Reflecting on 2018 and Moving Forward

[Holmsey]

In an ideal world we would pick up some new wingers, a good experienced backrower and another big prop. We already have a five-eight in Elgey who is worth persevering with. I think with a good coach, clear direction, less key injuries and a clean off field season we are premiership contenders. People might laugh at this and fair enough it doesn't look like a premiership anytime soon but I believe we have seen enough from our big stars and young guns to support my statement. Our starting 17 looks like this in my opinion leading into 2019.

1 T Trbojevic
2
3 Walker
4 Kelly
5
6 Elgey
7 Cherry-Evans
8 Fonua-Blake
9 Koroisau
10 Taupau
11 Thompson
12 Sironen
13 J Trbojevic

14 Fainu
15 Tanginoa
16
17

That's a good bloody team, then in our depth we will have the likes of Hodkinson, Suli (I think he could be turned into one of our starting wingers, he is good under the high ball and has alot of skill), Gosiewski, Parker, Sipley, Taufua, T Wright, M Wright.

 

[KNUCKLES]

I'd like to see two new wingers. They need pace and height, not bulk. They need to be be able to catch and score tries. Our backline is the least effective in the comp this season. If you check the try-scoring records of our centres and wingers this season I'm sure they would be the least of any club.
DCE and Turbo are great; Kelly has deficiencies but is worth persevering with; Walker needs to commit to the team or go, he's got plenty of ability but is a big mouth and only puts in sporadically.
IMO Suli and Tafua are no longer backline players. Give them a try in the forwards. If they have the heart to tackle and graft for 80 minutes they may be able to resurrect their RL careers. I even think Parker could make a lock/second rower. If you are as old as me you'll remember that Terry Randall starting in the lower grades as a centre but wasn't fast or skilful enough.
In the forwards we need another 80-minute trier/tackler like Jake and Joel. I don;t care about their size as we already have too many big ball-carriers who are unable to sustain defence. We also have more than enough 15-minute players in Tango, Tent and Sippers. With Api, Aladdin and Kapow rounding out the pack it would be as good as any.
I like the look of Tevita Funa as a centre or winger. Tom Wright is an enigma. I can't decide if he'll make it in First Grade.

Parker is a lemon mate. Not strong enough for the second row either. Suli will come good when he loses some weight i reckon. Spot on but with your post regarding wingers.. tupou fits that bill

 

[brad]

In an ideal world we would pick up some new wingers, a good experienced backrower and another big prop. We already have a five-eight in Elgey who is worth persevering with. I think with a good coach, clear direction, less key injuries and a clean off field season we are premiership contenders. People might laugh at this and fair enough it doesn't look like a premiership anytime soon but I believe we have seen enough from our big stars and young guns to support my statement. Our starting 17 looks like this in my opinion leading into 2019.

1 T Trbojevic
2
3 Walker
4 Kelly
5
6 Elgey
7 Cherry-Evans
8 Fonua-Blake
9 Koroisau
10 Taupau
11 Thompson
12 Sironen
13 J Trbojevic

14 Fainu
15 Tanginoa
16
17

That's a good bloody team, then in our depth we will have the likes of Hodkinson, Suli (I think he could be turned into one of our starting wingers, he is good under the high ball and has alot of skill), Gosiewski, Parker, Sipley, Taufua, T Wright, M Wright.

Im not so sure that we will hang on to Jorge mate . Infact id be looking to find two new wingers, and have himself and Parker replaced. Always been a fan of Jorge but he has no real skill apart from barging it up . I get nervous when a bomb goes up , play the ball etc , and also the injuries of late . Parker i would have him in reggies at best .

 

[Sheikheagle]

Im not so sure that we will hang on to Jorge mate . Infact id be looking to find two new wingers, and have himself and Parker replaced. Always been a fan of Jorge but he has no real skill apart from barging it up . I get nervous when a bomb goes up , play the ball etc , and also the injuries of late . Parker i would have him in reggies at best .

Yes Brad Jorge has been a great warrior for us but he is done. We need a tall Polynesian that can jump, catch and run like the wind. I still cant believe brooks and Marshall didn’t bomb him Thursday night.

 

[The better Robbo]

I'd like to see two new wingers. They need pace and height, not bulk. They need to be be able to catch and score tries. Our backline is the least effective in the comp this season. If you check the try-scoring records of our centres and wingers this season I'm sure they would be the least of any club.
DCE and Turbo are great; Kelly has deficiencies but is worth persevering with; Walker needs to commit to the team or go, he's got plenty of ability but is a big mouth and only puts in sporadically.
IMO Suli and Tafua are no longer backline players. Give them a try in the forwards. If they have the heart to tackle and graft for 80 minutes they may be able to resurrect their RL careers. I even think Parker could make a lock/second rower. If you are as old as me you'll remember that Terry Randall starting in the lower grades as a centre but wasn't fast or skilful enough.
In the forwards we need another 80-minute trier/tackler like Jake and Joel. I don;t care about their size as we already have too many big ball-carriers who are unable to sustain defence. We also have more than enough 15-minute players in Tango, Tent and Sippers. With Api, Aladdin and Kapow rounding out the pack it would be as good as any.
I like the look of Tevita Funa as a centre or winger. Tom Wright is an enigma. I can't decide if he'll make it in First Grade.

