Pre-Match Manly v Warriors Round 25

[TokyoEagle]

I'm OK with leaving Kelly at centre this week and giving him a chance to redeem himself, or more realistically, improve on his last performance. I would hate to see him dropped after last week as the long term damage of that could be far greater. Hopefully, the boys get behind him and he backs himself to make a much improved showing. Realistically, we just don't have an appropriate replacement for him anyway, and shuffling too many players around out of position is more likely to see us struggle even more.

Have to agree with HK_Eagle on this one. Dropping Kelly at this stage would probably shatter the kids confidence so much that he may well never return. Come what may, I am happy to see Baz stick by him and see if he can dig himself out of this.
When everything else is a gamble anyway, the best thing for Baz to do is to run with what he knows and try to shore up the defences. Our kickers need to play smart and kick for field position. In our own 20 our inside men need to get up in the warriors faces and cut down their space and thinking time. As a team they can work together to do this. I suppose we will see how much they are willing to fight for each other and a spot in the eight.

 

[Budgie]

How stupid is Rugby League?
John Cartwright (and the two other assistants) has make a presentation to the NSWRL today in their review of the failure of the Blues Origin team.
Today.
Two days before our attempt to save our season in another country!

 

[Spartan Eagle]

Have to agree with HK_Eagle on this one. Dropping Kelly at this stage would probably shatter the kids confidence so much that he may well never return. Come what may, I am happy to see Baz stick by him and see if he can dig himself out of this.
When everything else is a gamble anyway, the best thing for Baz to do is to run with what he knows and try to shore up the defences. Our kickers need to play smart and kick for field position. In our own 20 our inside men need to get up in the warriors faces and cut down their space and thinking time. As a team they can work together to do this. I suppose we will see how much they are willing to fight for each other and a spot in the eight.

Look early on the season when others were calling for Kelly's head to be dropped I was of the same view as you. He is young, needs time, gain experience etc. I was his biggest supporter. Kelly has demonstrated consistently that he is inept in defence, whether it his inability to tackle, secure the ball effectively or hold his line. Baz obviously shared the same view as you and others in trying to persist with Kelly to see if he can dig himself out of this, to the point where he was dropped for Parker. Now since his return, not through form or redemption, Kelly finds himself back in the team worse than he was before. I really don't buy into this argument that if we drop Kelly his confidence will be broken and he may never return. What is more important? The confidence and feelings of young Kelly or what is best for our team. This is first grade. Our season is on the line and TB needs to make changes if things aren't working and not hope that a player who is way out of his depth to change. If coaching was based on hope then we should all have a crack at the gig.

 

[Fluffy]

@BOZO

If you keep posting at this rate you'll overtake me by October!!

get some posts up then newb

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I'm probably the only one here who is content to go with Barrett's call on this. Kelly had a one-on-one miss on Lee last week but in first grade it is not uncommon for a centre to be able to beat a tackle, and Lee was doing that quite regularly earlier this year.

Most of our defensive problems are team problems, there is no-one in our side who is unable to tackle.

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

I'm probably the only one here who is content to go with Barrett's call on this. Kelly had a one-on-one miss on Lee last week but in first grade it is not uncommon for a centre to be able to beat a tackle, and Lee was doing that quite regularly earlier this year.

Most of our defensive problems are team problems, there is no-one in our side who is unable to tackle.

I'm with you, SER8. First, with Parker out, we don't really have another option. Second, as you say, the problem with our defence right now isn't limited to one guy. As a team, we lack intent. We give up easy yards and are always back-pedalling. That's across the park, left and right side. The left side has been particularly vulnerable, but it's down to Green, Winterstein and Wright as much as it is to Kelly. They need to work together and they just don't. Poor reads, poor misses, no help. So yeah, it's easy to single out Kelly and his one-on-one tackling does need to improve, but it's not down to him and him alone.

 

[NYEagle]

How stupid is Rugby League?
John Cartwright (and the two other assistants) has make a presentation to the NSWRL today in their review of the failure of the Blues Origin team.
Today.
Two days before our attempt to save our season in another country!

Wow
NYEagle

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Realistically we were never going to win the GF this year, making the 8 is a successful year, if players like young Kelly, lane, hastings, AFB all learn both skills and attitude while we make the top 8 than that is realistically a very successful year.
We are all blaming Kelly for the loses but some footy brains see the cause ( inside players) of his failings, which he should learn from over the next six months and come out a better player and even coordinate the edges better.

