Our Under 20s

[The Who]

I got to Brookie early to watch this team, hoping to see something special. With players like Wright, Bainbridge and Tent I thought they would towel up the Tigers, who were thrashed 78-nil by Cronulla recently. It seems our boys expected to win easy, and although we won by 10 points For me, tt was not an impressive performance.
The most disappointing player is Tent. He's a giant, but in the first half I watched him not receive one ball in 30 minutes - then he was replaced. It appears he is being used as a decoy rather than smashing up the opposition. In the second half he made a couple of runs. But overall he is not the player I'd hoped he was... not yet, anyway. I'd really be keen to hear what our coaches think of him.
Wright is a rocks-or-diamond player. He makes too many bad decisions, throwing suicide passes and taking the wrong options. He did score a smart try, so he has the ability.
My best today was winger Jade Anderson and prop Haumole Olakautu. He's a big guy - not as huge as Tent - but was very involved and on today's performance he's one to watch.
Overall the win was like that of the first grade side; they did enough to get the two points, which is the aim. I'm sure they can play a lot better.

 

[Harvies elbow]

I only saw the 2nd half and tigers seemed weak up the middle.
They couldn't handle our big blokes and big they are but a better team would have towelled us up.
I liked that Jorge lookalike on the wing when he ran but needs to get more involved.

 

[sheridanstand78]

As someone who regularly watches our Holden cup grade, I can honestly say that they were poor today. They made far too many errors with the ball and it put them behind the 8 ball for much of the first half. They have done a good job and had some good recent wins. St Merge will be a tough test next week. There are some quality players in there and Tom Wright is developing well, still a few too many errors in his game but he does make it happen. After the debacle of last season where this team got spanked regularly, it is a refreshing change.

 

[mave]

#13 ( and captain) was my standout today.

 

[Snake]

These guys are a really well coached side who are achieving well beyond their expectations this year. They were a rabble when Wayne Lambkin jumped on board and they had a lot of dead wood taking up space in the roster. He has a done a great job to get them humming along nicely. Sure, they weren't at their best today, but they are a bit like our FG team; exceeding all expectations and surprising the competition.

 

[Sheikheagle]

These guys are a really well coached side who are achieving well beyond their expectations this year. They were a rabble when Wayne Lambkin jumped on board and they had a lot of dead wood taking up space in the roster. He has a done a great job to get them humming along nicely. Sure, they weren't at their best today, but they are a bit like our FG team; exceeding all expectations and surprising the competition.

I agree. I'm not sure of his name but the hooker looks a real prospect. Has football smarts as well

 

[mave]

I agree. I'm not sure of his name but the hooker looks a real prospect. Has football smarts as well

He had a blinder the week before v Panthers too, from memory.

 

[The Who]

The hooker is Manase Fainu and he is very good. Quite tall and solid for a hooker.
No. 13 is the captain Jesse Martin.
It's pleasing to see the way this team has improved, and I'm hoping we can put down today's lacklustre effort to overconfidence.

 

[The Eagle Eye]

On the positive side, they are coming 4th on the ladder...

 

[Bearfax]

On the positive side, they are coming 4th on the ladder...

Not bad for a team that lost its first two games this season.

 

[mave]

Not bad for a team that lost its first two games this season.

Didnt we win the first couple? Flogged Souths from memory ib Round 2 ???

 

[Bearfax]

Didnt we win the first couple? Flogged Souths from memory ib Round 2 ???

Lost to the Eels 20-12 then to Rabbits 38-18 on Rounds 1 and 2, before winning against Cowboys 30-8, Doggies 36-0 and Roosters 18-12, Turned it around against the Rabbits in Round 9 thumping them 46-16

 

[maxta]

The Tigers seemed to be struggling early, then got plenty of possession through penalties and poor ball security.
The fullback looks good, quick feet and makes some big plays each game I see him.
Worked well to get back into the game and considering Tigers won control, even as a lowly placed side....showed fight and confidence to finish comprehensive winners.
Watching this game- Manly slipped into 1 of the worst habits.
Rather than playing direct and tough footy, started playing around them and across field trying to score off every play rather than building...and in turn, made far more errors than usual.
Then Tigers got a sniff and got played back into the game.

 

[SoaringEagle]

I thought Paseka had a good game with the runs he took. He didnt take much runs in the first half because Tigers were dominating for the first 20 mins before Manly got some ball and Paseka was takin off. But all the runs he took, he got at least 10 metres each run, he also had good post contact metres with strong led drive

 

[The Who]

I thought Paseka had a good game with the runs he took. He didnt take much runs in the first half because Tigers were dominating for the first 20 mins before Manly got some ball and Paseka was takin off. But all the runs he took, he got at least 10 metres each run, he also had good post contact metres with strong led drive

He didn't touch the ball in the 30-minutes he was on the field in the first half (I did miss the first seven minutes of the match), and that is not normal for a prop. Are his teammates deliberately avoiding passing him the ball? He did make some good tackles, but for a bloke of his size he should be dominating. As stated earlier, I'd love to know how our coaching staff rate his progress.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Not bad for a team that lost its first two games this season.

I saw one of those games and they were a rabble, they've done well to get this far.

 

[The Who]

We won our first two matches:
38 - 20 V Eeels, and
52-20 V Rabbits
After that we hit a slide, but have recovered.
I may be wrong but I think we are the only club with our first grade and our Under 20s in the top four.

 

[Bearfax]

We won our first two matches:
38 - 20 V Eeels, and
52-20 V Rabbits
After that we hit a slide, but have recovered.
I may be wrong but I think we are the only club with our first grade and our Under 20s in the top four.

My apologies The Who. I was looking at the first grade scores. You're quite right. Excuse me while I yet again head off to wipe the egg from my face...happens too often these days. And yes I mentioned in another section that it must be near a decade since Manly this late in the season had its First Grade and U20s in the top four..but then I'm probably wrong there as well...sheeesshh.

 

[SoaringEagle]

He didn't touch the ball in the 30-minutes he was on the field in the first half (I did miss the first seven minutes of the match), and that is not normal for a prop. Are his teammates deliberately avoiding passing him the ball? He did make some good tackles, but for a bloke of his size he should be dominating. As stated earlier, I'd love to know how our coaching staff rate his progress.

Yeh made 2 hit ups early on, but tigers dominated from 10 to 30 minute mark. Manly were defending for that 20 minutes and that was when tigers scored two tries.

 

[Bearfax]

Just watched the game again on replay to get a sense of the positives. My man of the match was between Cust and Polselli. Both had outstanding games I thought. I would even suggest Polselli would make a good five eighth. He set up a couple of good movements and has good timing in his passing game. I liked the winger Anderson. Not exceedingly fast but powerful and determined and gets involved. Had a very good game. Andrews the centre, after a poor attempt to tackle his opposite number that led to a try, then got his act together and did some good things including scoring a good try.

In the forwards I thought Jesse martin was good and I suggest Paseka had a good game and was dangerous every time he had the ball. The hooker Fainu was sprightly and very involved. Made good yardage and good defence.

I'm a Tom Wright fan but he had an overall poor game in my opinion. Did a few good things, including a clever try, some good kicks and passes, some good defence, but several mistakes. My main criticism was his lack of involvement and for such a clever player, he reminded me of Phil Blake's tendency to 'disappear' for long periods of a game. Definitely an off game.

Overall a game they should have done better but enough to win. And I have to give a big plus sign to the refs. A breath of fresh air letting the game flow. I liked the call back for play the ball when just missing the refs call. Only mistake was denying Manly a try for interference that was no where near where the try was scored. But overall good refereeing