Matabele
Journey Man
The method may have been lacking, but the point has been made that my churlish thread on Orford last night detracted from the gloss of a momentous night for the club.
So apologies, and herein are some reflections for us to celebrate:
Firstly, 101 tries to Brett Stewart. His status as club legend is already confirmed, he joins the esteemed company of Beaver and Bozo, but for him so much more is yet to come. Congratulations on a marvelous effort and many years of extreme joy provided to Manly fans. Not only does he perform on the field, his struggle to overcome his diabetes and false accusations in court and media are inspirational.
This segues nicely into remembering that Stewart is back on the field at last! May the injury gods smile on him for here.
Last night we held a side to nil for the first time in three years. In deplorable conditions, they had the majority of ball and more than 50 tackles inside our 50, yet our line held intact. An excellent effort where players could be forgiven for the odd lapse in the conditions. Our defense is getting back to 1996 and 2008 levels.
Our young players are brilliant. Foran is a stand out, DCE is developing, Buhrer is a young version of Watmough without the baggage, Hopoate could be anything. Little wonder clubs are circling as we currently have the best stable of young talent in the land. Where are Crusher’s nay-sayers now?
Our backline depth is such that we have an international playing in NSW Cup and looking like he will struggle to get back into the side.
Our halves have improvement in them, a turnaround from two years ago where our halves situation was one of decline.
We’re at the back end of a difficult ownership transition with a new CEO about to start. We can only hope he is progressive, forward thinking, kind to his staff and savvy with new media.
I’m sure there’s plenty more but with that I might bid thee all farewell for a little while.
Ciao.
So apologies, and herein are some reflections for us to celebrate:
Firstly, 101 tries to Brett Stewart. His status as club legend is already confirmed, he joins the esteemed company of Beaver and Bozo, but for him so much more is yet to come. Congratulations on a marvelous effort and many years of extreme joy provided to Manly fans. Not only does he perform on the field, his struggle to overcome his diabetes and false accusations in court and media are inspirational.
This segues nicely into remembering that Stewart is back on the field at last! May the injury gods smile on him for here.
Last night we held a side to nil for the first time in three years. In deplorable conditions, they had the majority of ball and more than 50 tackles inside our 50, yet our line held intact. An excellent effort where players could be forgiven for the odd lapse in the conditions. Our defense is getting back to 1996 and 2008 levels.
Our young players are brilliant. Foran is a stand out, DCE is developing, Buhrer is a young version of Watmough without the baggage, Hopoate could be anything. Little wonder clubs are circling as we currently have the best stable of young talent in the land. Where are Crusher’s nay-sayers now?
Our backline depth is such that we have an international playing in NSW Cup and looking like he will struggle to get back into the side.
Our halves have improvement in them, a turnaround from two years ago where our halves situation was one of decline.
We’re at the back end of a difficult ownership transition with a new CEO about to start. We can only hope he is progressive, forward thinking, kind to his staff and savvy with new media.
I’m sure there’s plenty more but with that I might bid thee all farewell for a little while.
Ciao.
