Nowhere near their best

[Canteen Worker]

I had to laugh at reports on various teams playing nowhere near their best - including the Melbourne Storm. Added to all this is the talk about Manly flying under the radar,

My call is that Manly are winning by defending well but there is room for massive improvement in attack and that Manly are in the same boat as Melbourne. We are nowhere near our best but are managing to win anyway.

Great to read that no Manly side has won 5 in a row since 1997. It would be great to get 6 up this weekend.

 

[fLIP]

If I were a coach. And my team came up against a back line that looks like:

1. Stewart
2. Robertson
3. Matai
4. Bell
5. Hicks
6. Lyon
7. Orford

I would be ****ting myself and greatful I got them at the start of the season before they could gel. We will get better in both attack AND defense which is scary.

But when our attack clicks a lot of teams will be ducking for cover.

 

[fLIP]

Also I heard saw some stat on the sunday footy show. Manly's defense after 5 rounds in the best since broncos or Newcastle in the mid 90's or something like that.

 

[Crushercleal]

Our mid-90's defence was the best in the history of the league

 

[ManlyBacker]

All teams are struggling to get it to click. Manly has been fortunate that we have played well as a team but the attack has been ordinary and we have faced opposition having off periods in a game. Have you ever seen the Tiges spill so much ball, or the Bulldogs for that matter, or seen the Rorters give such a pathetic showing?

I am confident that fLIP is right on the money. When the games open up and we get it together we are going to be awesome in attack.

Defense seems much better this year from most teams. However, I'll make a prediction right now - we will flog a top team by 40 this year and the last time we did that was in 1996. :dance:

 

[fLIP]

MB we made more errors than the dogs. It can't be used as an excuse.

12 - 10 in their favor.

 

[DSM5]

It's our defense. Awesome, straight line and numbers targetting the names in the opposition. I can't put my finger on just how to get that backline moving. Is it the fact that backrowers are running out wide?

 

[Fluffy]

there have been plenty of errors that are a direct result of defence, which in turn creates nerves when in attack = more dropped balls

 

[Canteen Worker]

I agree with Fluffy. Playing catch-up and getting frustrated leads to pushing the pass and trying the impossible ball. It would be interesting to see a stat comparison of what teams produce the highest mistake rate in opposing teams. My tip is that we would be near the top.