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Are we nearly at the point where we need to look to next year? Considering our situation; 12 games to go, injuries & suspensions to key players, running mid table outside the 8. I feel the time has come to blood the young players. Croker and Gosiewski have had plenty of chances and done very little.
I’ve been impressed with Funa and would like to see Hopoate and Schuster get a decent go.
Completely agree. I was open to the possible surprise premiership this year, but injuries (aka: Turbo's dodgy legs) have skittled that hope.
 
I don't think Jetski ads much and Levi is a stop gap.

We need someone at 6 who can take some of the heat off DCE. Right now, everything goes through him and he's struggling. Repeat sets are a case in point.

Cust is our best option right now. He runs and consequently poses a threat. Croker is a 14 and an average one at that but we have no choice right now.

I'd love to see as add some quality backs. One or two would round us out nicely.
 
I think Cust could be our answer in the halves.

He had a taste of it last year & I initially did well but started making errors & was returned to reserves for a spell.

He's come back physically matured & hungry to be a permanent first grader.

I hope he continues to play well & develop as a half.
 
I don't think Jetski ads much and Levi is a stop gap.

We need someone at 6 who can take some of the heat off DCE. Right now, everything goes through him and he's struggling. Repeat sets are a case in point.

Cust is our best option right now. He runs and consequently poses a threat. Croker is a 14 and an average one at that but we have no choice right now.

I'd love to see as add some quality backs. One or two would round us out nicely.
How many years now have we been having this conversation about a six to take the heat off DCE? I'm sick to death of it. Get your act together Manly (not aimed at you Simon).
 
How many years now have we been having this conversation about a six to take the heat off DCE? I'm sick to death of it. Get your act together Manly (not aimed at you Simon).
How about we find a 7 and take the heat off DCE by moving him to 6 where he belongs?

This is not directed at you BE but everyone seems to be stuck on our "marquee player" wearing 7 and this is the latest opportunity. Sorry it's your post.



DCE NEEDS space, and first off the ruck is not his place. 70% of games are played where 6 and 7 are linked and DCE needs to not be the 7...he is not quick enough summing-up wise and needs the time playing outside a 7 provides.

At times when Cust is on the field he plays the 7 role and DCE is outside him, has more time to see what is unfolding and is far more effective. On the 5th Cust needs to be the 7, then there is a choice of which player the 9 feeds. Every team is all over DCE on the 5th because he is first man beside the ruck. Cust has played all his footy at 7...please let him be one Des.

I don't give a damn what numbers they wear but seeing Cust has just re-signed for 2 more years and it appears he may may be the halves front-runner to partner DCE, please have him train and play in the 7 role and DCE the 6 role. DCE will have more time and space to do what he does best...run.

Rant over.
 
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How about we find a 7 and take the heat off DCE by moving him to 6 where he belongs?

This is not directed at you BE but everyone seems to be stuck on our "marquee player" wearing 7 and this is the latest opportunity. Sorry it's your post.



DCE NEEDS space, and first off the ruck is not his place. 70% of games are played where 6 and 7 are linked and DCE needs to not be the 7...he is not quick enough summing-up wise and needs the time playing outside a 7 provides.

At times when Cust is on the field he plays the 7 role and DCE is outside him, has more time to see what is unfolding and is far more effective. On the 5th Cust needs to be the 7, then there is a choice of which player the 9 feeds. Every team is all over DCE on the 5th because he is first man beside the ruck. Cust has played all his footy at 7...please let him be one Des.

I don't give a damn what numbers they wear but seeing Cust has just re-signed for 2 more years and it appears he may may be the halves front-runner to partner DCE, please have him train and play in the 7 role and DCE the 6 role. DCE will have more time and space to do what he does best...run.

Rant over.
Great idea, now are you going to tell him to renegotiate his contract so we can afford the help he needs. With a cap you dont want to be spending more than 1.5mill on halves .

So we need a 7 to do the heavy lifting, the management and kicking games and to get paid one sixth of the "play his own game halves "
And if we fluke that, hope his manager doesnt stone wall us and sit it out until we sell the rest

Regardless of the number on dce, his contribution on field compared to his salary cap % is just not good value.

if he cant find a way to contribute more than he currently does , we need to consider his position.

