Game Day: Manly v Dragons [Round 15, 2018]

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At least all the other spoon contenders are losing too. This really has been a pathetic season.

Bring back Hasler or Tooves. Let's do another rebuild around Taupau, AFB and the Turbos
It's
We are who we are .
Good luck with your endevours to better your health , fitness and quality of life in years to come
It will be the best investment you would ever make in your life
I'd rather a massage at the local rub and tug but good for you.
 
Agree he needs to straighten his attack although it isn’t to straighten to avoid an up and in Defence, as well coached teams like the dragons realise his first option is to pass. The dragons utilised a slide defence rather than up and in and let him run out of room and starve his outside men of space and time as he delays his pass until he defence is committed which is too late. Hence Kelly going into touch multiple times. Teams used this same tactic to negate Benji in his heyday, rather than jump up and in at him you let him run to the sideline and slide and cut down the space.

Teams in the past have used an up and in defence on him which forces an early pass, which negates his need to straighten, normally in Turbos case he then uses the cut out to the winger which has seen him record 7 try assists to only 2 tries.

Turbo needs to look up and play what is in front of him and he would of scored a few last night. If he does straighten if will give his outside men the room and mean defensives can’t slide and will commit early and hence open up the cut out long ball he loves to throw or if they hold off and slide he will have the option to run and with his size and strength he will be tough to stop.
I was talking in a general sense he lacks sharp footwork to assist and enhance his variety when chiming in from the back.(running the same predictable angles)

I never watched the game against the Dragons, only saw the highlights.
 
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Ironically I think it's Toms desire to get involved in more plays that is hurting his game this year. He seems to be hanging around the play the ball and play makers rather than holding back and winding up when he spots a hole or weakness in defense. Instead he gets the ball flat footed and starts running sideways to find a hole, then the attack gets squashed and flattened and then like we saw last night Tom throws a poor pass to the centre or winger who has already run out of space and options. This was really obvious when watching Turbo and Tedesco in origin; Tom was probably involved more but his runs always made an impact and he was more focused on hitting the week points in the defense than getting involved.
I blame Barret (and the lack of real play making options) as he stated early in the year that he wanted to get Tom more involved in the play making duties - it has confused his game and his role as a fullback to look for opportunities rather than always trying to make them out of nothing.
Bingo! Trying too hard. Agreed. And sadly rather than helping, the other night his running just blunted our 'attack' for want of a better word .
 
Woodsie is spot on about Kelly in my opinion. Kid is gold. He's got speed. His defense in improving exponentially. He's high paced. He plays the ball well. He is rarely injured (touch wood).

Hope.we give the kid a 4 year deal. He HAS the capability of being just as effective and quality as Matai in my opinion (big call, I know).

Last night, we just weren't switched on. Especially defensively. Getting Walker and Tanginoa back will be gold.

Ryan, whilst I do have a rap on Kelly, much of it has to do with his character and determination, .... will he be a star .... too early .... will he be better than an average centre .... absolutely.

The truth is much of my defence of Kelly is from ignorant, unwarranted, biased and irrational abuse from one particular "special" person who for some unknowable reason can not let a thread or day go by without putting **** on a very good young man. He has called him a stain on the Manly jersey and a cancer in the team .... enough!

As a Manly fan and supporter, I would protect and defend any Manly player from abuse by a troll ..... why would I not defend a hard working decent young man against the manic crap constantly thrown at him from within .......
 
Ryan, whilst I do have a rap on Kelly, much of it has to do with his character and determination, .... will he be a star .... too early .... will he be better than an average centre .... absolutely.

The truth is much of my defence of Kelly is from ignorant, unwarranted, biased and irrational abuse from one particular "special" person who for some unknowable reason can not let a thread or day go by without putting **** on a very good young man. He has called him a stain on the Manly jersey and a cancer in the team .... enough!

As a Manly fan and supporter, I would protect and defend any Manly player from abuse by a troll ..... why would I not defend a hard working decent young man against the manic crap constantly thrown at him from within .......

You mean like when you always call me a flea bitten floor rug.

:(

Painful.... :heartbreak:


It's ...exactly the same!

*cough*
 
Bingo! Trying too hard. Agreed. And sadly rather than helping, the other night his running just blunted our 'attack' for want of a better word .

Its exactly why Hodkinson needs to be given control of the team on the field by Barrett. Right now, as our "coach" has declared, this is DCE's team.....but the fact is that he is not capable of running it because he's not that type of a player.

If Hodko was put in charge of the team and was the organiser out there, Cherry wouldn't need to try and do everything. But for some reason Barrett can't or won't see that.

Manly forward Joel Thompson is facing a fine for a careless high tackle on Dragons centre Euan Aitken.

He's getting a fine for that hit while Klemmer gets a pitiful charge against him for his shot against the Titans, a shot which I think should have got him suspended.

Hmmmmm guess which player is vital to Origin this week? Effing joke.
 
The problem as I see it with how the 5/8 is being used, is that Barrett is having them as purely a link person for the forwards and backs. Thing is that if that's all he does its easy to read. One run of two metres shows that he is not being given the option of variety in his role. He had Croker playing the same role until his last game when he was injured. In '16 he had Walker playing an almost exclusive running 5/8. This is where the problem lies with how Barrett plays this position, one way or the other. With Green he had someone who at least kept the opposition guessing.

Surely what makes an effective 5/8 is one who is both distributor and attacking player. Its important to not give your opposition an easy guess regarding what you are going to do next. Play it as a distributor and then on occasion as attacker. That is what made Foran so effective. The opposition were always in two minds regarding what he was going to do, and this frees up space in the three quarters, especially if they follow his attacking moves. And moving forward, not just standing still and passing is also wise because it causes their team to go backwards waiting to see what the next move is. Lyons was a master at it.

Walker finally woke up to that in his last games as 5/8 and it worked. Barrett needs Hodko to mix his game up, make the opposition second guess, and always move forward committing the defence. He's wasted in the 5/8 position if all he is doing is passing the ball to players the opposition are waiting to fell. There should be a whole range of plays starting at 5/8, all coming from different directions and different strategies. We have a top backline that is being starved because we have a predictable 5/8 strategy
 
Its exactly why Hodkinson needs to be given control of the team on the field by Barrett. Right now, as our "coach" has declared, this is DCE's team.....but the fact is that he is not capable of running it because he's not that type of a player.

If Hodko was put in charge of the team and was the organiser out there, Cherry wouldn't need to try and do everything. But for some reason Barrett can't or won't see that.



He's getting a fine for that hit while Klemmer gets a pitiful charge against him for his shot against the Titans, a shot which I think should have got him suspended.

Hmmmmm guess which player is vital to Origin this week? Effing joke.
Great point re Hodko...he SHOULD be the dominant half but being the newbie and under s*it coaching he simply doesn't know his role. Just his kicking game and general organisational nous is all we need from him. Just play the Green role ffs.. tackling optional, running optional. Just get us around the park and game manage.
 

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