PRE-GAME DISCUSSION: Manly v Penrith [Round 12, 2020]

We won't even need him to have a blinder. Panthers will be way overconfident and relaxed. And why not, they are leading the comp, whereas on the live ladder we are back to 9th.
Perfect ambush scenario.
Yep this reeks of a Manly 13+ game. I’m not the biggest fan of this Panthers side and have watched them a bunch this year. Manly 28 Penrith 10
 
and Elliott plays it with decency? The bloke sucks its pretty simple as that

Walker has the attributes to be a good fullback, just needs to get used to the positional / defensive play. If Tom is back in round 17 and Elliott is our fullback until then we won't win many games... at least let Walker ease into the fullback role with half a game and have one of them on the bench.
Walker is an erratic defender at Centre and 6. He has no place organizing a defensive line at fb and he won’t just learn this over a few weeks. Look at Des experiment with Garrick. Knew he stuffed it and made the change to Elliot. Walker has attack granted, but to think he’s a 1 coming off an injury lay-off is absurd. We’ve won big games with Elliot at fb and can win more if others around him lift. What are you basing us not winning many games with Elliot at 1 until round 17 on? We just won the last two with him there. He ain’t no GI, Slater or Snake in the 1 but he does his job and is the best option we have until Tom returns IMO.
 
Agreed.
Cronulla had eight young guys tonight from their 2019 NSW Cup team.
We seem to be the only club afraid of giving our youngsters a chance.
They were playing the broncs. They could have played kids from Cronulla under 15s and still had a shot. Lol
 
Agreed.
Cronulla had eight young guys tonight from their 2019 NSW Cup team.
We seem to be the only club afraid of giving our youngsters a chance.
When we had injuries we gave our youngsters a chance as well
 
Disappointed in hearing the news re Cust being dropped.

Very disappointed.

Him and DCE were finally gelling well. DCE had given some control over too, something I fear he will not do with an underdone Walker.

Time will tell, and I guess all you can do is trust in Des.
 
Agreed.
Cronulla had eight young guys tonight from their 2019 NSW Cup team.
We seem to be the only club afraid of giving our youngsters a chance.
That young centre who got injured looks a likely lad. Big fast and loved the way he hit thst pass for the try.
 
Walker is an erratic defender at Centre and 6. He has no place organizing a defensive line at fb and he won’t just learn this over a few weeks. Look at Des experiment with Garrick. Knew he stuffed it and made the change to Elliot. Walker has attack granted, but to think he’s a 1 coming off an injury lay-off is absurd. We’ve won big games with Elliot at fb and can win more if others around him lift. What are you basing us not winning many games with Elliot at 1 until round 17 on? We just won the last two with him there. He ain’t no GI, Slater or Snake in the 1 but he does his job and is the best option we have until Tom returns IMO.
I’m basing the doubt of winning as many with Elliott at fullback over the past few weeks. Our win against Parramatta was basically DCE individual brilliance... Elliotts contribution to that was nil. Cowboys are an underdone side and just dont gel... they should have been an easy win and our pack dominated which was great. My point being that without another creative player in the backline, especially the outside backs, we are basically putting all of the pressure of points on DCE. With Cust dropped now its even more alarm bells... statistically he is a try a game. Every out the back play is staggered with Elliott... who catches the ball, looks up, hesitates, and just runs... no flow in attack. Out the back set plays are a huge part of our attack too...

To think we will beat more top sides with an attack that is solely off DCE as a sustainable winning formula, for me, is just basis for naivety. I hope I’m wrong.
 
He's just got to catch the bombs, dive in the way of Kikau or anyone else that makes a break to slow them down, throw the odd pass and cover the grubbers. He's been pretty reliable at that. We will get our strike power from elsewhere.
 
Chrichton vs Suli could be the matchup that decides this one. I'm really looking forward to watching two of the best young centres in the game come up against each other.

DCE vs Cleary. Sirro vs Kikau. Jake vs JFH.

It's going to be a cracker.

They have a few defensive targets we should be testing: Luai, Naden, Stains. I also think their middle is weaker than people think. Other than JFH we have a better forward pack. If the boys run hard and play in behind the ruck looking for quick play the balls we should win this. If they catch the ball flat footed behind the advantage line with the markers in front of them and then trundle forward looking for soft offloads or post contact meters than we will struggle. Also need to put a lot of pressure on Cleary - we have been giving poor kickers too much time, he will make us pay if he gets some.
 
Need to start well and to avoid the difficulty of then chasing too many points . Some pretty key match ups with D C E and Cleary kicking games and field position of particular importance . Did not see much of the game but apparently the Panthers were not that convincing against the Cowboys recently and Manly had just enough control against them last week, so on current form probably not a lot separating them . Bit of a wild card with Walker returning but he generally plays well against the Panthers If Manly "s forwards stand up , the team manages the usual solid defensive effort , a decent amount of possession and completion sets , should be enough at stake for them to come away with the win .
 
Disappointed in hearing the news re Cust being dropped.

Very disappointed.

Him and DCE were finally gelling well. DCE had given some control over too, something I fear he will not do with an underdone Walker.

Time will tell, and I guess all you can do is trust in Des.
Let's hope they prove us wrong.

I'm furious that Cust was dropped. He was Man Of The Match last week!

If Walker has a shocker though, move him to #14 and drop Croker. Bring Back Cust.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
2 2 0 36 4
2 2 0 26 4
2 2 0 23 4
2 2 0 19 4
2 2 0 12 4
2 1 1 13 2
2 1 1 10 2
2 1 1 3 2
2 1 1 0 2
2 1 1 0 2
2 1 1 -14 2
1 0 1 -20 2
1 0 1 -24 2
2 0 2 -8 0
2 0 2 -17 0
2 0 2 -22 0
2 0 2 -37 0
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