Why Manly are the most frustrating team in the NRL

[Hertera]

At their best Manly resemble premiership contenders and at their worst they fumble their way through matches. All of it was on show on Saturday night as the Sea Eagles snapped a three game losing streak against Penrith.

While the Panthers resembled a champion boxer who went on one fight too long the Sea Eagles have remained consistent.
Consistent in their inconsistency. The Sea Eagles might just be the most frustrating team in the NRL. At their best they resemble a team who could finish top four and make a premiership tilt. At their worst they are ill-disciplined and fumble their way through matches.

All that was on show for Manly on Saturday night against the Panthers during their win to halt a three game losing streak.

Their first half was almost faultless. They can move the ball from side to side quicker than most teams. Sometimes they can be too guilty of going sideways but in the first half they showed how good it can look when it works.

Luke Brooks was camped on the left hand side of the field and while they didn’t create any try-scoring opportunities they still threatened enough to ensure Penrith’s defence was at full attention.

It allowed the right side of the field to flourish. Daly Cherry-Evans, Haumole Olakau’atu and Reuben Garrick were damaging with Tom Trbojevic’s presence out the back keeping them dangerous.

They led 14-0 at half-time and were clearly the better side.

Enter the second half when bad old Manly started to appear once again. They did not touch the ball for about 10 minutes after they gave away penalty after penalty and multiple set restarts. And Penrith made them pay. Racing in two tries in five minutes to almost gain control of the game,

Somehow the Sea Eagles managed to wrestle the game back to finish victorious. Olakau’atu was outstanding and has been all year. He has finally come to the realisation how damaging he can be.

The Sea Eagles did this without a near starting forward pack on the sidelines. Jake Trbojevic, Taniela Paseka, Toafofoa Sipley, Lachlan Croker and Josh Aloiai missed the game.



They have the bye followed by a game against the Sharks. Can they win? Don’t bet your house on it.


this is from Michael Carayannis telegraph

 

[mave]

Enter the second half when bad old Manly started to appear once again. They did not touch the ball for about 10 minutes after they gave away penalty after penalty and multiple set restarts. And Penrith made them pay. Racing in two tries in five minutes to almost gain control of the game,

To be fair, this was also on the back of a very very dubious 40/20 call, that can't be checked, for "reasons", despite the bunker being able to go back numerous sets of six to punish things.

 

[Seagles68]

If this writer is just a journo, how the hell does he think WE feel??!! 🤣

 

[master blaster]

Well a lot on here, including me didnt think we could win last night, but we did. Its ok we will be underdogs against the Sharks, I think thats when we play better. I think if we stick with last nights team, where our forwards were more mobile than they have been we will go alright but we all know that wont happen. That team last night showed some long overdue belief in each other, if we can keep that going, we should keep getting better and we have a pretty good record at Shark park or whatever it is called these days

 

[mave]

Well a lot on here, including me didnt think we could win last night, but we did. Its ok we will be underdogs against the Sharks, I think thats when we play better. I think if we stick with last nights team, where our forwards were more mobile than they have been we will go alright but we all know that wont happen. That team last night showed some long overdue belief in each other, if we can keep that going, we should keep getting better and we have a pretty good record at Shark park or whatever it is called these days

We call it Brookie.

 

[Seagles68]

Well a lot on here, including me didnt think we could win last night, but we did. Its ok we will be underdogs against the Sharks, I think thats when we play better. I think if we stick with last nights team, where our forwards were more mobile than they have been we will go alright but we all know that wont happen. That team last night showed some long overdue belief in each other, if we can keep that going, we should keep getting better and we have a pretty good record at Shark park or whatever it is called these days

I'm with ya. I thought we would get belted but was always hopeful. The extra mobility helps for sure. But almost guaranteed that Jake and Aloaia will come back in. But keeping Simpkin at 9 and Tevaga as a 13 replacement for Jake works for me. I reckon we can take the Sharks after having a good break.

 

[silvereagle]

To be fair, this was also on the back of a very very dubious 40/20 call, that can't be checked, for "reasons", despite the bunker being able to go back numerous sets of six to punish things.

There were two bad decisions against the Eagles in that 2nd half that had a massive momentum shift. In addition to the Penrith 40/20 you mention there was also the Penrith bomb that Turbo took with his foot clearly on our try line. That should have been our 20 metre tap instead of a goal line drop. Both decisions were clearly reviewed by the bunker (and commented on by the Fox team) but the on-field decision was allowed to stand. Seriously then they wonder why supporters and coaches whinge and whine about the quality of referring.

 

[manlyfan76]

The most frustrating thing is having the best player in the game (Turbo) and he averages 15 games a year.

If he never got injured we would never miss the finals.

 

[Woodsie]

I had coffee this morning down at the Surf Club with Big Scotty the Bulldoggy, John the Raider, Stewie the Knight and mumbles the Bunny .

I can assure you every fan of every team, feels exactly the same way.

 

[NYEagle]

I had coffee this morning down at the Surf Club with Big Scotty the Bulldoggy, John the Raider, Stewie the Knight and mumbles the Bunny .

