Optimist/Pessimist pulse .. UPDATE

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

You're going to hate this , but I think you might be right and I do actually agree with you. Given the state of the current squad, their attitudes, their energy, effort and culture, I put my hand up, and say I was premature with my opinion on Dessie. I was wrong.

I honestly thought there would be a culture change under Siebold / Flannagan / Dymock / Hales / new fitness staff. But it's the same old crap, same old primadonna's acting the same old way - hence the same old results.

You're also right about the fact we should be doing much, much better. I look at the Dolphins limited squad, all ripping in and pulling the same direction, and I just shake my head watching our headless chooks giving up 27 points every game. Jesus, look at The Dragons and Tigers with an attitude adjustment.

Those two teams performances this weekend told me we are by FAR the worst team in the NRL right now , and that's scary, as I take a lot of pride (sorry about that word) in the fact we've never been lumped with a wooden spoon.

Yep, I was wrong on Des. I was wrong on the playing roster. I probably gave the boys too much credit. Don't have a hooker. Don't have a lock. Promised a winger the centre position. We are all over the shop, and play accordingly.

The roster needs an overhaul, and recruitment needs to be revamped with players with character first and foremost. Players who will work together , and all pull in the same direction. I haven't watched a game in a month, these guys just aren't entertaining anymore (has become a chore to sit and watch them give 50% and lose). I MISS characters like Lyon, Wolfman, Matai, Kennedy, Menzies - players you could easily love. Right now, I DO love Jake and Garrick, I honestly can't stomach the rest.

I feel so bad, and hate saying that btw. Please don't get me wrong, but feelings are feelings I guess, and no-one is perfect.

I suppose we can agree on one thing a year don't you think?

Everything you just wrote rings true my end mate.

I just don't know what the current coaching team is up to. After the disappointment of loosing Des I really did buy in and have high hopes but so far it looks bad. Really bad.

Seibold to me is in a spiral. He really needed to fly out of the gates this year to break the Broncos curse. He looks desperate already. Which is sad. Sad for him and Sad for my beloved footy team.

Look he may turn it around and if he does then great. But it needs to start in the next few weeks.

As I mentioned earlier as flat as Tom looks right now the rest of the team isn't doing their job to get him any space at all.

I've been watching 2021 games and yes he was on fire but so was 90% of the team. Obviously not to his level but the guys were doing their job. Making space. Creating overlaps. All of which Tom ate for breakfast.

Even in 2022 when Tom was out before rainbowgate we had shape and were going well considering.

 

[Will on the hill]

It's strange that optimism is still so high, it's definitely not reflective of the sentiment from most people posting. I tried blocking every one that made pessimistic posts this week and ended up talking to myself. I had to abandon the experiment when I realised I can't block myself.

 

[Woodsie]

It's strange that optimism is still so high, it's definitely not reflective of the sentiment from most people posting. I tried blocking every one that made pessimistic posts this week and ended up talking to myself. I had to abandon the experiment when I realised I can't block myself.

To be fair ... the entire Sea Eagles fan base is not reflective of the 50 odd people that regularly post on here ...

But I also think many of the voters don't come on that often to change their votes ..

 

[Ryan]

I suppose we can agree on one thing a year don't you think?

Everything you just wrote rings true my end mate.

I just don't know what the current coaching team is up to. After the disappointment of loosing Des I really did buy in and have high hopes but so far it looks bad. Really bad.

Seibold to me is in a spiral. He really needed to fly out of the gates this year to break the Broncos curse. He looks desperate already. Which is sad. Sad for him and Sad for my beloved footy team.

Look he may turn it around and if he does then great. But it needs to start in the next few weeks.

As I mentioned earlier as flat as Tom looks right now the rest of the team isn't doing their job to get him any space at all.

I've been watching 2021 games and yes he was on fire but so was 90% of the team. Obviously not to his level but the guys were doing their job. Making space. Creating overlaps. All of which Tom ate for breakfast.

Even in 2022 when Tom was out before rainbowgate we had shape and were going well considering.

Spot on mate. Agree with you this is a team effort, and really, I hope everyone lifts. There are times (Knights / Dogs) this season when our attack looked class. There were other times (Storm game) where our defense was iron wall.

