Pre-Game Manly v Dragons [Round 18, 2021]

[Mataiforever]

A win agains the dragqueens is a minute area of importance in the grand scheme of our finals hopes & potential title tilt.

It would be pretty foolish to play Tom, and very foolish to play him for 80.

We should have enough attack in DCE, Schuster, Walker off bench, Garrick & Saab to get some points & beat the dragons. If we can’t without Tom we are ****ed anyways

 

[Sheikheagle]

I guess we will have a clear indication re Tom playing or not today when Des drops two out of the squad.

 

[Rafferty]

I feel with Chez and Shoe we will be fine, our defensive effort last week was good especially with the amount of possession they had, our attack, control and leadership were a worry, Chez will get the house back in order and shoe will combine with our skipper to ignite some brilliance in attack.
I would love Tom to be out there but it’s not worth the risk and we need to do it with out him especially against the goons, they don’t own us and I’m sick of them getting the better of us in recent times, fire the lads up to put and end to their hoodoo.

 

[alafua8]

Not to mention we were playing a team we were favourites to win

Not to mention we could not over come adversity like winning teams do when the knights shut down Tommy

We needed the no look passer in that game and the Canberra one , but he is back this week .

 

[Dee Why Eagle]

Tommy made a bit of late burst trying to turn the game last night and got a bit gassed. But he didn't seem to have to do much in the first half and early in the second half because of the poor delivery from the halves. I really hope he is good to go on Friday. We need the win big time.

He copped a couple of big hits though

 

[47MVEagle]

Can't see Turbo backing up with that nasty cut on his left eye - that'll need stitches & a few days to heal.

 

[court83]

Geez better get on the blower to Des and share your years of Premiership coaching know how asap Court. 🙄

How many games have you coached? How many Premiership rings? Whats your win percentage again.

FMD.........

Did you watch the garbage dished up last week? Did you watch suli give away what, 3 tries?
Did you see Parker bomb a try that any winger in the NRL would score on a weekly basis??
Must be a fun bloke to chat too at parties mate. No I don't coach footy, still allowed to have an opinion.. I also am not a film maker, but guess what, I have opinons on what I consider good and s&$t movies... I'm not a Michelin star chef, but I still have opinion on what foods are good and what are absolute garbage... Im not in bands (anymore) but I still have an opinion on what is good music and what is crap...
If you wanna live your life with an "I don't do something professionally, therefore I have zero opinions on the subject" you must be a pretty f$&king boring bloke to talk with

 

[Ryan]

Did you watch the garbage dished up last week? Did you watch suli give away what, 3 tries?
Did you see Parker bomb a try that any winger in the NRL would score on a weekly basis??
Must be a fun bloke to chat too at parties mate. No I don't coach footy, still allowed to have an opinion.. I also am not a film maker, but guess what, I have opinons on what I consider good and s&$t movies... I'm not a Michelin star chef, but I still have opinion on what foods are good and what are absolute garbage... Im not in bands (anymore) but I still have an opinion on what is good music and what is crap...
If you wanna live your life with an "I don't do something professionally, therefore I have zero opinions on the subject" you must be a pretty f$&king boring bloke to talk with

That's the frustrating part @court83 , the inconsistency of the team. One week we are rocks, next week we are diamonds. We win games (like against The Eels), then get done over by a lowly Knights.

Honestly mate, I get your frustration.

It's as though some weeks, we couldn't be bothered, and others, we are world beaters.

I just wish Des would pick the best players in their respective positions. I've always said Des is risk adverse. He won't play new players unless forced (through injury for example) and he has no other option. If something goes just "okay", he won't return to what is amazing (examples, Walker at centre, Lawton at Hooker - in NZ).

Also, you're more than welcome to share your opinion. Be careful though, if it's not in fitting with some, they'll become personal and play the man (and we all know who these folks are).

 

[Mitch]

That's the frustrating part @court83 , the inconsistency of the team. One week we are rocks, next week we are diamonds. We win games (like against The Eels), then get done over by a lowly Knights.

