Pre-Game Manly v Raiders [Round 4, 2022]

[Brisbane Tragic]

Lawton has always been a hooker…..I just feel the forwards would benefit more with him at hooker. Nothing against Croker but Lawton has more speed & takes the line on more.

We need someone - anyone who can scoot from dummy half after a forward has made some nice yards

 

[Disco]

How's that working for us though?

Our form is down because our forwards are not aiming up. Not because we dont have enough of them.

IMO opinion of course

 

[double hoops]

Or maybe contributing to Harper's poor form is also the result of the confused, hesistant, headless chook, running in circles service coming from the inside.....DCE.

Agree. He's killing Guacs runs too.

 

[Scorpio]

In 2022 rugby league, a specialist hooker is possibly the most important player in any team in my opinion. Particularly for ruck speed and control. Everything else rolls off that.

Brandon Smith, Harry Grant, Apisai Koroisou, Damien Cooke etc etc. It's no wonder these teams are so consistently up the top. Look at The Chooks since Friend went down. Check their wins / losses.

Not to discount your point that a quality #9 would help but I think our main problems lay elsewhere. I also think Api's influence at Penrith is overstated a bit.

Last year he went off injured in Game 1, missed the next 6 games, but Penrith still won all 6 of those games by an average of 19 points. Possibly controversial but if you swapped Croker and Koroisau right now, I am pretty sure Penrith would still be winning and we would still be struggling to match the top teams.

The difference I think is that their forwards (also their backs) run fast and hard and they win the ruck, with everything happening on the back of that. For what it's worth, Isaah Yeo is currently leading the Dally M having scored 3 points in all games so far.

Compared to us, two of our backline get driven backwards whenever they get tackled. Two weeks ago, one of our starting props went to the bench around the 20-30 minute mark with (IIRC) a full 11 run metres (including a pass to no one when he was about to be tackled). And last week our fullback was doing better hitups than most if not all of our forwards. That's our problem!

 

[The Who]

I agree mate. When people look up flat track bully on google it should be a picture of DCE.
He hasn’t turned a game on it’s head for years.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s the king of clutch field goals, but he isn’t a Cronk or Reynolds. He doesn’t win games with skill full in-game kicking.

He needs a pack rolling forwards. He needs Turbo through the middle.
When that’s happening, he’s lethal.

When it’s not, he’s a headless chook running sideways.

DCE has been a wonderful player and won us many matches, but he's been up for a long time and age does weary you. He is not the player he was.
So, could we see the possibility of the club allowing him to leave us one year early to captain the 'Fins? I'd imaging the 'Fins would be delighted to take him as their inaugural big-name signing for two or three seasons.
For us it would free up a lot of salary cap money. For DCE it would give him another challenge and the chance to prolong his NRL career.
Of course, it would mean we'd need a NRL-standard halfback.

 

[40 nil]

Of course, it would mean we'd need a NRL-standard halfback.

I'd prefer we didn't import a halfback with young guns Latu & Humphries coming through. Ackland & Bunting are also promising players.

 

[Waz13]

DCE has been a wonderful player and won us many matches, but he's been up for a long time and age does weary you. He is not the player he was.
So, could we see the possibility of the club allowing him to leave us one year early to captain the 'Fins? I'd imaging the 'Fins would be delighted to take him as their inaugural big-name signing for two or three seasons.
For us it would free up a lot of salary cap money. For DCE it would give him another challenge and the chance to prolong his NRL career.
Of course, it would mean we'd need a NRL-standard halfback.

Won’t happen as I think DCE will see out his career with us. But if it did, we could do worse than put Foz into a game managing 7 for a season or two and Schu into 6. Foz is basically the game manager now anyway. Seems more durable these days as well

 

[Eagle 1]

DCE has been a wonderful player and won us many matches, but he's been up for a long time and age does weary you. He is not the player he was.
So, could we see the possibility of the club allowing him to leave us one year early to captain the 'Fins? I'd imaging the 'Fins would be delighted to take him as their inaugural big-name signing for two or three seasons.
For us it would free up a lot of salary cap money. For DCE it would give him another challenge and the chance to prolong his NRL career.
Of course, it would mean we'd need a NRL-standard halfback.

He's stated many times he's settled here now, wife and kids love the Northern Beaches. He'd also be angling for a coaching gig at Manly when he finally does hang up his boots.

 

[Stewbojevic]

I agree mate. When people look up flat track bully on google it should be a picture of DCE.
He hasn’t turned a game on it’s head for years.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s the king of clutch field goals, but he isn’t a Cronk or Reynolds. He doesn’t win games with skilful in-game kicking.

He needs a pack rolling forwards. He needs Turbo through the middle.
When that’s happening, he’s lethal.

When it’s not, he’s a headless chook running sideways.

When has Cronk ever played behind a beaten pack? Or Reynolds for that matter… until this year. We’ll see how he goes.

 

[Budgie]

He's clearly got post football career business on his mind the way he is playing. The hunger to throw your body into the grind just doesn't seem to be there.

Shows how rare a person Ash Barty is. Desire no longer there? Retire.

