Observations

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MANLY4LIFE

Bencher
Levi -offers nothing in attack
Cust -needs more game time
Croker not first grade material cust deserves his spot
Dce -a passenger these days poor last tackle options as usual been out of form for a long time

Manasi,s alleged stupidity cost us half our attack this season

Garrick -we got smashed by the slime last year and he was at fullback should never have been put back there again

Des is to blame for some choices this week
 
Agreed!

Croker started off well but some of his choices or lack of passing in key moments was pathetic.

Dce has gone full myth mode

Garrick is not a fb

des taking off AfB and replacing him with jetski is the biggest head scratcher! Paseka comes on in the last 20. I dont remember keppie playing the 2nd half did anyone see him?
We need Boyle not paseka he is **** anyways
Dce needs to be dropped guys got nothing.

Ponga is going to destroy us next week..
:banghead:
 
I thought the most critical determining factor in that game result today (outside coaching choices) was DCE's performance in the first 10 minutes. We had forwards running hard and straight up the middle and gaining good ascendancy. We were also getting some repeat set decisions to add to that growing dominance. If DCE just played good solid game management and executed during that period, I' sure we would have gone on to win that game. Instead, we came away with zero points from that period, and our confidence fell off while Shark's grew.
 
I thought the most critical determining factor in that game result today (outside coaching choices) was DCE's performance in the first 10 minutes. We had forwards running hard and straight up the middle and gaining good ascendancy. We were also getting some repeat set decisions to add to that growing dominance. If DCE just played good solid game management and executed during that period, I' sure we would have gone on to win that game. Instead, we came away with zero points from that period, and our confidence fell off while Shark's grew.
I think in the last3 seasons,DCE has become so Origin obsessed,he hasn’t been delivering at club level,barring the odd game or two prior to Origin.Its as if he’s got a point to prove at that level since Thurston,Cronk and Smith moved on from QLD duties,that he’s become too timid in trying to avoid injury to keep himself available for Origin
 
I think in the last3 seasons,DCE has become so Origin obsessed,he hasn’t been delivering at club level,barring the odd game or two prior to Origin.Its as if he’s got a point to prove at that level since Thurston,Cronk and Smith moved on from QLD duties,that he’s become too timid in trying to avoid injury to keep himself available for Origin
Let's be serious here, his Origin performances haven't been anything to write home about. Solid but far from spectacular or dominant. He is the last man standing basically in the Maroon number 7 so I take his representative status with a grain of salt. I was hoping that his exposure to that level of football would improve his game, but he just can't seem to find that level of consistency that the quality players do. On his day he looks elite, but his "day" needs a lot of things to line up for him to shine.
 
Players ratings (by me) out of ten.
BACKS
DCE 3 Poor. Kicking game terrible. Running in circles. Lost.
Croker 3 Just not good enough.
Funa 1 Must never play first grade again.
George 2 His poor defence can't keep being excused.
Garrick 3 Hard to be fair. A winger thrown into fullback at the last minute. Last time Des did that it was a disaster. Thus time also.
Elliot. 4 Should have played the full game at fullback. Tried.

FORWARDS
AFB 10 Inspirational effort. Made the others look ordinary.
Levi 3 Not our hooking answer.
Marty 6 Tried hard.
Joel Dunno (any thoughts?)
Sirronen Dunno (any thoughts?)
Jake 8 Played his heart out as usual.

BENCH
Only standout for me was Cust who looked impressive replacing the ordinary Levi and added aggression to our attack. Sadly Des only brought him on with about 20 mutes to go when all was lost.

CONCERN
Des won't make the changes we need.

Just my opinions. I'm sure others won't agree.
 
Dce is 5 years in on an 8 year mega rich deal and his game goes backwards each week. Halfback study is done and not necessary to be paid in gold bricks

He is way to comfy

If his 6 plus 2 contract has boxes to tick, he currently is not ticking anything so next year he could possibly be playing for his extension.

No one would pay out his contract to move him on. No one. I bet the titans are smiling they missed there man
He has always been this player.
Some just notice the shiny stuff
 
As you can tell I'm not doing the player ratings this year. However, on yesterday's performance I will.


Reuben Garrick 2/10 - Reubs is good under a high ball and is a fast runner, but that doesn't make him a fullback. Caught out of position too many times at the expense of tries against Cronulla.

Jorge Taufua 4/10 - Was lazy in defence but did have a few good runs and did score a meat pie.

Brad Parker 5/10 - Wasn't bad, wasn't great. Decent defence at times. Far from why we lost.

Brendan Elliot 4/10 - Should have played fullback, simple as that.

Tevita Funa 2/10 - Poor day on the wing.

Lachlan Croker 2/10 - Had a chance to show what he can do, and didn't show it. Poor defence, poor decisions in attack. A big letdown after last weeks showing.

Daly Cherry-Evans - 5/10 - Short kicking game has been almost atrocious. Did come alive when Cust came on at dummy half, but by then the horse had bolted. Some of his passes that led to tries were pearlers.

Addin Fonua-Blake 9/10 - Once again led the way and proved why he's the top of the props in the NRL. Crossed for 2 deserving tries.