I by no means believe we'll win the comp although the season isn't over yet, if anything this side has shown that when on a roll we can beat anyone. Never give up, never write off manly

 

[TokyoEagle]

Look early on the season when others were calling for Kelly's head to be dropped I was of the same view as you. He is young, needs time, gain experience etc. I was his biggest supporter. Kelly has demonstrated consistently that he is inept in defence, whether it his inability to tackle, secure the ball effectively or hold his line. Baz obviously shared the same view as you and others in trying to persist with Kelly to see if he can dig himself out of this, to the point where he was dropped for Parker. Now since his return, not through form or redemption, Kelly finds himself back in the team worse than he was before. I really don't buy into this argument that if we drop Kelly his confidence will be broken and he may never return. What is more important? The confidence and feelings of young Kelly or what is best for our team. This is first grade. Our season is on the line and TB needs to make changes if things aren't working and not hope that a player who is way out of his depth to change. If coaching was based on hope then we should all have a crack at the gig.

If we had other options we probably wouldn't have seen Kelly last week. At this stage I can't see anyone that we can be sure will do a better job than what Brian is bringing to the team. I have heard to people call for Lane or Brown to play there for their defense. Is this a preferred option for some? I have heard for people calling for Tom T to play in the centres with Hastings or Wright at 1. Shuffling the backline and playing people out of position at this time of year seems like it could create more problems than what we already have now.
As I said before, this is a team game and they need to play better as a team to overcome what is essentially a team problem.

 

[BOZO]

Have to agree with HK_Eagle on this one. Dropping Kelly at this stage would probably shatter the kids confidence so much that he may well never return. Come what may, I am happy to see Baz stick by him and see if he can dig himself out of this.
When everything else is a gamble anyway, the best thing for Baz to do is to run with what he knows and try to shore up the defences. Our kickers need to play smart and kick for field position. In our own 20 our inside men need to get up in the warriors faces and cut down their space and thinking time. As a team they can work together to do this. I suppose we will see how much they are willing to fight for each other and a spot in the eight.

Some of you feathered friends never seize to amaze me .........
What good has it done to Kellys confidence when he has been constantly selected in the NRL team whilst the opposition players constantly exposed him match after match . Don't you think that is even more damaging to his confidence?
Ill tell you what his constant selection has done to his confidence . It has gone from a promising young player to an Oppositions target . It is cruel to watch . Is there a RSPCA duty of care act in the NRL.???
Week in week out Kelly looks like a fragile pussycat that is being thrown into the NRL lions den . I honestly believe this is cruel . Trent for Gods sake ........
Let the kid play in the lower grades with other kids where he belongs before he eventually gets eaten alive by the fast strong players in the NRL and his confidence will forever be damaged .

 

[Spartan Eagle]

If we had other options we probably wouldn't have seen Kelly last week. At this stage I can't see anyone that we can be sure will do a better job than what Brian is bringing to the team. I have heard to people call for Lane or Brown to play there for their defense. Is this a preferred option for some? I have heard for people calling for Tom T to play in the centres with Hastings or Wright at 1. Shuffling the backline and playing people out of position at this time of year seems like it could create more problems than what we already have now.
As I said before, this is a team game and they need to play better as a team to overcome what is essentially a team problem.

I agree that it's a team game and everyone needs to lift in their attitude, aggression and discipline in defence. I'm not blaming Kelly for the 170+ points leaked in our past several matches. But Kelly shouldn't be part of the team. He's shattered and he knows, and his team mates know that he is out of his depth. It's actually demoralising for him and everyone around him. So to hope and do nothing in the fear that it may create more problems shows lack of intuition and breeds more fear. How much worse can they get?

 

[Woodsie]

On the Kelly saga .... both sides have a valid argument ... who's right?

I would suggest the best people to decide would be the coaching staff that have spent every week for the past year with him....

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

get some posts up then newb

Lol

 

[Supreme Leader]

Must have been some presentation. Enough to get Laurie the flick.

maybe the quality of the presentation equalled the input he has to our team as an assistant coach

 

[Supreme Leader]

Must have been some presentation. Enough to get Laurie the flick.

maybe the presentation was as good as the value he provides Manly as an assistant coach?

 

[The Royal Soup]

Warriors 13 plus

 

[davohan123]

This is now our round 26
We have to win or season gone
Very nervous about Sunday

 

[The Royal Soup]

This is now our round 26
We have to win or season gone
Very nervous about Sunday

We are gone already

The ship has sailed

 

[davohan123]

We are gone already

The ship has sailed

I agree with you we look gone a few weeks ago but you never know. I will not give up on the boys yet.

 

[HappilyManly]

2:30pm broadcast of Blackton SE Match

http://steelesports.com.au/