the halves. He tried hard but he's not a fullback. Though in saying that, Killer provided more play making in 20 minutes at pivot than Walker has done all season which only makes us wonder.....what if they swap positions? Won't happen though.

Cherry seems to be everyone's whipping boy, mostly because he's the halfback, the play maker, but most of all because the highest money earner in the team. But seriously, this year he has played only 2 games with what could be considered anywhere near our strongest team.....and we've won both (Sharks and Knights). Otherwise we've had makeshift lineups (Dogs, Tigpies, Chooks, tonight). Everything falls on him and he's in a no-win situation. We win he could play better. We lose and its all his fault. Because of injuries it won't happen for at least another month or so, but give him a pack that is winning or at worst breaking even and give him our best backline players and things will click into place.

Unfortunately because of injuries and Nein's wonderful draw which has seen us have five 5 day turnarounds in 9 rounds, our season is pushing uphill before it really gets going. With our full strength side we are a top 8 team. Whether we are a top 8 team that can challenge Brisbane and NQ remains to be seen.

 

[Nordburg]

I wonder if Barrett just said Godinet was probably the best out there to justify Mateo's non selection?Because Godinet was non existent for 80% of that match in attack and was a speed bump in defence

 

[Dan]

i felt godinet took time to settle into the game, he looked more comfortable later in blurts. to be honest he did well playing in like 3 positions. i have no criticism of him, he went ok but not great.

is mateo injurerd or just everyone has realised how ****e he is

 

[globaleagle]

sigh

tough to watch. Especially when you know we've got injuries in important positions....and 5 day turn arounds galore.

Still you gotta got what if if if parcel scored and that total fluke of a bounce didn't happen for the cows. We would have started off with some points!

dumb dumb dumb penalties cruelled us as well. (plus the usual dodgy ones that never get brought up.)

I can't wait to see the number one manly side run out...after having been able to get combo's going.



I feel sorry for those people who actually pay for livestream. Everytime I use it to watch a game it's a 80% pixelated mess!!

 

[HappilyManly]

sigh

tough to watch. Especially when you know we've got injuries in important positions....and 5 day turn arounds galore.

Still you gotta got what if if if parcel scored and that total fluke of a bounce didn't happen for the cows. We would have started off with some points!

dumb dumb dumb penalties cruelled us as well. (plus the usual dodgy ones that never get brought up.)

I can't wait to see the number one manly side run out...after having been able to get combo's going.



I feel sorry for those people who actually pay for livestream. Everytime I use it to watch a game it's a 80% pixelated mess!!

Pixelated or is it Beamed

 

[The Who]

Although he looked good at the end when the Cows had switched off a bit, I too thought Godinet looked out of his depth out there.

In all honestly I think our backline should have been:

Wiliame, Green/Lavaka, Killer, Skivy, Wright, Walker, DCE.

Walker to fullback was a strange choice that didn't work and he should have been left at 5/8, if nothing else just to give some stability to the halves. He tried hard but he's not a fullback. Though in saying that, Killer provided more play making in 20 minutes at pivot than Walker has done all season which only makes us wonder.....what if they swap positions? Won't happen though.

Cherry seems to be everyone's whipping boy, mostly because he's the halfback, the play maker, but most of all because the highest money earner in the team. But seriously, this year he has played only 2 games with what could be considered anywhere near our strongest team.....and we've won both (Sharks and Knights). Otherwise we've had makeshift lineups (Dogs, Tigpies, Chooks, tonight). Everything falls on him and he's in a no-win situation. We win he could play better. We lose and its all his fault. Because of injuries it won't happen for at least another month or so, but give him a pack that is winning or at worst breaking even and give him our best backline players and things will click into place.

Unfortunately because of injuries and Nein's wonderful draw which has seen us have five 5 day turnarounds in 9 rounds, our season is pushing uphill before it really gets going. With our full strength side we are a top 8 team. Whether we are a top 8 team that can challenge Brisbane and NQ remains to be seen.

If we are that desperate for a 5/8 we should try Parcell. He has the speed and the skills and has been our most impressive recruitment this season. We can then play Api or Brown at hooker.

 

[mozgrame]

Marty Taupau. Played 79 minutes, 9 runs, 7 hit ups, made 100m, 36 tackles, 0 missed tackles. Great effort by the big bloke!

 

[mozgrame]

Trent's press conference...

https://www.nrl.com/rd-9-press-conference-sea-eagles/tabid/10959/contentid/841418/default.aspx

 

[globaleagle]

Going into the game I was kind of hoping that the cowboys would take our game a bit lightly+many players would be looking after themselves because of the upcoming test would = a manly win.

Unless this only happens around state of blahigin.

 

[wombatgc]

And I say that without even knowing what sort of cheese is available in Beirut.

I know it's two days late but can I say Boom cheese.

 

[HoldenV8]

One thing I noticed during that game that I think we can put down to good coaching, was that for much of the game, wherever Thurston went with the ball, Jake Trbojevic followed him like a drover's dog. He didn't do this to specifically tackle JT, though he occasionally was able to, it was more to pick off the inside runners. If you watch Thurston play a lot of times he will drift across field from first receiver and turn the ball back to a forward running inside. The Cows tend to make a fair few metres from that because most defences are more worried about Thurston than any inside runners. It happened quite a lot on Saturday night but most times it was snuffed out by Jake who was there picking off the runners one by one.

Personally I thought it was good coaching by Barrett to have Jake playing that role.