My take, some obvious some subtle

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Very disappointing - drove up and back from Canberra to watch Manly. The team (and crowd) started flat and never really put in. So frustrating watching people barely looking like they were trying!

 

[R3]

I agree with DSM5 regarding who played well for us. I was Proud of Mattai, Lyon, Taufua and in particular Vic Mauro whose game I have seen jump multi levels this year ever since the WCC. I feel he has taken even more steps up too with a starting jumper. He has been our most potent, high impact player off the bench this year and i wonder if he could use some help from other players off the bench. I agree that Joe has looked a bit tired and wonder if Lussick, Harrison, Skinner or Joe himself coulndt be swapped for Rose to raise the impact that an interchange player should be making.. ?? What is George's story? Is it purely a fitness issue, attitude problem or subtle injury? ? ?

 

[SwornEagle]

No go forward at all! We had only 2 players run over 100m, Whare and Buhrer. The Titans had 8 players over 100 meters, they're forwards and second rowers all ran over 100m each.

39 missed tackles, sticking arms out to stop the opposition isn't going to cut it.

We were tired, we looked it and missing the killer instinct that has made us the benchmark for the past few seasons.

 

[mickqld]

Mauro the only forward who had a go. I said before the game that Watmough,Lyon and DCE had to really step up tonight. The head knock to lyon put him off for most of the game and as for Choc he just didn't lead when needed. He has lost a lot of punch from his game. Again front row went missing and I think Joe's injury is too chronic for him to continue. Lussick might as well take whatever offer he has because he is the great white hype at the moment.

 

[Masked Eagle]

one concern after the panthers game was the number of missed tackles.
we had 34 to panthers 28.there's the warning signs right there,its only because the panthers handling errors that gifted us possession that we were able to win.
any team we come up against who held the ball,was alwyas going to get us.
the stats dont lie.our defence needs to improve.

Missed tackle stats can be deceiving. When we are at our aggressive best we miss plenty of tackles because blokes are shooting out of the line and putting hits on. If they lose contact when that happens its counted as a missed tackle even if the ball carrier gets knocked into next week. Storm don't have a lot of missed tackles because they aren't as aggressive, they just make sure they stick and then wrestle. Its what will ulitimately will be there undoing in the finals when the intensity is up and the refs allow teams to be more physical. This style will get found out as it was last year and Bellamy is fully aware of it, hence why he took the gamble on signing Ryles.

 

[niccipops]

Losing matches like this one is always extremely disappointing but we shouldn't do too much bagging.
I personally believe that when two teams take to the field, regardless of the odds, it's 50/50 for either team to win.
I agree Manly played shocking. They did us proud on Monday. Short turn around and meeting an absolutely desperate Titans and they turned on a shocker.
This year's not going to be as we all hoped but we do need to take into consideration the shocking schedule and the injuries.
Manly supporters need to stay loyal and proud. Unfortunately we can't win everything and we've had things pretty good over the last four years.
As for 2012, it's still early days. With all hands back on deck things will turn around.
Go Manly! Win, lose or draw - Manly forever.

 

[sami12]

No go forward at all! We had only 2 players run over 100m, Whare and Buhrer. The Titans had 8 players over 100 meters, they're forwards and second rowers all ran over 100m each.

39 missed tackles, sticking arms out to stop the opposition isn't going to cut it.

We were tired, we looked it and missing the killer instinct that has made us the benchmark for the past few seasons.

look at the stats, their secondrowers ran those metres what were ours doing getting up to stop them. Buhrer had the ball more times than anyone to get 100 m his stats say he only made 7 metres a run that is on par with all forwards. Watmough is not an edge secondrower he needs to be in middle 6 missed tackles on edge.For all the mistakes we made the result isnt surprising

 

[manlyfan76]

Mauro the only forward who had a go. I said before the game that Watmough,Lyon and DCE had to really step up tonight. The head knock to lyon put him off for most of the game and as for Choc he just didn't lead when needed. He has lost a lot of punch from his game. Again front row went missing and I think Joe's injury is too chronic for him to continue. Lussick might as well take whatever offer he has because he is the great white hype at the moment.

Totally agree about Lussick, surely Big George would be better value then Darcy ATM so many drop ball and errors. Big Joe was a starting frount rower last year and now his game time is minimal, he must really be hurting.

 

[Fluffy]

Ballin was aids tonight

So many s**t passes,he reminded me of that merkin we had before Mona's in the 9

Take out Ballin and it would have been another 12 pts to the Titans.

probably, but you could say that about any player, playing with 12 players anyone would get flogged.