We HAVE the ability and players, despite a lack of marquee talent, to compete with absolutely anybody, and I mean that. Siebold, Flannagan, & co. need to get them right though. Trent Robinson said it was his job, to get his players in the right headspace before each game on the weekend, and I appreciated that. He said it was on him, if their mentality wasn't switched on 110%.

BUT, I guess it is what it is, and we have who we have, so we have to make this work for us. GOD I pray for a victory today. We CAN do it. We need intensity. We need a team that are in the trenches with each other (sorry for the hyperbole / cliches there mate).

A few wins, and people will be less critical. Please Manly, give us loyal fans something to praise and cheer about today !

 

[Woodsie]

Spot on mate. Agree with you this is a team effort, and really, I hope everyone lifts. There are times (Knights / Dogs) this season when our attack looked class. There were other times (Storm game) where our defense was iron wall.

We HAVE the ability and players, despite a lack of marquee talent, to compete with absolutely anybody, and I mean that. Siebold, Flannagan, & co. need to get them right though. Trent Robinson said it was his job, to get his players in the right headspace before each game on the weekend, and I appreciated that. He said it was on him, if their mentality wasn't switched on 110%.

BUT, I guess it is what it is, and we have who we have, so we have to make this work for us. GOD I pray for a victory today. We CAN do it. We need intensity. We need a team that are in the trenches with each other (sorry for the hyperbole / cliches there mate).

A few wins, and people will be less critical. Please Manly, give us loyal fans something to praise and cheer about today !

The sad and simple fact is ... would we even be having this conversation if Tommy and the Shu were fit and playing to talent ?

 

[Ryan]

The sad and simple fact is ... would we even be having this conversation if Tommy and the Shu were fit and playing to talent ?

Completely fair and valid point too mate. I'd add a few to that. I love Croker, but feel his service has been very slow this season. Our forwards have been bog average (way, WAY too slow and immobile). But a firing 1 and 6 would make a huge difference.

We are playing an uptempo team today. If we can't match that (and I'm dubious, won't lie), we'll be blown off the park.

 

[Will on the hill]

Changing for the 5th time this season. Optimism returns. Bully deserves a starting middle spot.

 

[The '47ers]

 

[Woodsie]

Climbing back up to 73.4% with a bullet ..

 

[40 nil]

First time I've been able to cheer the Sea Eagles all year. If they can beat the Knights next week minus DCE, Jake & probably Turbo, I'll change my vote to optimistic.

 

[Ryan]

Fantastic team effort today, but here's the thing guys - we need this consistently now. The difference between our worst and best needs to minimise.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Fantastic team effort today, but here's the thing guys - we need this consistently now. The difference between our worst and best needs to minimise.

It’s a coin toss , that’s one of our biggest issues.

Which team turns up!!

 

[NREagle]

The sad and simple fact is ... would we even be having this conversation if Tommy and the Shu were fit and playing to talent ?

Think you may have your answer......

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

Spot on mate. Agree with you this is a team effort, and really, I hope everyone lifts. There are times (Knights / Dogs) this season when our attack looked class. There were other times (Storm game) where our defense was iron wall.

We HAVE the ability and players, despite a lack of marquee talent, to compete with absolutely anybody, and I mean that. Siebold, Flannagan, & co. need to get them right though. Trent Robinson said it was his job, to get his players in the right headspace before each game on the weekend, and I appreciated that. He said it was on him, if their mentality wasn't switched on 110%.

BUT, I guess it is what it is, and we have who we have, so we have to make this work for us. GOD I pray for a victory today. We CAN do it. We need intensity. We need a team that are in the trenches with each other (sorry for the hyperbole / cliches there mate).

A few wins, and people will be less critical. Please Manly, give us loyal fans something to praise and cheer about today !

There you go mate. Exactly what we were talking about. All our players did their job and Turbo scored 3.
There was more space on the edges today thanks to the guys inside doing their job and our speedy guys took advantage.
Big shout out to Schuster. Looked lean and Hungry (so to speak)... spud has worked wonders. Get the entire side down to his Gym on Monday..... defence was a bit iffy but that's more time on the park than talent.