Honestly mate, I get your frustration.

It's as though some weeks, we couldn't be bothered, and others, we are world beaters.

I just wish Des would pick the best players in their respective positions. I've always said Des is risk adverse. He won't play new players unless forced (through injury for example) and he has no other option. If something goes just "okay", he won't return to what is amazing (examples, Walker at centre, Lawton at Hooker - in NZ).

Also, you're more than welcome to share your opinion. Be careful though, if it's not in fitting with some, they'll become personal and play the man (and we all know who these folks are).

I feel aside from the first four rounds we have been consistent though mate - Only losing three matches since that point (one being a narrow one to an essentially full strength Panthers side). I have seen very few weeks where we 'couldn't be bothered'.

 

[QLDSeaeagle]

But there in lies the problem.Part of the reason it’s not at season end is due to the poor ratings,as evidenced by last year.

Any management that uses a statistic obtained during a pandemic as a baseline is incompetent at the least.

 

[QLDSeaeagle]

Apart from when he took that intercept against souths in the finals series for a race away try perhaps. #shortmemories.

One crucial try, Does not mean we should put up with many rounds of mediocrity.

 

[Rafferty]

I feel aside from the first four rounds we have been consistent though mate - Only losing three matches since that point (one being a narrow one to an essentially full strength Panthers side). I have seen very few weeks where we 'couldn't be bothered'.

I don’t think it’s a case of couldn’t be bothered, but I do think we have an attitude issue at times against teams we are expected to beat, you can never just think you’ll turn up and get the 2, we need to respect and develop that winning edge regardless who we play, or where we play, it’s not just this year, it has been a notable issue for sometime.
Good sides just get the job done regardless, that’s what makes them good sides, we have the talent, just maybe need to adjust the attitude at times or understand that if we drop our intensity against those sides we are expected to beat, they will and have pulled our pants down.

 

[The better Robbo]

Infoi

I felt the same in game 2 as well. Call me suspicious but after game 1 it was like Teddy and a few of the superstars decided to minimise toms time on the ball.
Egos at 100 paces by ghe looks of it.

Agree. Tedesco parked himself on the left the entire game! Cook kept going left to him. Teddy isn't a real ball playing fullback and was definitely a bit of a Paul Gallen hog last night and even game 2 for that matter!

 

[Ryan]

I feel aside from the first four rounds we have been consistent though mate - Only losing three matches since that point (one being a narrow one to an essentially full strength Panthers side). I have seen very few weeks where we 'couldn't be bothered'.

get ya there mate, but the last five games, we've gone L,W,W,W, L (which isn't bad at all). Our losses were against Thew Raiders and Knights, and I really feel we should have put a score on them (just opinion of course), if we just turned up with the right mindset. Could mean a huge amount at the tail end of the season. In fact, I think team selections have a lot do do with losses (just opinion).

On the flipper, with the three W's, we've not only won, but literally thrashed them. I actually think The Cowboys are a pretty good team. Dogs aren't as bad as we made them look, and The Titans are pretty good too.

We have 8 rounds to go, and if we win 3/5's of the games, I'd be happy. Just hope we build into September.

EDIT: btw, thanks for putting your point across without it being an attack on the person.

 

[Shoe1]

Agree. Tedesco parked himself on the left the entire game! Cook kept going left to him. Teddy isn't a real ball playing fullback and was definitely a bit of a Paul Gallen hog last night and even game 2 for that matter!

Fine with me, less mileage on Tom than the other 2 Origin games, and he still got the medal.

 

[The better Robbo]

get ya there mate, but the last five games, we've gone L,W,W,W, L (which isn't bad at all). Our losses were against Thew Raiders and Knights, and I really feel we should have put a score on them (just opinion of course), if we just turned up with the right mindset. Could mean a huge amount at the tail end of the season. In fact, I think team selections have a lot do do with losses (just opinion).