I can assure you every fan of every team, feels exactly the same way.

That’s makes sense.

It’s impossible for teams to be up every week, and the speed of the game is too fast for the human body. A few penalties and 6-agains and any team in the competition is suddenly on the back foot.

NYEagle

 

[Saabnaldo]

Well a lot on here, including me didnt think we could win last night, but we did. Its ok we will be underdogs against the Sharks, I think thats when we play better. I think if we stick with last nights team, where our forwards were more mobile than they have been we will go alright but we all know that wont happen. That team last night showed some long overdue belief in each other, if we can keep that going, we should keep getting better and we have a pretty good record at Shark park or whatever it is called these days

Off the bye and playing at home against the sharks so we gotta win. Can’t be losing three straight home games

 

[Woodsie]

That’s makes sense.

It’s impossible for teams to be up every week, and the speed of the game is too fast for the human body. A few penalties and 6-agains and any team in the competition is suddenly on the back foot.

NYEagle

Back in the day, results went pretty much in line with form and roster ... for the last decade or so, form has become irrelevant

 

[Brookie1973]

At their best Manly resemble premiership contenders and at their worst they fumble their way through matches. All of it was on show on Saturday night as the Sea Eagles snapped a three game losing streak against Penrith.

While the Panthers resembled a champion boxer who went on one fight too long the Sea Eagles have remained consistent.
Consistent in their inconsistency. The Sea Eagles might just be the most frustrating team in the NRL. At their best they resemble a team who could finish top four and make a premiership tilt. At their worst they are ill-disciplined and fumble their way through matches.

All that was on show for Manly on Saturday night against the Panthers during their win to halt a three game losing streak.

Their first half was almost faultless. They can move the ball from side to side quicker than most teams. Sometimes they can be too guilty of going sideways but in the first half they showed how good it can look when it works.

Luke Brooks was camped on the left hand side of the field and while they didn’t create any try-scoring opportunities they still threatened enough to ensure Penrith’s defence was at full attention.

It allowed the right side of the field to flourish. Daly Cherry-Evans, Haumole Olakau’atu and Reuben Garrick were damaging with Tom Trbojevic’s presence out the back keeping them dangerous.

They led 14-0 at half-time and were clearly the better side.

Enter the second half when bad old Manly started to appear once again. They did not touch the ball for about 10 minutes after they gave away penalty after penalty and multiple set restarts. And Penrith made them pay. Racing in two tries in five minutes to almost gain control of the game,

Somehow the Sea Eagles managed to wrestle the game back to finish victorious. Olakau’atu was outstanding and has been all year. He has finally come to the realisation how damaging he can be.

The Sea Eagles did this without a near starting forward pack on the sidelines. Jake Trbojevic, Taniela Paseka, Toafofoa Sipley, Lachlan Croker and Josh Aloiai missed the game.



They have the bye followed by a game against the Sharks. Can they win? Don’t bet your house on it.


this is from Michael Carayannis telegraph

I like the way he suggests the second half momentum shift was Manly’s doing, and had nothing to do with the NRL puppet masters/refs. No, it was all just “bad old manly”.

 

[The Who]

Yeah, we are wedded to a frustrating team. But I reckon the most infurating team to follow is the 'Tits. They score outstanding tries and regularly jump to impressive leads. But every 'Tit fan must know that disaster is only one set away. Their defence is shaky at best, and opposition teams easily get on a roll while the long-suffering 'Tit fans must lament, having seen history repeat so often.
So, while we (and Hamlet) suffer slings and arrows of outrageous fortune it's kind of comforting to know that there is at least one other group of fans just over the northern border who are doing it even tougher.

 

[Eagle 1]

To be fair, this was also on the back of a very very dubious 40/20 call, that can't be checked, for "reasons", despite the bunker being able to go back numerous sets of six to punish things.

Just on this, why can't the touchie go to the ref, then to the bunker to check on his ruling if it's a close call.

 

[lsz]

Honestly (without turning this into another DCE thread) this why i do see some upside in him leaving.

We have been the same for years - on our day we can beat anyone but we never really threaten to win the comp.

I am not saying this is due to DCE etc but with him moving on we have to change the way we play and how we recruit players...hopefully we can get some consistency etc

 

[manlyfan76]

Honestly (without turning this into another DCE thread) this why i do see some upside in him leaving.

We have been the same for years - on our day we can beat anyone but we never really threaten to win the comp.

I am not saying this is due to DCE etc but with him moving on we have to change the way we play and how we recruit players...hopefully we can get some consistency etc

I do like Brooks not being stuck on the left.
Different from other years.

 

[Woodsie]

We never used to be frustrating, or disappoint coaches ...

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[Brookie1973]

Just on this, why can't the touchie go to the ref, then to the bunker to check on his ruling if it's a close call.

Why can’t the video ref just tell the ref to change the call?

 

[Woodsie]

Why can’t the video ref just tell the ref to change the call?

Why can't the ref tell the bunker to bugger off ...