Jake at 13 was awesome. If seibs puts Aleovera back in the 13 in 6 weeks time I will **** myself.

Still.not sure why Turbo takes run 4 so often? Coaching team has me confused on that one.

That Manly side to me looked more like the last few years in attack tonight.

Canberra were awful thou.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

The sad and simple fact is ... would we even be having this conversation if Tommy and the Shu were fit and playing to talent ?

The same question could be posed would we be having this conversation if Tommy's shoulder, Schuster out most of year and rainbowgate not happened. I don't think so. We would have made the 8 and seibs would still be running D for the English RFU.

 

[Ryan]

There you go mate. Exactly what we were talking about. All our players did their job and Turbo scored 3.
There was more space on the edges today thanks to the guys inside doing their job and our speedy guys took advantage.
Big shout out to Schuster. Looked lean and Hungry (so to speak)... spud has worked wonders. Get the entire side down to his Gym on Monday..... defence was a bit iffy but that's more time on the park than talent.

Jake at 13 was awesome. If seibs puts Aleovera back in the 13 in 6 weeks time I will **** myself.

Still.not sure why Turbo takes run 4 so often? Coaching team has me confused on that one.

That Manly side to me looked more like the last few years in attack tonight.

Canberra were awful thou.

Exactly mate ! How funny was it, that the teams performance yesterday reflected exactly what we were conversating about. They almost looked like they were having fun ! One thing that stood out to me, is they were all in it together !

On paper (particularly from 8-17) we looked outmatched. But we went to Canberra (awful away trip), in the cold, and actually looked the goods ! A Dolphins like performance against the hottest team in the NRL right now.

Schuster was the key. He unlocked so many players (difference makers) like DCE and Turbo.

Moving forward, that has to be the benchmark now, and consistency is what we need. If we can get some of that, the skies the limits. But it's like you said, can Siebold & others achieve that week in, week out?

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

Exactly mate ! How funny was it, that the teams performance yesterday reflected exactly what we were conversating about. They almost looked like they were having fun ! One thing that stood out to me, is they were all in it together !

On paper (particularly from 8-17) we looked outmatched. But we went to Canberra (awful away trip), in the cold, and actually looked the goods ! A Dolphins like performance against the hottest team in the NRL right now.

Schuster was the key. He unlocked so many players (difference makers) like DCE and Turbo.

Moving forward, that has to be the benchmark now, and consistency is what we need. If we can get some of that, the skies the limits. But it's like you said, can Siebold & others achieve that week in, week out?

I'm not against Seibold and Co and really do hope they succeed. I will always contest that it wasn't Des that was the problem and just replacing him was very short sighted. But we are where we are so let's get on with it.

I love this club and as my wife will attest to I'm a cranky **** to live with when we loose.

It was great to see some excitement back in the side wasn't it.

At the end of the day mate You, me and 90% of others on here just want a winning footy club.

Great to see you back but how about we draw a line under this new found respect and start punching again....We can't continue like this can we???

 

[Ryan]

I'm not against Seibold and Co and really do hope they succeed. I will always contest that it wasn't Des that was the problem and just replacing him was very short sighted. But we are where we are so let's get on with it.

I love this club and as my wife will attest to I'm a cranky **** to live with when we loose.

It was great to see some excitement back in the side wasn't it.

At the end of the day mate You, me and 90% of others on here just want a winning footy club.

Great to see you back but how about we draw a line under this new found respect and start punching again....We can't continue like this can we???

The others aren't likely enjoying it as much hahaha. They prefer the entertainment of a good ol' scuffle - but you and I can leave that to the others haha.

 

[rj90]

They almost looked like they were having fun ! One thing that stood out to me, is they were all in it together !

This really stood out to me as well! Great to see the boys actually in good spirits and look like they want to play together! Definitely makes me happy as a fan!

 

[Rafferty]

This really stood out to me as well! Great to see the boys actually in good spirits and look like they want to play together! Definitely makes me happy as a fan!

Me too…..said it somewhere else, first time I’ve seen Tom smile all year, Shoe smiling, I also really enjoyed seeing Jake lay down the law.