Manly v Rabbids [Round Finals Week 1 2014]

[Mals]

Taufua named.... let's hope he has plenty of bomb catching practise at training this week! I guess he is up against Lote who doesn't exactly have springs in his heels.

 

[ManlyMit]

Need to clean up our game massively to be in with a chance. If we stop making the silly mistakes we can win this. Manly love abit of adversity!

Burgess & GI are playing busted too.

 

[Brookie Brawler]

If Taufua was going to be dropped (and I doubt that will happen) it will be a last minute thing, with Reynolds practicing his bombs all week first, not announced today.

 

[ManlyArmy]

Taufua named.... let's hope he has plenty of bomb catching practise at training this week! I guess he is up against Lote who doesn't exactly have springs in his heels.

Maybe ISIS could help him out.

 

[manlyfan76]

Rest the first 17, run out a team of reggies and be fresh for the elimination final next week. Maybe some of the reggies can target some of Souffs big names and wear them down or bait them into a suspension, leaving manly fresh and ready. We create our week off.

 

[the mauler]

If the team named takes the field and their all fit, I honestly think we'll win. Sutton isnt fit and is in the second row. He'll be blowing after 10 minutes.
Burgess and Inglis also not 100%.
All the pressure is on them. Finals are a different beast and we'll be up for it.
Manly to win!!

 

[susan]

I'm making the semi final pilgrimage down there as usual.,I actually love watching footy at SFS.Wish the boys well but they are healthy,we are not and that's what matters this time of year..Too big in the middle and walker/ Johnstone will slaughter us out wide the way our outside backs defend at the moment.Throw in Steggles Hayne and it's Souths by 12 to 20 points.

 

[ManlyBacker]

Yep, we are out to $6.50 the Premiership, behind Rorters (3.15) and Soufs (3.50). If I could get a line on Snake's condition I would take those odds.

 

[panash]

I'm making the semi final pilgrimage down there as usual.,I actually love watching footy at SFS.Wish the boys well but they are healthy,we are not and that's what matters this time of year..Too big in the middle and walker/ Johnstone will slaughter us out wide the way our outside backs defend at the moment.Throw in Steggles Hayne and it's Souths by 12 to 20 points.

keep in mind , half of their backline is inexperience in games like this johnston , both centres & 5/8, Lote is slow and bad defender.
however i do agree it will be a very hard game to win.

 

[susan]

Yes panash....that is the great unknown,the choke/inexperience factor....if we were healthy and focused it's a 50 50 game but we are not healthy or focused. Let's hope choke>lack of focus.

 

[Brooke]

I'm making the semi final pilgrimage down there as usual.,I actually love watching footy at SFS.Wish the boys well but they are healthy,we are not and that's what matters this time of year..Too big in the middle and walker/ Johnstone will slaughter us out wide the way our outside backs defend at the moment.Throw in Steggles Hayne and it's Souths by 12 to 20 points.

You always seem to be spot on Susan. Hope you are wrong about this.
Damm that we get those two for referees.

 

[susan]

Our boys just need to bite the bullet and stay away from Steggles.Since his run in with Foran he has had it in for us proper.The whistle always gets put away a little in semis so we don't need to give him an excuse to bring it out,Don't argue,the clowns never change their minds and it just reinforces their petty little hatreds.

 

[Chip and Chase]

I'm making the semi final pilgrimage down there as usual.,I actually love watching footy at SFS.Wish the boys well but they are healthy,we are not and that's what matters this time of year..Too big in the middle and walker/ Johnstone will slaughter us out wide the way our outside backs defend at the moment.Throw in Steggles Hayne and it's Souths by 12 to 20 points.

keep in mind , half of their backline is inexperience in games like this johnston , both centres & 5/8, Lote is slow and bad defender.
however i do agree it will be a very hard game to win.

Keary and Walker can be distracted quite easily from the mental focus aspects of the game. If we get on top early then some judicious sledging will preoccupy them. Where's Tezza when you need him.

Our strength is our backline attack, their weakness is their backline defence. It's just a matter of whether we can hold them in the forwards.

 

[SwornEagle]

If the team is 1/100th as distracted as we are as supporters we are all but goooorne on Friday night! Seems, 40+ pages of media speculation/BS and 4 pages of the game thread for our first finals match of 2014...

Rabbitohs flying under the radar and Manly in a **** storm, either really bad internal management @ Manly or us all playing into the hands of the Sydney media to increase the changes of the Rabbits/Roosters, playing us like puppets.

Time will tell. I'm not buying into the media BS (Easier for me as I'm 10,000+ kms away) but sheesh some of the 'supporters' in here have me bewildered!

On the field is the only place you can really write history, hold the ball, play composed football and rip the rabbits a ...ing new one!

GO MANLY!!!

 

[Budgie]

If the team is 1/100th as distracted as we are as supporters we are all but goooorne on Friday night! Seems, 40+ pages of media speculation/BS and 4 pages of the game thread for our first finals match of 2014...

Rabbitohs flying under the radar and Manly in a ... storm, either really bad internal management @ Manly or us all playing into the hands of the Sydney media to increase the changes of the Rabbits/Roosters, playing us like puppets.

Time will tell. I'm not buying into the media BS (Easier for me as I'm 10,000+ kms away) but sheesh some of the 'supporters' in here have me bewildered!

On the field is the only place you can really write history, hold the ball, play composed football and rip the rabbits a ...ing new one!

GO MANLY!!!

I see what you're saying but have you noticed the way we've been playing lately?

---

I'm making the semi final pilgrimage down there as usual.,I actually love watching footy at SFS.Wish the boys well but they are healthy,we are not and that's what matters this time of year..Too big in the middle and walker/ Johnstone will slaughter us out wide the way our outside backs defend at the moment.Throw in Steggles Hayne and it's Souths by 12 to 20 points.

keep in mind , half of their backline is inexperience in games like this johnston , both centres & 5/8, Lote is slow and bad defender.
however i do agree it will be a very hard game to win.

Keary and Walker can be distracted quite easily from the mental focus aspects of the game. If we get on top early then some judicious sledging will preoccupy them. Where's Tezza when you need him.

Our strength is our backline attack, their weakness is their backline defence. It's just a matter of whether we can hold them in the forwards.

Wasn't it Keary who got under Killer's skin last time? I have never seen anyone do that before.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Our strength is our backline attack, their weakness is their backline defence. It's just a matter of whether we can hold them in the forwards.

Their overall defence has been very good for a couple of years now. Aided by the fact they get more penalties, have more time in possession, and hence the oppenents have less energy to attack.

But their weakness is their huge forwards, which is also their strength. Teams that can actually hang onto the ball (not easy against them) and move them around can have success, that's what we'll do this week.

---

PS - BOM: sunny tomorrow, Friday is cloudy with chance of shower or two

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Agree not easy to hold the ball against them but it's what is needed. We need a simple game plan , complete our sets, kick it into their corners, keep turning their big forwards around, tire them out, and have patience.

This game doesn't need to be won in the first 20 mins.

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

^ Agree with everyone else that key to this game (any game, really), is ball control, something we've been absolutely horrible at lately. We need at least an equal share of possession. A bit of luck at key times wouldn't go astray either. No mistakes, clear heads, smart options - is that too much to ask? Guess we'll find out pretty soon.

 

[BOZO]

We have not been playing well for the past month . I hope we can start to put it all together on Friday . We have lost a few players but we still have the great players that can make it happen if we start to gel
We can do it !!!

 

[tookey]

43 years of failure is a lot of pressure on the rabbids.

Our team knows that the longer we can hang in there with them the closer they will be to imploding like last year.

We need a dry track to run their big forwards around.