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maxta

First Grader
Premium Member
So much talk about that big dominating front rower & for good reason.
The only games we have looked like losing are against teams with big bruising foward packs.
The Manly pack is very versatile but can get bustled at times looking less aggressive than packs that turn up to eat us through the middle.
The main area of concern in big games ahead will be the ability to change a few gears in aggression, especially when the refs give extra latitude to the bigger packs monstering us in numbers & turning the game into a slow dour arm wrestle.
Often it takes a Matai shot like the 1 on Parker a few weeks ago to lift the intensity & apart from Watmough & the odd King hit, its an area where opposition teams have a genuine advantage.
Lui will add some starch & really would have liked to see Luaki make an impact, obviously not fit enough for the top grade because his firebrand of footy would be ideal for coming games.
Believe the fowards will & can lift, but still believe this is the area that opposition teams will test & it will decide if Manly are premiers again in 2014....
 
Agreed. We rarely dominate in the forwards. I'd like to see JSL and Hasson given more game time because both make an impact. I'm not sure why we play Starling for so many minutes when our bench is full of props.
Perhaps Lawrence would be better coming on from the bench when the game has opened up a bit. He is not a grinding sort of player.
However, apart from a couple of matches this season our forwards have held their own, which is all we need to do with such a talented backline.
 
I agree, but as we've beaten the Rabbids, Rorters and Dogs at various stages this year, I'm counting on Tooves and co. channelling those efforts from our mob.

Not to mention the extra natural energy and motivation finals-footy inspires.

And as I've said, Gift (and maybe King) leaving at season's end will not be lost on the senior blokes!

It is what it is.

We can only go in with the ammunition we've got and give it all both barrels mate.
 
Lui was playing with some genuine aggression before he went down with injury and I think he will make a difference when he returns. JSL really takes the opposition too. I think we will play with the required intensity come finals time.
 
I think a bit more aggression is needed in bursts. That is something that Manly teams have shown in the past. They will absorb and then go for a 5-10min burst where they bash them in defence.

My big concern is if we lost week 1 (like last year) and then have a further 3 weeks of tough footy to win the comp. If we can get through week 1 and get a week off then I'm more confident.

Matai being out hurts, as does Gift. We can rely on Skivs coming back, but I doubt Gift will (or at least be back to his best).
 
Snake said:
Lui was playing with some genuine aggression before he went down with injury and I think he will make a difference when he returns. JSL really takes the opposition too. I think we will play with the required intensity come finals time.

I thought Jesse was great yesterday!

And agree totally that Lui is a big plus for us.

Even though I'm not complaining about Hasson's contributions, perhaps Lui adds just that bit more aggression we're talking about.
 
I saw Starling in the flesh at the after match function, and everybody in our backline is bigger than him.

Not only no height but no weight either. His stat's say he's 104kg but he'd be lucky to reach triple figures.

Not passing commentary on his ability, but he'd be the smallest prop going around.
 
RiverEagle said:
Snake said:
Lui was playing with some genuine aggression before he went down with injury and I think he will make a difference when he returns. JSL really takes the opposition too. I think we will play with the required intensity come finals time.

I thought Jesse was great yesterday!

And agree totally that Lui is a big plus for us.

Even though I'm not complaining about Hasson's contributions, perhaps Lui adds just that bit more aggression we're talking about.

Great offload by Hasson yesterday, led to a long break. Maybe he is on the up.
 
^ Yeah, saw that. One of the best offloads by a Manly forward I've seen in a while. It hit a frontrower, but at least it hit the quickest frontrower in the team:)
 
Why does Hasson get such limited game time? He was only on for a few minutes.
I saw another confusing stat: It claimed Peta Hiku made six tackles and missed nine! Could that be correct?
 
Shoe1 said:
RiverEagle said:
Snake said:
Lui was playing with some genuine aggression before he went down with injury and I think he will make a difference when he returns. JSL really takes the opposition too. I think we will play with the required intensity come finals time.

I thought Jesse was great yesterday!

And agree totally that Lui is a big plus for us.

Even though I'm not complaining about Hasson's contributions, perhaps Lui adds just that bit more aggression we're talking about.