On the flipper, with the three W's, we've not only won, but literally thrashed them. I actually think The Cowboys are a pretty good team. Dogs aren't as bad as we made them look, and The Titans are pretty good too.

We have 8 rounds to go, and if we win 3/5's of the games, I'd be happy. Just hope we build into September.

EDIT: btw, thanks for putting your point across without it being an attack on the person.

4 from 8 gets us top 6.
5 from 8 probably locks up 5th
Like you say its all about keeping fresh and peaking come September. I like that Jake has had a long rest, he needed it and will come back ready to go. Schuster had a nice break too and in his first full season probably needed a break. Turbo still relatively fresh even though he's been in origin. I'm confident we can do some damage in the finals from outside the top 4

 

[Ryan]

4 from 8 gets us top 6.
5 from 8 probably locks up 5th
Like you say its all about keeping fresh and peaking come September. I like that Jake has had a long rest, he needed it and will come back ready to go. Schuster had a nice break too and in his first full season probably needed a break. Turbo still relatively fresh even though he's been in origin. I'm confident we can do some damage in the finals from outside the top 4

Yup, also think Aloiai coming back will be huge. Possibly Siro. Saddler & Fainu at a long shot. Competition for spots seems a healthy thing for this team.

 

[Mitch]

get ya there mate, but the last five games, we've gone L,W,W,W, L (which isn't bad at all). Our losses were against Thew Raiders and Knights, and I really feel we should have put a score on them (just opinion of course), if we just turned up with the right mindset. Could mean a huge amount at the tail end of the season. In fact, I think team selections have a lot do do with losses (just opinion).

On the flipper, with the three W's, we've not only won, but literally thrashed them. I actually think The Cowboys are a pretty good team. Dogs aren't as bad as we made them look, and The Titans are pretty good too.

We have 8 rounds to go, and if we win 3/5's of the games, I'd be happy. Just hope we build into September.

EDIT: btw, thanks for putting your point across without it being an attack on the person.

All good mate - Healthy debate is what it's all about! Look, tomorrow will be a really good indication of where we are with or without Tom.

After the poor showing last week, there needs to be a response and hopefully that response can be a positive one that along with the return of Aloiai and Jake in the coming weeks can lay a good platform moving into finals!

 

[Mataiforever]

get ya there mate, but the last five games, we've gone L,W,W,W, L (which isn't bad at all). Our losses were against Thew Raiders and Knights, and I really feel we should have put a score on them (just opinion of course), if we just turned up with the right mindset. Could mean a huge amount at the tail end of the season. In fact, I think team selections have a lot do do with losses (just opinion).

On the flipper, with the three W's, we've not only won, but literally thrashed them. I actually think The Cowboys are a pretty good team. Dogs aren't as bad as we made them look, and The Titans are pretty good too.

We have 8 rounds to go, and if we win 3/5's of the games, I'd be happy. Just hope we build into September.

EDIT: btw, thanks for putting your point across without it being an attack on the person.

Agree re the mindset area. This team needs to learn to win without tom so all other 16 players (maybe not DCE and Schuster) can learn to push the attack without relying on Tom.

If we don't win this way and our players don't bring the right mindset to create points, come finals time the top teams will have one area to defend: shut down Tom.

 

[davohan123]

4 from 8 gets us top 6.
5 from 8 probably locks up 5th
Like you say its all about keeping fresh and peaking come September. I like that Jake has had a long rest, he needed it and will come back ready to go. Schuster had a nice break too and in his first full season probably needed a break. Turbo still relatively fresh even though he's been in origin. I'm confident we can do some damage in the finals from outside the top 4

5th or 6th should be our goal from here.

I think we can do some damage in finals too.. would love to play south's week 2 or 3 game in Sydney ( covid permitting) I think we have there measure and we owe them for knocking us out a few years back.

You know the best thing glad we this year are in finals contention makes the back half of the season more enjoyable.

Could be worse , you could be a tigers supporter. 🙂🙂