 

[jbb/james]

DCE works hard, competes, is really vested but due to other factors , IMO , most decisively , the 8 year contract there is lots missing

I have mentioned many times despite his big efforts , his shoulder has been missing from his defence for some time. His technique is unhelpful and could be linked

His headless chook is about one thing. not committing to a defender and virtually digging a hole to avoid hitting the line.

Never ever runs to line to kick .

Its a big 3 considering his standing, experience, position, leadership

There is something common here. Im not saying he is soft but he preserves himself , and i certainly suspect it has something to do with his run of games. His style is very jason taylor who also had a remarkable record . He is tough though, no doubt but playing within himself, not aerobicly but as a ball player

He is a tireless worker , tries hard , is really likeable and seems to be a great deputy , but he is a bit of a koala with that 8 year contract that hasnt allowed accountability.

 

[Pete the Eagle]

Why the despondency Pete, I can see us only improving from the Bulldogs game. They scored 2 tries, one a fumble over the line by us and the second a long range grubber into the cnr of the in goal. Our fwds defended well, but our 2nd half attack was very clunky, maybe put it down to a heavy track. Dry track by the looks of it at Mudgee, we can really kick start our season off the way it should be, and it all starts this Saturday.

Well i truly hope your right my friend , our F&A is not flash so a big win would be fantastic .
However we will need a huge improvement come Saturday as the raiders will be fired up from last week .
Go the Might Eagles

 

[manly al]

Think that D C E still has it in terms of ability and skill level , made a good break on Sunday , good effort in defence and covering and of course the clutch field goal . Really think that some problems occur when he just overthinks some options and when the game is not so free flowing and his team not on a roll . , Of course an excellent off the cuff and instinctive individual footy player , has an experienced play maker in Foz with him now , so again just really needs to do the basics with direct plays and to support the plays as can be a really good back up finisher all over the park . Pass early or go to the line trying to bring players with him or some of his very effective cut out passes should be his mantra and providing he has the in form and good enough players to pass to . Just so ineffective when he aimlessly stops and starts and throws the whole attacking structure out Can still be a real asset going forward if he can just get the balance right with his on field options .

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

his shoulder has been missing from his defence for some time. His technique is unhelpful and could be linked

His headless chook is about one thing. not committing to a defender and virtually digging a hole to avoid hitting the line.

It's possible your attitude to DCE (who I readily concede is no immortal-in-waiting) colours your assessment of his tackling?

Obviously for his whole career he has been spotted in defence, as all key players are, and especially because for a good deal of his Manly career he has been very much one of our few key men.

But I suggest he has always been one of the best tackling halves in the game, and his 2021 stats back that up. In fact, at a glance at these (from Foxsport stats) he's the best!

2021 Games Tackles Missed tackles

DCE ....... 25 ... 487 ... 51

Foz ....... 25 ... 367 ... 53

J Hughes ..... 24 ... 410 ... 48

B Hunt ..... 15 ... 253 ... 53

N Cleary...... 20 ... 344 ... 56

M Moses..... 22 ... 267 ... 54

S Walker .... 21 ... 278 ... 65

M Burton ....26 ... 346 ... 60

L Brooks ... 24 ... 426 ... 70

 

[Brookie Bob]

Regional guide to: Glen Willow Oval

Rugby league will return to Mudgee this weekend as the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles host the Canberra Raiders at Glen Willow Oval.

www.nrl.com

 

[Brookie Bob]

The team has to shut Starling down this weekend:

Ricky had a ‘shattering’ Raiders ‘headache’ to solve... the solution was to embrace the ‘chaos’

Ricky had a ‘shattering’ Raiders ‘headache’ to solve... the solution was ‘chaos’

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[Budgie]

It's possible your attitude to DCE (who I readily concede is no immortal-in-waiting) colours your assessment of his tackling?

Obviously for his whole career he has been spotted in defence, as all key players are, and especially because for a good deal of his Manly career he has been very much one of our few key men.

But I suggest he has always been one of the best tackling halves in the game, and his 2021 stats back that up. In fact, at a glance at these (from Foxsport stats) he's the best!

2021 Games Tackles Missed tackles

DCE ....... 25 ... 487 ... 51

Foz ....... 25 ... 367 ... 53

J Hughes ..... 24 ... 410 ... 48

B Hunt ..... 15 ... 253 ... 53

N Cleary...... 20 ... 344 ... 56

M Moses..... 22 ... 267 ... 54

S Walker .... 21 ... 278 ... 65

M Burton ....26 ... 346 ... 60

L Brooks ... 24 ... 426 ... 70

I still think the gaping hole in the defence is down to DCE. Every time.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

You may be right. However I think it is due to the forwards not sliding across quickly enough.
I think that is why Sipley was dropped for one thing, and Keppie has certainly been exposed there a couple of times, probably Marty too.

 

[The Who]

I still think the gaping hole in the defence is down to DCE. Every time.

I disagree. I think defence is one of DCE's strong points. I can't think of a better tackler amongst all the other NRL halfbacks. He does a mountain of cleaning up in defence.
I'm more concerned that he is not getting our backline moving and, of course, his ageing legs.

 

[Budgie]

I think is technique is excellent but I question defensive reads.
His attack, like most halves, is heavily dependent on the forwards going in the direction their names suggest.