Perspective

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Canteen Worker

First Grader
Amidst the disappointment of failing to turn up to play at Suncorp, it is important to note that form this year is topsy turvey and that any given team can beat any other on their day (or night!)

Manly has beaten Melbourne and the Sharks who are in the top echelon whilst Brisbane were soundly flogged by Storm only a few weeks ago. There are crazy upsets and the form guide is virtually useless.

To think that Manly would go through a season without a loss is ridiculous and at the start of the year most of us (who are realisitic) would have tipped the Win and Suncorp Games as expected losses.

Our delight in the resurgence of Manly (well earned) must not cloud the facts that we are going to lose quite a few games here and there, we struggle to win away from Brookie and that we lack class and depth in a few positions.

Instead of heading for the gap we should be thankful that we are still equal top, we are realistic (but by no means certain) top 8 chances and we should improve with a youngish team.
 
I was not happy with the loss last Sunday but I can understand why it happened. Motivation is a hard thing and many teams I have played in have lost the less important games against the weaker sides. The season is the main objective and each game is just one little rung in the ladder, to use a poor metaphor. It is important that the bunnies game doesn't signal a slump or a bad patch - we still need to finish in the top two. The next three weeks will show us whether the Souths game meant anything.
 
Canteen worker spot on.
I just got back from holidays and saw the storm game replay. After that it is not surprising to have a flat and unfocused performance. The storm didn't and that's a measure of where the eagles need to be at in their noggins. It's obvious who is the only team that can beat the storm. Sitting one out, one back is probably the best thing going into the finals and that has to be the priority for now.

On the storm game (getting my 2 cents worth in late), Lyon needs to be back to do some of the playmaking and tactical kicking. He was starting to look good finally in that role before he got hurt. The strategy was right: turner and quinn are a weakness in the air. The pigs were awesome and did enough to win. To not get any repeat sets off all that grunt (until the last 2 mins) was a crime. You can't expect to hold the storm back any less than we did, but we would have gotten over the top of them with a few well placed grubbers and chip kicks.

ps. I live in pomland now and I can tell you the poms have a bad case of 'so long as we beat Australia'; not enjoying the olympic coverage here at all.....
 
Nobody has mentioned the whole team had a virus go through them during the week. That, combined with the big effort against Melbourne must have flattened them a bit. They just needed a week off. I could see from the opening sets that the whole team were down in intensity. Combine that with the fact they were playing an in form and quick team.

I don't think this aberration will have any effects, I reckon if anything they needed to clock off for one week to prevent burnout.

Manly will be fine and ready come finals time, and I'm happy as long as they run second or better at the end of the regular season.
 

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