Doesnt change the fact that Ballin played his worst game for ages, passes went high, 2 or 3 errors from memory, he was poor, not alone there.

Whare in defence is mute. He isnt organising the numbers etc like Stewy and that is hurting us and 1 reason we are seeing so many line breaks right now.

 

[DSM5]

Early days for Whare so no blame there from me. It's the engine room that is spluttering and David Williams deserves a roast. Letting a high ball bounce twenty metres out is disgraceful. And who ushered Idris through for his try? Surely someone owned him. Got to up the defense and get those big guys to go forward, hit the line between players not just run into them. Drag them forward and then a quick play the ball. The Tits did that all night, and that won it for them. That, and Prince's kicking game.

 

[bob dylan]

Not enough ball running by ballin what's doin there.

I actually think his game had slipped alarmingly this year. But he is not alone.

 

[Dan]

Not enough ball running by ballin what's doin there.

What game were you watching? He made more runs from dummy half tonight than he has in all other game combined.ballin didnt drop the ball a thousand times. He was one of our best out there

 

[MPC75]

Losing matches like this one is always extremely disappointing but we shouldn't do too much bagging.
I personally believe that when two teams take to the field, regardless of the odds, it's 50/50 for either team to win.
I agree Manly played shocking. They did us proud on Monday. Short turn around and meeting an absolutely desperate Titans and they turned on a shocker.
This year's not going to be as we all hoped but we do need to take into consideration the shocking schedule and the injuries.
Manly supporters need to stay loyal and proud. Unfortunately we can't win everything and we've had things pretty good over the last four years.
As for 2012, it's still early days. With all hands back on deck things will turn around.
Go Manly! Win, lose or draw - Manly forever.

Bingo. Couldn't agree more.

 

[ALinda]

Very disappointing - drove up and back from Canberra to watch Manly. The team (and crowd) started flat and never really put in. So frustrating watching people barely looking like they were trying!

Good on you for making the trek and my sympathies that all you got for the trouble was disappointment. Hoping for better days ahead.

 

[ManlyBacker]

Not enough ball running by ballin what's doin there.

What game were you watching? He made more runs from dummy half tonight than he has in all other game combined.ballin didnt drop the ball a thousand times. He was one of our best out there

We are all going to see a game differently but that is what I saw. Not only that he had half an eyelid ripped off last week, had a massive shiner and was taped up to keep it all in place yet tackled non-stop all game. Even if he had plenty of face needles it was still a gutsy display.

 

[Fluffy]

3 errors and a penalty is not a good game for anyone, add to that his worst passing to his forwards i can recall.

Srama made 4 more tackles, no errors or penalties and missed 2 less tackles, same number of runs for comparison.

Ballin has no running game, it dissapeared when he went to 80 minutes.

He is very dependable normally but Sat night was poor and i would agree he is down on form so far this year. Might be carrying an injury who knows but he just isnt as crisp as last year.

 

[Dan]

3 errors and a penalty is not a good game for anyone, add to that his worst passing to his forwards i can recall.

Srama made 4 more tackles, no errors or penalties and missed 2 less tackles, same number of runs for comparison.

Ballin has no running game, it dissapeared when he went to 80 minutes.

He is very dependable normally but Sat night was poor and i would agree he is down on form so far this year. Might be carrying an injury who knows but he just isnt as crisp as last year.

At least one of those errors was taking the ball in an offside position, Which was a deliberate error and he had to do it, what other choice did he have?

What were the other errors, I certainly didn't notice any other major flaws. His passing was certainly not that bad, and he made a number of runs from dummy half on saturday. I commented on it a few time, at the time, particularly in the first half.

 

[Fluffy]

His passing was that bad - couldnt believe how many times our forwards had to prop and jump to collect the ball.

5 runs is better than he has been but its barely par for a NRL hooker. Matai has helped cover this and recently Buhrer has been stepping up but its not really much.

I would love him to run to the line then pass more often as well but at 80 minutes he doesnt have the energy it seems - nor do most. When Buhrer goes back to the bench we can use him to fix this.

 

[Dan]

His passing was that bad - couldnt believe how many times our forwards had to prop and jump to collect the ball.

5 runs is better than he has been but its barely par for a NRL hooker. Matai has helped cover this and recently Buhrer has been stepping up but its not really much.

I would love him to run to the line then pass more often as well but at 80 minutes he doesnt have the energy it seems - nor do most. When Buhrer goes back to the bench we can use him to fix this.

Nothing to do with energy, it isn't in our game plan. We play through forwards and our halves and don't look for cheap metres, instead we set for plays