If there is one thing every half has had in common that manly has tried to pair with DCE . They were all cheap.
 
I was wondering why Des doesn't just bring schuster or Hoppa into the side but I guess looking at the broncos is that what we want? He plays it safe to the point so we don't loose 6 in a row with the young kids getting hammered i guess?
I recon they will get a run about round 14 or 15 once we k ow if we are finals bound.
 
We have a pretty good squad but the balance has really been harmed by covid 19 preventing the continued development of our 2nd tier guys.

2 big issues for next year -
First, the club will be desperately hoping Fainu gets a trial date before the Christmas break, because otherwise it will be February and too late to replace him if there's a guilty verdict. Hooker is such a key position and we've been caught short this year, can't afford to be in that position again.

Second, conventional footy thinking is that a team usually needs refreshing each year by the addition of a couple of new faces, to improve some positions and just to prevent staleness. Our team has already been very stable for the last couple of years, with Levi the main newcomer so far this year but he has been a lesser player than those he replaced.

We have Joel to replace,but our new signings don't have to be back-rowers. Fingers crossed both Hoppa and Schuster excel when they get their chance in the next month or two, otherwise there'll be tremendous pressure on our recruitment for 2021.
 
I like the squad, however I would have Hoppa at fullback, Turbo left centre, Parker on the bench, Guacamole left edge backrower, Walker at 5/8, Funa on the left wing, Suli right Centre and Garrick on the wing. I would also consider Jake at Prop and Schuster at lock. That would put Marty on the bench. I don’t know if Waddell makes the 17 either.
Is hoppa really that good? I don't get to see our kids play so havnt seen much of hoppa, schuster etc etc, but the handful of times I've seen hoppa play he's just kinda been good... score a try or 2, but nothing really popped for me, compared to watching a young Tommy turbo play in the jnrs where he would regularly run 300-400 meters a game, score 3 or 4 tries to single handedly win the match, watching him you KNEW this kid was gonna carve up the nrl one day... is hoppa doing the same thing?
 
I'm honestly starting to get worried we will never win a title with turbo.. love the kid, wouldn't have any other fullback in the nrl over him, not even teddy... when he's on, he's the most destructive fullback in the nrl..
But he can't stay on the field.. literally every single season since his debut he has spent large chunks on the side line, costing us finals chances.. (I honestly believe 100% that if he didn't tear his pec last year we make the gf at the very least)
Losing him for 6 weeks this year will be the difference between us being top 4, and missing the gf.. we don't lose to sharks, knights, or dragons with tommy imo, but a loss today would be huge for the finals hopes)

Will he ever play a full season? Has he ever made it all the way to the end of a season?
God I hope this is his last major injury for awhile, as it kills any chance we have the minute he goes down.
 
Is hoppa really that good? I don't get to see our kids play so havnt seen much of hoppa, schuster etc etc, but the handful of times I've seen hoppa play he's just kinda been good... score a try or 2, but nothing really popped for me, compared to watching a young Tommy turbo play in the jnrs where he would regularly run 300-400 meters a game, score 3 or 4 tries to single handedly win the match, watching him you KNEW this kid was gonna carve up the nrl one day... is hoppa doing the same thing?
Not sure of his defensive capability but no question that he is a gifted runner of the footy and Manly seems very keen to keep him in their ranks . Just when he will be given an opportunity for i st grade at Manly is another matter of course , just has not played much footy for the past couple of seasons . Certainly could do with some more elusive running and sharp attack at the back right now , no slight to Garrick as he is certainly a really good footy player , just that he seems more suited as an outside back
 
I'm honestly starting to get worried we will never win a title with turbo.. love the kid, wouldn't have any other fullback in the nrl over him, not even teddy... when he's on, he's the most destructive fullback in the nrl..
But he can't stay on the field.. literally every single season since his debut he has spent large chunks on the side line, costing us finals chances.. (I honestly believe 100% that if he didn't tear his pec last year we make the gf at the very least)
Losing him for 6 weeks this year will be the difference between us being top 4, and missing the gf.. we don't lose to sharks, knights, or dragons with tommy imo, but a loss today would be huge for the finals hopes)