Danny Levi 3/10 - He passes well from dummy half, but he needs to learn to pass it to the right player and when its a good time to run and when its not. Definitely not gelling well with the halves, especially DCE.

Sean Keppie 6/10 - Played well for 20 minutes, then came off and for some reason didn't get back on. Can't figure that one out.

Joel Thompson 4/10 - Has had better days. Barely sighted in attack, made a few errors in defence.

Curtis Sironen 7/10 - Another good day for Siro personally because he played well.

Jake Trbojevic 7/10 - Another good game from Jake which when the game was lost earned him an early minute. Took a nice pass from DCE to set up AFB for a T-R-Y.

Martin Taupau 6/10 - Was OK when he came on. Nothing spectacular but he didn't give up. Is playing through the pain barrier with a broken thumb.

Cade Cust 7/10 - I've been critical of Cust in the past, but I have to admit he looked good when he came on and play certainly livened up for Manly with him out there. However, to put it into perspective Cronulla had put the cue back in the rack by then. Worth a 2nd look playing dummy half. Impressed more in 20 minutes than Levi has in 7 games.

Jack Gosiewski 3/10 - He's game, I'll give blondie that much. But he's small for a back rower and gets manhandled a lot. And he got manhandled a lot by Cronulla. I get that he's also a cover for centre, but I think we'd be better served with Boyle or Sipley.

Taniela Paseka 4/10 - Didn't get a lot of game time and came on when the result was beyond doubt. Didn't do a lot, but didn't do much of anything wrong either.


In some ways I get that maybe Des thought that by having Garrick at fullback, his speed (similar to Tom's) could be a problem for Cronulla. Problem is that again Garrick proved that he isn't a fullback and was too often caught out of position. IMO Des should have stuck with the way the side was announced.

I think Des and his staff might need to look at the on-field relationship between DCE and Levi because after 7 rounds its simply not working. The only time DCE has looked anywhere near like a million dollar per year halfback so far this year has been when Levi has gone off and either Croker or Cust had played dummy half. I don't know why this is happening, but it is and its something that needs fixing because right now we are down a fair bit of strike power without Turbo and Walks and its not good to have our halfback not firing for half or over half the game.

Hopefully we can put in a much better showing against Newcastle next week. At least it'll be at Brookie.
 
Its a team game but dce needs to take control and accountability for his own game, In life we just wish to be judged on our merits.

Dce is judged on his deeds as levi is for his. I understand they can help eachother but they are selected for there own games

he needs to be the star of his own game

See you can have a go , and things go pear shape and you get hammered for making mistakes . Or you can do nothing and blame others. He just doesnt have a go at playing half. Just waiting gor someone else, todaymarty kicked on last, last week curtis, jakey

Some might say at least levi has a go

Dce hides from his responsabilities

Levi might not be the perfect match for cherry but cherry just needs to try and fail, at least you can respect that.
 
you can run for as many metres as you like ... but if you don't win the forward battle ... you are just playing with yourself ... we came out to run through what was written on the blackboard ... they came out to win a football game ...

All the rest of the hysterical nonsense about DCE, Levi, Crocker or anybody else is just a symptom of a lack of a mongrel pack mentality ....

You don't win hard games of footy in the gym or running big metres ... you win it by sitting the opposition on their arses ....
 
Beat the Raiders the week before which was a truly heroic victory (team good) and this week get pumped by a pumped up Cronulla side (team bad).
 
In my opinion they all looked tired & flat, probably due to the tough schedule of 4 & 5 day turnarounds before we played Canberra last week.

Our win last week was inspired but I fear was one too many trips to the well & yesterday was the aftermath.

I know none of the players or Dessie would ever admit it as providing excuses for poor performances is not the done thing, but I genuinely believe our blokes were just tired yesterday.

Add Tom, Walks, Suli all missing & Garrick & Elliott playing FB & centre instead of vice versa & we were just one, big, fatigued & disjointed mess out there.

We'll bounce back.
 
Cherry evans has to be the most out of form halfback in the nrl at the moment !!

Cleary is on fire !!!

Cherry Evans just needs to take the line on and get repeat sets I don’t know how that can be so hard for the highest nrl player

No one can Blame the hooker, fowards or his halves partner because all year his been terrible even when we were full strength

Wish he would play like he does for QLD in origin

Des needs to stick a firework under him and tell him to wake up before our season turns into a disaster
 
Roosters and Eels have had a pretty grueling run recently also but have been able to find that extra desire and determination as a team to perform at a consistent level . Crueled by injuries right now and Marty and Keppie carrying injuries it seems and of course some truly courageous efforts recently but even allowing for the tiredness factor and some individual big efforts , those other sides are so much better led That is probably the difference and reality
 
Lifting when players get injured during a game is totally different to training with a weakened outfit all week and knowing deep down points will be difficult to achieve. DCE said as much in interview talking about how it’s all down to defence now.
Well welcome to the six again era with no attack. Last year with similar injuries is a world away from right now with new rules and no number 9 to create.
 

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