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

[HappilyManly]

SEA EAGLES CASUALTY WARD
Dylan Walker (facial fracture) – Rd 16

Kelepi Tanginoa (knee) – Rd 18

Jack Gosiewski (arm) - Round 19

Api Koroisau (foot) - season

Lachlan Croker (knee) – season

Curtis Sironen (knee) – season

 

[BOZO]

SEA EAGLES CASUALTY WARD
Dylan Walker (facial fracture) – Rd 16

Kelepi Tanginoa (knee) – Rd 18

Jack Gosiewski (arm) - Round 19

Api Koroisau (foot) - season

Lachlan Croker (knee) – season

Curtis Sironen (knee) – season

Let me just update this for you HM ....
SEA EAGLES CASUALTY WARD
Dylan Walker (facial fracture) – Rd 16

Kelepi Tanginoa (knee) – Rd 18

Jack Gosiewski (arm) - Round 19

Api Koroisau (foot) - season

Lachlan Croker (knee) – season

Curtis Sironen (knee) – season

Manly Sea eagles (Trentitis ) - season

 

[Bearfax]

One thing I did notice in the Manly attack was that it was predictably to the left. For some reason Hodkinson was passing almost exclusively to the left and DCE and Tom T were standing on the left of Hodko most of the night. It was very predicatable and because St George were expecting it they had their defence well set to block Tom T and others coming off him and especially Kelly who was at times left with little room to move, resulting in him being taken over the side line on several occasions. I saw one instance when DCE was on the other side and had Tom Wright on his outside with space to run and he turned and passed inside. Wright threw his arms up in frustration because the ball didn't seem to be coming his way most of the night. Barrett needs to ensure his plays vary all over the park. That predictable passage of play they were using failed time and again but they kept doing it. Not saying Wright could have changed the result, but for crying out ,load guys, use your good attacking weapons across the park. Some suggest the ball was being kept away from Wright for jealous reasons. I don't think that was the case because players surely want to use their assets to win. I think it was a strategy that failed miserably.

 

[HoldenV8]

That has been part of the problem with Manly under Trent Barrett. There seems to be a Plan A, but no B or even C if A or B doesn't work.

On Saturday night, where was the instruction from the bench to change it up because they were reading our left side plays and shutting them down? Either (likely) there was no instruction to change or (unlikely) the players simply ignored it and did their own thing.

At the start of the second half I actually remember Gasnier saying that hopefully we'll see Tom Wright get more of the ball after what he did in the first half. But for some reason we just kept on going left and it kept on getting shut down. If even that twat could see that what we were doing wasn't working, surely our next supercoach could?

 

[Bearfax]

I think one of the problems there is that it is easier for a right handed person to pass to the left accurately than to the right, and as the majority of people are right handed there is a natural bias to pass to the left. But that's a training issue. Learning to pass each way accurately is achieved by repetitive training. Surely Barrett is doing that.

 

[HappilyManly]

I think one of the problems there is that it is easier for a right handed person to pass to the left accurately than to the right, and as the majority of people are right handed there is a natural bias to pass to the left. But that's a training issue. Learning to pass each way accurately is achieved by repetitive training. Surely Barrett is doing that.

Plus the Team doesn't yet have the game time confidence in Suli/Wright.

Human nature to go with what you know under stress.
Turbo kept running left but then squeezed poor Kels out of the field.

When Walks gets back next round, Manly will start favouring the RHS and starving our LHS.

Unbalanced play caused by the never ending Team changes

 

[pjayz]

It will be interesting now that Walker will be ready to go for our next match. Will Barrett drop Uate and keep Suli in the run on side?

We know Uate is gone next year, we know this year is lost, is there any point keeping Uate in the side? I’d rather give Suli his spot when Dylan comes back. If The NRL continues to block Fainu, will Barrett put Hodko in the 9 and play Dylan in the 6 again?

You would expect to see Tom Wright stay in the side or will he give M Wright the utility spot? With Tanginoa coming back, you’d expect him to take a spot on the bench meaning we won’t carry two backs on the bench surely.

Very interesting team selection for round 16.

 

[HoldenV8]

I think one of the problems there is that it is easier for a right handed person to pass to the left accurately than to the right, and as the majority of people are right handed there is a natural bias to pass to the left. But that's a training issue. Learning to pass each way accurately is achieved by repetitive training. Surely Barrett is doing that.

Surely they would have been taught that well before they ever got to first grade. Even here in the rugby league backwater that is Adelaide we used to teach the kids to pass both left and right regardless which hand they were.

 

[HoldenV8]

It will be interesting now that Walker will be ready to go for our next match. Will Barrett drop Uate and keep Suli in the run on side?

