Pleasantly Surprised By Manly Thus Far

[BrendonStarr]

Even though i was expecting us to make the top 8 prior to season kick off i am pleasantly surprised with our team performances of late, particularly our defence and enthusiasm which we have been consistently maintaining for 6 and a half weeks now.

I would say at this stage we are certainties to make the 8, and if the worst of our injuries are over we should all expect Manly to finish either 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th come round 25.

If you take the equivalent of Tom, DCE and Walker (Our 3 biggest attacking weapons) out of any team for an extended period they are going to struggle big time.

How we go over the next 3-4 weeks with our so called 'rejects' (Superstars in the Making) pulling the strings, will ultimately decide whether we are going to be the biggest success story of the season.

We can totally annihilate any chance the Broncos have of making the finals this week. If we win i highly doubt that we will lose more than 5 more games from here on in

 

[Harvies elbow]

I was and maybe still am expecting 12 to 8.
But I am pleasantly surprised, to a degree, by the way that we are going about things.
I fully expected Des to make his mark and leave his brand on this team. I put up a thread about Des reinventing himself during his layoff in regards to his coaching structure.
But I'm not sure I expected to be enjoying our tough, entertaining style of play as much as I am, even if we had our full roster.
To be playing the way we are with our depleted squad is a credit to Des,the staff and players.
The boys are having a go, and that's something I am not surprised about under Des.

 

[BrendonStarr]

And when you consider that we have only had Tom on the field for roughly 120 mins in our first 8 games you can bet your bottom dollars that we would currently be sitting in 3rd or 4th spot right now (possibly even 2nd) if he was injury free.

And if DCE, Walker and AFB featured in all of our first 8 games i would say that we could easily be leading the comp right now or equal first.

We would have beat the Bulldogs by 30+ even with 4 disallowed tries.

 

[Chip and Chase]

If you had said to me at start of season we would be 5 wins from 8 without Walker for all of it, Turbo for most of it and AFB missing half of it I would have said put down the crack pipe.

Pleasantly surprised is an understatement

 

[BrendonStarr]

Elgey really has a chance to make a name for himself over the next 2-3 games. He is the main man for now. He could easily add $100,000 to his market value in just 3 games if he is the real deal.

 

[KOMORI]

Take out the variables of missing talent, and viewed objectively, the squad as a whole has improved to the point where a comparison with last year’s team is almost pointless.

Without bothering to compare stats, I’d assume we are miles ahead on the measurable indicators: but it’s the intangibles that have impressed me the most.

Effort, heart, pride, passion and belief...this is a TEAM. Not a poorly coached group of talented individuals. They work hard, they are a cohesive unit that is infinitely better than last year’s imposters..

Manly is back.

 

[eaglebuzz]

It feels Manly again, and it feels good.

 

[manlyfan76]

Teams don't just run around us to score anymore. It's like we have an idea or system now.

On a side note did anyone else hear that there have been massive staff layoffs at the Diggers?

 

[mickqld]

The big difference. This year the head coach says injuries and poor referees aren't an excuse because everyone is capable of overcoming setbacks. Last year the head coach would just use it all as an excuse to lose.

 

[Cameron]

Pleasantly surprised!!!!!!
I have a raging mongrel about how we are going.

In all seriousness the way we are going under des combined with the way the referees are allowing the game to flow better under Annersley I’ve fallen back in love we the game and am watching more than just our games this season.