Positives and Negatives of roosters trial

Haha. Yep a couple of poor misses there.

It's a pity that 1 minute highlights reel didnt show Green cutting a Roosters player down with desperate defence 2m out from our line, with us under all sorts of pressure or Tommy cleaning up a Roosters grubber with some excellent positional play with the game on the line, etc etc.

I will stick to what my own eyes tell me, and leave the highlights reel for you guys.
 
@COMMANDER DCE was very quiet. I think Green will definitely be the dominant halves partner and DCE will chime in when he sees an opportunity. I think this can work well, it just needs more involvement from DCE.

Green did a lot of kicking and just overall seemed to steer the ship.

Another point is I thought Tommy was talking a lot more at fullback. Which is a big positive.
 
@COMMANDER DCE was very quiet. I think Green will definitely be the dominant halves partner and DCE will chime in when he sees an opportunity. I think this can work well, it just needs more involvement from DCE.

Green did a lot of kicking and just overall seemed to steer the ship.

Another point is I thought Tommy was talking a lot more at fullback. Which is a big positive.
TBH Im actually not too concerned at all that Cherry had a supposedly quiet game..When u have one gun half and a dud the gun tends to try and do too much themselves and things dont work out. Cherry can now play whats in front of him and inject himself into the attack at will and leave the organising and main kicking duties to Blake. Clearly the pressure is off for him to be 'the man' in each set of 6. Its early days guys but dont assume its all bad news there...I think its a really good sign and we are not gonna be the rudderless ship like we were last year. Having a consumate organiser combining with someone who plays off the cuff is a nice combination imo...
 
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Good stuff thanks Ryan. I am bit concerned with Tommy defence can we utilise snake with some training. No probs with his attack.
It will grow with time, however having snake continue to help him surely wouldn't hurt
 
As many have pointed out, Green will be a great foil for DCE and Hastings will add creativity when he is on. DCE can finally start to manage his game better and inject at the right time instead of his headless chook plays
 
I've only seen the highlights so it is foolish of me to comment on the overall performance of certain players. I'm delighted that the team has won two close matches against two strong clubs. I do wonder just how much improvement we have in us. Who was missing for us last night (Lussick is not available until round 5, I know)?
Souffs had many stars missing, and Easts were without Pearce and Cordner, arguable their two best players.
Good to read that Doesn'tmatta was beaten in its trial.
Methinks our upcoming LottoLand fixure will be a lottery....
 
What impressed me most was

1. Manly have been effectively competitive throughout the 9s and trials. Hopefully there will be no runaway scores against us this year
2. The acquisition of several classy talented young players such as Cullen, Schuster, Kelly, Hastings.
3. The steadying and guiding influence of Green at 5/8
4. Stronger pack of forwards
5. A solid Blacktown Workers team with players worthy of first grade appearances if needed
6. Improved showings of the juniors, especially Matthew Cup where there are a couple of future stars offering Manly a good future.

I've been critical of the Penns and to a lesser extent Fulton at times. Still annoyed with the Gutherson, Buhrer decisions.But they have rebuild Manly back into a potential premiership force, maybe not this year but certainly in a year or two, and for that they deserve much credit. It also seems that Barrett just may be a coach worth holding onto. I can already see he's learnt a few things from his first Year of Hell.
 
Positive: there were highlights from foxsports so they must have recorded the game.

Negative: They didn't put it to air, or have made extended highlights (or even the whole game) available. (Or have they?)

All in all it sounds like a positive hit out. A win, no serious injuries, another chance to get used to your team mates, coming from behind to win and some players getting stuck into it.

Pretty good!
 
Positives imo were:

The recruitment of Green could well be a masterstroke, as he's not only going to free-up DCE and allow him to play his own game more effectively but also going to make a big difference to the team compared to 2016.
Marty was at his rampaging best and the stand-out forward.
Sironen's recruitment got my tick of approval and looks a worthy replacement for Buhrer (though I'd much prefer to have kept him!).
Tommy was at his best in attack and I thought Jorge did well running a lot of metres.
Beating the Roosters who are a top quality side. Admittedly they didn't have Pearce or Cordner but were otherwise full-strength, and we capably matched them.

I don't want to dwell on negatives but our defence out wide definitely needs attention. Also I'm yet to be convinced on a suitable replacement for Skivvi....just wish we still had him!
 
Tom looked awesome carved up almost every time he got the ball. Walker killed it great attitude throughout the whole game and always a threat. Marty Sironen Jake Lawrence and Api were a handful for the roosters pack all game with there go forward and resilience. Green is a perfect piece for manly and giving DCE plenty of time to figure out what he wants to do before he gets the ball instead of getting the ball and going off instinct. Taufua ran well but one step too slow in attack plays (chip for him too slow twice and dropped ball from cut out with no opp infront of him) Jono got beat twice and let in two tries nothing much on attack. Uate same as Taufua runs from the ruck well but on def let in two tries while trying to run off his line. Blacktown just wow if they keep playing like that a def finish in the top 4. All in all great trial for Manly and Blacktown spirits should be high @ Lottoland come round one.
 
I'll take absolutely nothing from any trial.They won zero trial matc

whilst I take absolutely nothing from trial games,they didn't win ONE trial in '08&'11,you obviously didn't see Green's "defence"

Saw a couple if Jersey grabs be green, one lead to a try
 

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