The Who
Journey Man
Yes, the players you have mentioned -- and me and many others have mentioned in numerous posts -- are not up to First Grade standard. But there is no excuse for not giving 100% in defence. If everyone tackled their hearts out, like previous Manly teams have, then we'd never get thrashed as we've done in the first four matches.I don't get all these posts that say our team needs to toughen up , etc
We have at least 4 players (Garrick, Parker, Croker & Goe****ski) who are starting every week that are not good enough to be there.
Dropped balls, forward passes, missed tackles, no value add at all is what we get from these guys and this has to impact the other players.
That puts huge pressure on the other 9.
You simply cannot carry this much dead wood and be competitive.
How can you get motivated if you play in a team where it doesn't matter how hard you try you know you have 4+ weak links who for sure are going to f*** up anyway.
I will bet any money as soon as these guys are gone, the whole team performance improves and you will see the "toughen up" come back.
The way this current team plays is that if the opposition holds the ball for six tackles they will score. It's just like watching the old Under 20s where defence was something at the front of a house.