Great offload by Hasson yesterday, led to a long break. Maybe he is on the up.

Was it the one that put BJ through a gap and flying upfield??

Seems to me Hasson is steadily improving, and gaining in confidence.

I doubt he'd be on any big money, contract-wise, so credit to the kid for making a solid mark in the top 17.
 
The Who said:
Why does Hasson get such limited game time? He was only on for a few minutes.
I saw another confusing stat: It claimed Peta Hiku made six tackles and missed nine! Could that be correct?

Very possible. James Roberts smoked us on that edge.
 
RiverEagle said:
Shoe1 said:
RiverEagle said:
U
Snake said:
Lui was playing with some genuine aggression before he went down with injury and I think he will make a difference when he returns. JSL really takes the opposition too. I think we will play with the required intensity come finals time.

I thought Jesse was great yesterday!

And agree totally that Lui is a big plus for us.

Even though I'm not complaining about Hasson's contributions, perhaps Lui adds just that bit more aggression we're talking about.

Great offload by Hasson yesterday, led to a long break. Maybe he is on the up.

Was it the one that put BJ through a gap and flying upfield??

Seems to me Hasson is steadily improving, and gaining in confidence.

I doubt he'd be on any big money, contract-wise, so credit to the kid for making a solid mark in the top 17.

yeah it was a great pass, more like that to come hopefully.
 
THAT game was testimony...take out Watmough & the others were all stood over at EVERY contact.
Buhrer tries hard but the ace up his sleeve is not based on being an enforcer.
I put that game down as flat & underwhelming though the blueprint is now up in neon lights of how to take the game to this Manly side.
 
maxta said:
THAT game was testimony...take out Watmough & the others were all stood over at EVERY contact.
Buhrer tries hard but the ace up his sleeve is not based on being an enforcer.
I put that game down as flat & underwhelming though the blueprint is now up in neon lights of how to take the game to this Manly side.

I thought Watmough was ordinary actually. It is the first game where I thought I could sense that his mind wasn't in the game.

Agree about our forwards, I wanted Jake T and Ligi Sao in from the start of the year, and whilst we are coming first and our forwards have held there own to allow our amazing backline to win many games, I can't see it bringing us a premiership - and if that is our goal, then we need to make a tweak. I know people will jump on this but it's my opinion.

Only JSL offers real aggressive impact off the bench, and we need to add to this. I'd put in Sao who also has a good offload, as I think our second phase play also isn't as strong as it needs to be - this breaks up the defensive line.
 
Hasson hasn't had much game time the last two games but I'm not sure he adds greatly to the mix anyway.

It didn't help last night that BJ was hurt early and Starlo's hands were letting him down.

King won't be there next week, he has prior's and whilst a year or two ago that tackle was nothing these days its almost a send off!!

Probably will get 1-2 weeks
 
I must admit to being surprised at how slight JSL is up close. Saw him at the kids clinic earlier this year and I thought to myself that he doesn't have a lot of size about him. Anyway he is only young and can still fill out.
 
pjayz said:
maxta said:
THAT game was testimony...take out Watmough & the others were all stood over at EVERY contact.
Buhrer tries hard but the ace up his sleeve is not based on being an enforcer.
I put that game down as flat & underwhelming though the blueprint is now up in neon lights of how to take the game to this Manly side.

I thought Watmough was ordinary actually. It is the first game where I thought I could sense that his mind wasn't in the game.

Agree about our forwards, I wanted Jake T and Ligi Sao in from the start of the year, and whilst we are coming first and our forwards have held there own to allow our amazing backline to win many games, I can't see it bringing us a premiership - and if that is our goal, then we need to make a tweak. I know people will jump on this but it's my opinion.

Only JSL offers real aggressive impact off the bench, and we need to add to this. I'd put in Sao who also has a good offload, as I think our second phase play also isn't as strong as it needs to be - this breaks up the defensive line.
Not saying Watmough was at his best or he went great, but he did have a dig in the sense he was not going to be stood over as others in the pack were. If they all played with Watmoughs attitude & aggression we would not be on here discussing these threads, simply praising them.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
3 2 1 45 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 22 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
3 2 1 10 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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