Will he ever play a full season? Has he ever made it all the way to the end of a season?
God I hope this is his last major injury for awhile, as it kills any chance we have the minute he goes down.
Quite a few top players have experienced injury prone times early in their careers and then fared much better on the injury front so ideally this will be the case for Tom . . Wonder what his pre game leg stretching exercise preparation consists of , hopefully he is getting the right advice . Just know that the right type or certain type of leg stretching exercising pre game usually does make quite a bit of difference to avoid hamstring injuries in particular .
 
I'm honestly starting to get worried we will never win a title with turbo.. love the kid, wouldn't have any other fullback in the nrl over him, not even teddy... when he's on, he's the most destructive fullback in the nrl..
But he can't stay on the field.. literally every single season since his debut he has spent large chunks on the side line, costing us finals chances.. (I honestly believe 100% that if he didn't tear his pec last year we make the gf at the very least)
Losing him for 6 weeks this year will be the difference between us being top 4, and missing the gf.. we don't lose to sharks, knights, or dragons with tommy imo, but a loss today would be huge for the finals hopes)

Will he ever play a full season? Has he ever made it all the way to the end of a season?
God I hope this is his last major injury for awhile, as it kills any chance we have the minute he goes down.
We all think the same.

He’s such an asset BUT at the same time a massive liability.

You just know he’s going to be injured it’s not if it’s when.

Take Tedesco out of the Rorters ( often) and see how they go.

The scribes were all saying this before the original season kick off , Manly has a great side but almost zero depth.

We might hate journos but they were right.
 
Quite a few top players have experienced injury prone times early in their careers and then fared much better on the injury front so ideally this will be the case for Tom . . Wonder what his pre game leg stretching exercise preparation consists of , hopefully he is getting the right advice . Just know that the right type or certain type of leg stretching exercising pre game usually does make quite a bit of difference to avoid hamstring injuries in particular .
You’d think they’d have had that covered Al, apparently it’s his running style that’s causing the issues.

That might be very hard to change as he’d just be doing that naturally.
 
Great idea, now are you going to tell him to renegotiate his contract so we can afford the help he needs. With a cap you dont want to be spending more than 1.5mill on halves .

So we need a 7 to do the heavy lifting, the management and kicking games and to get paid one sixth of the "play his own game halves "
And if we fluke that, hope his manager doesnt stone wall us and sit it out until we sell the rest

Regardless of the number on dce, his contribution on field compared to his salary cap % is just not good value.

if he cant find a way to contribute more than he currently does , we need to consider his position.

If there is one thing every half has had in common that manly has tried to pair with DCE . They were all cheap.
I think barrett was onto this before he left hence the moylan/ Pearce efforts. Would be interesting to see where we would be if we signed Pearce.. there would of been some sacrifices in terms of younger players but would we be in a better spot competitively? I think yes, even though Mitchell is grade a tosser (personal experiences)
 
We all think the same.

He’s such an asset BUT at the same time a massive liability.

You just know he’s going to be injured it’s not if it’s when.

Take Tedesco out of the Rorters ( often) and see how they go.

The scribes were all saying this before the original season kick off , Manly has a great side but almost zero depth.

We might hate journos but they were right.

Thats what happens when a large chunk of the cap is going to DCE, Turbo and Jake. We won't be able to have good depth because of this.
 
You’d think they’d have had that covered Al, apparently it’s his running style that’s causing the issues.

That might be very hard to change as he’d just be doing that naturally.
Just seemed odd that he did not seem to have an issue with his hammies when he was playing a couple of years at full back in the 20 "s .Admittedly not N R L level but still the same effort and running style from him and reasonably organized defences to run in to . Just know from personal experience and having a couple of hammiy problems as a youngster , then had a certain leg stretching routine and then never had a problem since through about 10 years of reasonable standard bush footy , then about 15 years of touch footy and still active sport now and was a runner . Not saying that every case is the same but i would always vouch along with others for one particular leg stretching routine which should be commonly known . .
 

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