We know Uate is gone next year, we know this year is lost, is there any point keeping Uate in the side? I’d rather give Suli his spot when Dylan comes back. If The NRL continues to block Fainu, will Barrett put Hodko in the 9 and play Dylan in the 6 again?

You would expect to see Tom Wright stay in the side or will he give M Wright the utility spot? With Tanginoa coming back, you’d expect him to take a spot on the bench meaning we won’t carry two backs on the bench surely.

Very interesting team selection for round 16.

I'm not convinced we should even be thinking about Suli as a winger. We'd be replacing one winger with grease like hands, no aerial ability, some bad defensive reads, but still has speed and isn't lazy.....with a centre who is basically exactly the same, but slower and is lazy.

Regardless that Uate is going, I would rather have him than Suli out there. We're still trying to avoid the wooden spoon here. And unlike the AFL with their draft, there is no incentive like first draft pick to want to finish last in the NRL.

Personally, when Walks is back I wouldn't actually have Suli even in the 17 right now. I don't think he's done anywhere near enough to justify keeping him in first grade. Lets be honest, while Tom Wright's defence needs a lot of work, he did more in 60 or so minutes on Saturday night than Suli has done in 6 games filling in for Walker at centre.

The NRL will only continue to block Fainu while they say we still have a full squad. That is why everyone is hoping like hell that Hastings and Huddersfield join hands in holy matrimony before the Penrith game, freeing up a spot so that Fainu can be brought in.

All things going well, Walks back, the rep players coming through this weekend uninjured, and Hastings replaced by Fainu, if I was selecting the side for the Penrith game it would be:

T. Trbojevic, Taufua, Walker, Kelly, Uate, Hodkinson, Cherry-Evans, Fonua-Blake, Fainu, Taupau, Thompson, Lane, J. Trbojeivc. Bench - T. Wright, Paseka, Sipley, Winterstein (Frank only if Tanginoa is still out).

Tom Wright, who offers more than Suli, Parker and Matt Wright, can cover the backs and halves while if needed, Hodko or even DCE can cover dummy half.

 

[pjayz]

I'm not convinced we should even be thinking about Suli as a winger. We'd be replacing one winger with grease like hands, no aerial ability, some bad defensive reads, but still has speed and isn't lazy.....with a centre who is basically exactly the same, but slower and is lazy.

Regardless that Uate is going, I would rather have him than Suli out there. We're still trying to avoid the wooden spoon here. And unlike the AFL with their draft, there is no incentive like first draft pick to want to finish last in the NRL.

Personally, when Walks is back I wouldn't actually have Suli even in the 17 right now. I don't think he's done anywhere near enough to justify keeping him in first grade. Lets be honest, while Tom Wright's defence needs a lot of work, he did more in 60 or so minutes on Saturday night than Suli has done in 6 games filling in for Walker at centre.

I can’t agree with that. You are making an assumption that Suli can’t catch without any evidence for it. Uate doesn’t just drop high balls - he fumbles and bumbles grubbers to allow the opposition to score - we haven’t seen that from Suli. I think you are being a bit tough on him.

You say Suli hasn’t done enough to keep his spot - do you think Uate has? I don’t. Suli replacing Uate won’t see us get the spoon (it might save us given the tries Uate gives away), nor will it get us into the eight. It’s about setting ourselves up for next year and seeing what he can do on the wing.

As for him being lazy, yes he has had issues in the past but only once with us and that was more stupid than lazy.

Suli is the type of player that could be anything - we need to help him give it a real crack and giving him as much game time as possible this year will only help achieve that. He needs to put in at training, do what is asked of him and have a big off season (shedding about 5kgs as he showed a lot more speed a couple of years ago). I’m not saying he will become a top player - just that he certainly has the ability to become one and Uate is 100% gone and not playing that well at all (not on his own mind you).

There needs to be a spot for Tom Wright to show what he can do and next year should see Anderson come into the top 30.

 

[Bearfax]

Its not just the left hand right hand thing I've noticed with this side. There is little criss-crossing. I don't mean running across field and passing inside like DCE does a lot of. I mean having players following the ball carrier inside and out and one behind. The one behind then changes direction and receives a pass heading the other direction from the ball carrier. That player then has the opportunity of passing to the next player following the first who then heads either the opposite way or straight. By doing this you open up many potential gaps and the man holding the ball can decide whether to go for the break or pass again, perhaps inside again or outside. Thing is if you try this strategy often as part of the mx the option becomes uncertain of your line of attack The idea is to stop the opposition manning up and become a little confused regarding who they should mark. Good teams do this but I've rarely seen Manly do this of late. There's also the double shuffle by the player holding the ball, something Lyons was a master at. Makes the other team unsure when the pass is happening. I've watch a few Manly players do it, but they do it far to far away from the defender, and it becomes a useless strategy. There are other strategies such as this that don't seem to be on Barrett's menu. He did play football didn't he?