Morgan Harper

[Kiwi Eagle]

Harper is an average centre… played great last year when Tom was carving everyone to bits and all the backline were there to gain the spoils of 1 blokes work…

What was Harper like round 1-5 last year?? Did sweet fa…
What was he like in the finals when Tom got contained by the better sides? Was a liability and let most of the tries in with his dodgy defence.
How’s he been this year with Tom playing injured?? Again, terrible.. has a few good moments here and there, but overall, unless Tom is lighting the field on fire and Harper can look amazing off the back of that, he looks like a park footballer..
Not disrespecting the bloke personally, just what I see on the field.
Parker has been absolutely impotent in his attack when he’s played this year too, but atleast his defence is up to nrl level and he can make the hard runs out of our half when needed, where Harper just gets rag dolled when he tries…

So Tom was making the good decisions for him when to come in and shut down the opposition attacking moves, Tom was wearing his shoes when he was getting around people with footwork and Tom was passing the ball to Saab to put him away for plenty of tries as well ?

Rounds 1-5 last year, he was the player you want him to be, wasn’t making mistakes, was taking the opportunities given to him, and was making his tackles

His role in the squad isn’t to be a top line game breaking centre, his role is to come in and hold his own doing his job. He has gone through a patch of failing at that but his games recently have been closed to what is expected of a bloke in his spot in the squad

 

[BOZO]

His role in the squad isn’t to be a top line game breaking centre, his role is to come in and hold his own doing his job.

Our Benchmark of excellence that made us the greatest club of all
Is with Grand final winning centres that did not just not hold their own but make it their own and own the game

History has proven that Manly centres that just held their own were able to just hold on to their position until a more capable player came along

Grand final teams evolve and only players that can own the game own their centre spots

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Our Benchmark of excellence that made us the greatest club of all
Is with Grand final winning centres that just do not hold their own but make it their own and own the game

History has proven that Manly centres that just held their own were able to just hold on to their position until a more capable player came along and made it his own

Grand final teams evolve and only players that can own the game own their centre spots

Grand final teams have people filling their positions all over the park, guys like Glenn Hall and Mark Bryant, guys like Vic Mauro and Shane Rodney

The 2020 Grand Final featured such amazing centre’s as Tyrone May and Brenko Lee

Rugby league is a TEAM game, in a salary cap era you have to balance a squad and guys like Harper if they can produce a solid level are invaluable. If Steve Bell was playing now he would probably be bagged each week too

 

[Snake]

How anyone could step in and defend Harper is beyond me...I’ve even had causal footy fans that rarely ever watch the game, laugh at the mention of Harper when they see me in a Manly jumper.

Baristas in coffee shops use him as a cheap anecdote to make friendly chit chat...”how bout that Harper?”

That’s how bad he is....

 

[BOZO]

Grand final teams have people filling their positions all over the park, guys like Glenn Hall and Mark Bryant, guys like Vic Mauro and Shane Rodney

The 2020 Grand Final featured such amazing centre’s as Tyrone May and Brenko Lee

Rugby league is a TEAM game, in a salary cap era you have to balance a squad and guys like Harper if they can produce a solid level are invaluable

I was talking about our past Grand final Benchmark winning centres and Brenko Lee and May were not part of those illustrious Manly players

Manlys Mark Bryant , Glen Hall , Vic Mauro and Shane Rodney did the job for us in finals
Something that Harper was not capable of so far but he is only 24 and hopefully he can improve

Rugby league is a team game and the strongest and most talented team wins games
and the salary cap is only as affective as the smart recruiters that manage it

 

[Woodsie]

How anyone could step in and defend Harper is beyond me...I’ve even had causal footy fans that rarely ever watch the game, laugh at the mention of Harper when they see me in a Manly jumper.

Baristas in coffee shops use him as a cheap anecdote to make friendly chit chat...”how bout that Harper?”

That’s how bad he is....

Well, if your benchmark for assessing the value of a footy player is casual fans and baristas.. then you are probably correct ..

Now I'm no Jack Gibson, but I reckon between @Kiwi Eagle and myself, we have watched a few players over the years .. and I am happy with my own assessment of his talents.

 

[BOZO]

How anyone could step in and defend Harper is beyond me...I’ve even had causal footy fans that rarely ever watch the game, laugh at the mention of Harper when they see me in a Manly jumper.

Baristas in coffee shops use him as a cheap anecdote to make friendly chit chat...”how bout that Harper?”

That’s how bad he is....

We should not be surprised why others have different opinions because we all have different standards and expectations

At our Legendary club and the Greatest club of all

We are used to the Benchmark of Grand final wining centres of excellence

And our Manly standards and expectations are high

The Morgan moral of the Story here is

Morgan is still raw at only 24 and has improvement in him
We hope he will rise to our Great Manly Benchmark of excellence

Good Luck Morgan !

 

[Spartan Eagle]

I don't think anyone player has had a negative impact on one half of footie as Morgan Harper did against the sharks. Covid or no covid. It was beyond disgraceful. I need therapy to move past that.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

What was Harper like round 1-5 last year?? Did sweet fa

He didn't play in those rounds, round 5 was his first game and he played well in Manly's first win of that season. Without Tom. But hey if you don't like the guy don't let facts get in the way of your bagging him!

