Matt Orford

[byso]

As a player I really like him. He's a top defender, organises the players on his own and you always know that he's trying 100%.

But as we all know his kicking game sucks deluxe. I can only hope he adds some variation like a grubber!

 

[mj]

We all know his kicking game is ****. The problem is there seems to be nobody else capable on taking some of the work off him.  Every team knows we only have 1 kicker which is why he always rushed.

 

[Guest]

If Cronk is on $250K a year, & it appears that he is then he needs a new manager because he has been seriously screwed over. What we don't know is what is being paid outside of the salary cap, and given Melbourne's roster it would seem that is probably likely.

And orford is not being paid anything outside the salary cap?  Block of flats SBW?

 

[Ryan]

You know what lads....I reckon that Orford is 29, and he has his set routine of what he does well, and what he doesn't do so well. It just appears that he not really equipped to grow, or learn new facets to his game, whereas great 1/2 backs are always evolving.
The banana kicks were great in late 06, early 07, but he does them so often now, teams are onto it.

I reckon if he just evolved, changed his game a little.

I seriously think handing Kite the captaincy, Lyon the goal / penalty taking responsabilities, Des could tell him to focus on nothing but his organisation skills, and evolution of his game.

Beaver was bogged down with the captaincy, it was moved to someone else, and Beaver went back to his biggest baddest (in a good way) self again.

Look guys, I reckon the purchase of Bailey was a very, VERY smart thing. Well done Crusher. That said, Orford only got Melbourne to where we are (without winning titles), and he had Scott Hill & co. at 5/8.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

The rest of our side must be superhuman reading this topic

Somehow we are running at the top of a ladder, having a guy that can't play in the most important position in the side

 

[Ryan]

He can definitely play Kiwi. But it's the big game occasions in my opinion that let the guy down. Also, in some ways, what you are saying has a ring of truth to it. I think we are top of the table, because the forwards are laying the platform for our backs.

 

[byso]

Kiwi our expectations have changed from wanting Manly to be competitive to wanting to win a GF. Do you feel that The Ox is able to win us one?

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Byso, with Lyon beside him in the 6, Yes, with Menzies beside him, No

 

[DSM5]

Kiwi, on this point we agree.

 

[Duff]

He cant kick anymore. His groin must be torn to shreds cause he is struggling to kick the ball more than 10m. We have no other option so he has to play on one leg and hope the rest of his game will do the job.

He had a shocker obviously but im more worried about this groin injury than his performance on Friday night.

All this talk of no other kicking options is bollocks.

Ballin has the biggest boot in the club & should be doing the penalties, drop-outs & 40/20's.
Brett is a handy option & will improve if he can get a chance more than once a game.
L'Estrange, Ballin, Menzies, both Stewarts, Matai & Willo can all be 5th tackle chip, bomb or grubber options.
And then we get Lyon back.

Matty has to share the duties with these other guys.
I'm not sure if Des is saving it for the finals but it wasn't used last year.
It's just poor use of resources.

 

[clontaago]

His usual 10 metres from penalties is really starting to give me the ****s. The opposition gets a penalty coming out of their own half and there first hit up is usually on the 40-50 metre line. We get one and we are still on our 20 or just outside.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Pre Lyon getting injured i noticed that he was taking a lot of the line kicks

We are pretty well off for goalkicking options too, Orford, Lyon and Willo are all NRL standard kickers, and the way Matai has been hitting them lately, with a bit of tinkering he could be a top kicker too, he has surprised me with that

 

[The Wheel]

Pre Lyon getting injured i noticed that he was taking a lot of the line kicks

We are pretty well off for goalkicking options too, Orford, Lyon and Willo are all NRL standard kickers, and the way Matai has been hitting them lately, with a bit of tinkering he could be a top kicker too, he has surprised me with that

It is a shame Graham Arnold is at the Olympics, he is our kicking coach I think

 

[Volley]

Well the one time Lyon or Orford didn't take the kicks for touch B Stewart didn't find it. That's defo worse than making 15 metres.

 

[Nutzcraw]

I have expressed many times that i'm not a huge orford fan

However, I thought on friday night his general play was fine. He took every correct option when putting it through the hands. His kicking game and last tackle options were attrocious and helped in costing us the match.

 

[DSM5]

I'm beginning to think he's an overpaid ball hog. This must be the reason he persists with his crummy line kicks.  If we can all see this deficiency why can't Des, or doesn't he care.

 

[Jatz Crackers]

I'm beginning to think he's an overpaid ball hog. This must be the reason he persists with his crummy line kicks.  If we can all see this deficiency why can't Des, or doesn't he care.

Hes a halfback !

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Des can probably also see a team that is leading the comp, and also the bloke running at the top of the NRL for try assists