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

How anyone could step in and defend Harper is beyond me...I’ve even had causal footy fans that rarely ever watch the game, laugh at the mention of Harper when they see me in a Manly jumper.

Baristas in coffee shops use him as a cheap anecdote to make friendly chit chat...”how bout that Harper?”

That’s how bad he is....

They probably tell you that DCE is crap too 😉

There aren’t many players around that haven’t had a few shockers over the years, from the greats of the game right through to the NRL plodders

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

He didn't play in those rounds, round 5 was his first game and he played well in Manly's first win of that season. Without Tom. But hey if you don't like the guy don't let facts get in the way of your bagging him!

@court83 In fact Harper got a number of mentions in our MVP for that round 5 game, inlcuding one nomination for the 3 points and comments such as : "Harper such a breath of fresh air in the centres, constantly threatening and defensively outstanding"
So when you say he did sfa in rounds 1-5 last year it looks like you've been 'court' out

 

[BOZO]

I don't think anyone player has had a negative impact on one half of footie as Morgan Harper did against the sharks. Covid or no covid. It was beyond disgraceful. I need therapy to move past that.

I can understand your trauma of a Manly loss feathered friend Sparty

I would rather endure going to the Dentist and watch him pull out teeth from my mouth than watching Manly get beaten

A Manly loss is one of the most devastating feelings in life that a Manly supporter can endure

After a Manly loss I do not pat my dog or speak to any one for a while

 

[court83]

@court83 In fact Harper got a number of mentions in our MVP for that round 5 game, inlcuding one nomination for the 3 points and comments such as : "Harper such a breath of fresh air in the centres, constantly threatening and defensively outstanding"
So when you say he did sfa in rounds 1-5 last year it looks like you've been 'court' out

Happy to be proven wrong on the first five rounds last year thing… the whole team was pathetic. I admit I didn’t go back and check team lists.. my bad for sure..

It doesn’t change the fact that my opinion on watching Harper the last 2 seasons is he isn’t up to nrl standard.. again, it’s my opinion.. like I said, I don’t bag the bloke personally, he seems like a nice fella, but I don’t think he can play football at a level we need him to..

I’ve been watching manly for 35 years… (I’m 39, started sitting on the hill when I was 5 years old)
I’ve seen enough footy to know when a guy is not up to it in my opinion…

 

[lsz]

He may not be the next Lyon or Stevey M (and not many are) but he is in no way as bad as some are making out

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

I don't think anyone player has had a negative impact on one half of footie as Morgan Harper did against the sharks. Covid or no covid. It was beyond disgraceful. I need therapy to move past that.

I’ll give ya a couple 😉

Manu Vatuvei, mid 2000s, Warriors v Eels
Darren Lockyer , 1998, test debut v NZ

 

[BOZO]

I’ve been watching manly for 35 years… (I’m 39, started sitting on the hill when I was 5 years old)
I’ve seen enough footy to know when a guy is not up to it in my opinion…

Happy 35 Manly Sea eagle years to you feathered friend @court83

I admire your loyalty passion and high expectations for our Legendary club and Greatest club of all the Mighty Sea eagles

Keep up your great qualities of loyalty , passion and High expectations .
The great qualities that have endured and prevailed in our proud clubs History

I presume you are also a very proud Manly club Member that is proud to officially be part of and belong to our Great club

 

[Spartan Eagle]

I’ll give ya a couple 😉

Manu Vatuvei, mid 2000s, Warriors v Eels
Darren Lockyer , 1998, test debut v NZ

Ok good finds.. but you needed to go back more than 2 decades and certainly none from a manly jersey.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Ok good finds.. but you needed to go back more than 2 decades and certainly none from a manly jersey.

If we want a recent Manly jersey one, final game of the season, Corey Oates was made to look like the greatest back of all time by Brad Parker, will never forget Brad Parker chasing him running like he had 2 broken legs lol

 

[Spartan Eagle]

If we want a recent Manly jersey one, final game of the season, Corey Oates was made to look like the greatest back of all time by Brad Parker, will never forget Brad Parker chasing him running like he had 2 broken legs lol

Yeh but Brad Parker wasn't responisble for like 10 tries in a half. And Parks is consistently a much better player defender than Harper.. you can keep defending Harper. I'd love for you to prove me wrong so that I can eat humble pie.. and remove the sour taste left in my mouth.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Yeh but Brad Parker wasn't responisble for like 10 tries in a half. And Parks is consistently a much better player defender than Harper.. you can keep defending Harper. I'd love for you to prove me wrong so that I can eat humble pie.. and remove the sour taste left in my mouth.

Don’t think I’ve ever seen us give up 10 tries in a half 😉

I just think all the comments about him are ridiculous when he has played 30 odd NRL games, he has been woeful in 2-3 of those, but in 20+ of those has been fine, and certainly much better than “just a reserve grader”. He’s no Shane Neumann or Paul Stephenson

For the record I used to call Brad Parker the worst player I’d seen play for Manly and have ended up hugely wrong in that regard