Tom wright Funa and Anderson all have plenty of pace and ability. Id like to see all 3 of these get starts next yr ahead of parker and Taufua. Agreed we need speed and strike out wide. T.wright could be a gun centre or winger and I really rate Anderson. Unless we can get a star winger cheap then id rather use these young guns. Also agree we need a backrower, Ethan lowe type and Id like to swap perrett for an experienced hard nut aswell. Rest of the squad is fine

 

[The Who]

Yes, all three should be given their chance to crack a first grade spot. They should, at least, be in the top 30. Whether they will meet the standard is unknown.
But wouldn't you like proven wingers like Rapana and Cotric?

 

[bob dylan]

Kelly or Suli. I think suli would make a better winger than kelly though. I dont think we can carry both if we were to recruit in that area. For eg. Id like to see
1. Tom Trbojevic
2. Daniel Tupou
3. Dylan Walker
4. William Hopoate
5. Moses Suli

Cut Waker and buy two players. Surely he'd be on $450, get a Chris Hicks and a Shane Rodney, might even have some change.

Fair dinkum he only plays 3 good games a year and is a deadset cat. His way is not the Manly way.

 

[Holmsey]

Cut Waker and buy two players. Surely he'd be on $450, get a Chris Hicks and a Shane Rodney, might even have some change.

Fair dinkum he only plays 3 good games a year and is a deadset cat. His way is not the Manly way.

2017 he was the best centre in the world he justifies his pay check. This season he has been recovering from a number of injuries and playing out of position.

 

[Dinga7]

Dont forget what happened in relation to his sister 6-8 weeks ago that hasn't helped either...His leg is stuffed plus a broken eye socket.

Give him one more season to redeem himself to his 2017 form or see you later.

 

[redlineg]

Anyone know how many positions we need to fill in the top 30 for 2019?

Starting 17 most likely:
Turbo
Suli
Walker
Kelly
Tafua
Elgey
DCE
Taupau
Api
AFB
Siro
Thommo
Jurbo

Fainu
Tanginoa
Paseka
??

To come out of top 30 $$$....?
Uate
Winterstein
Wright X 2
Croker
Brown
Myles
Perrett
Lane

Need to get rid of Suli, Tafua and even Siro in my opinion.
Suli's defence is non existent, although can be a good runner
Tafua has forgotten about how to hang on to the footy, and has been caught out defensively too often and Siro is a good player but just injury prone. Massive risk!
Thats just my opinion

 

[mave]

I'm pretty comfortable with the squad in essence.

I want to see Anderson and T.Wright get a gig next season, and another tough, long minute playing middle foward.

Coaching will be the difference to next season, compared to this one.

Over to you Penn, get it right this time.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

The main area we struggle in is depth, 1-17 goes ok but you will always be using close to 30 over an NRL season, cutting all those players that have been mentioned above does absolutely nothing to solve our depth issue, it probably makes it worse. That's why you keep a guy like Matt Wright, not in your first choice side, but as a 3rd or 4th string over multiple positions, he is very good to have in a squad. What we really need to unearth are the moneyball type signings, going back to the 2008-11 era, guys like Hall, Rose, Bryant, Robertson, Galuvao, Rodney etc who were on the outer at other clubs so we didn't break the bank for them and got full value for money out of their performances. Currently Lane and Tanginoa fit the bill but we need another half a dozen of them. Have high hopes for what Goseivski could do given an injury free run

I also never really get the Walker hate. He makes a big difference to the side, when he came back in, we were on a big losing streak, then we strung 2 together v Brisbane and Melbourne. He was out again after that, we lost them all, he came back and we beat Penrith in his first outing, he missed a couple and we struggled again, then came back and we started winning or having close losses again, it isn't all down to him, but he was a clear factor in our improvement

Most people are using that Barrett article to pour hate on him, without looking at the bigger picture. Each year we operate on a shoestring, we fall further and further behind the other sides and it gets harder and harder to get back. If the figures are correct, and we have 9 staff compared to mid 20s at other clubs, then our staff are doing 3 times the work, and the attention to detail that other clubs are getting are overlooked.

Until we become fully professional all round at the club, we will have peaks and troughs rather than consistently being a contender

 

[The Who]

Totally agree that the club is Amateur Hour in an era of professionalism. But it won't change while the Penns are conscious of watching their dollars.
As for Walker: The Doorman has plenty of ability but doesn't look to me like he has tried over the past month or so.

 

[Budgie]

Dont forget what happened in relation to his sister 6-8 weeks ago that hasn't helped either...His leg is stuffed plus a broken eye socket

He also seems to have had a young friend die recently. His instagram is full of this.

 

[HappilyManly]

2017 he was the best centre in the world he justifies his pay check. This season he has been recovering from a number of injuries and playing out of position.

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&...Vaw2s-o1xp1_OtjYCxdV0tczr&cshid=1535242683228

THE hero who rang the triple-0 emergency line to save the lives of two NRL stars after drug overdoses has tragically died himself from an overdose. Manly Sea Eagles star Dylan Walker and Cronulla Sharks player Aaron Gray are mourning the death last week of their mate Jake O'Sullivan
----
Bad year for Walks


https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm2xNfzn4hh/

 

[Ryan]

Done this a few times, but here's my hopes for a squad and depth:

01. Tom Trbojevic
02. Jorge Taufua
03. Brian Kelly
04. Dylan Walker
05. Daniel Tupou
06. Kane Elgey
07. Daly Cherry-Evans
08. Addin Fonua-Blake
09. Apisai Koroisou
10. Marty Taupau
11. Joel Thompson
12. Curtis Sironen
13. Jake Trbojevic

14. Manase Fainu
15. Kelepi Tanginoa
16. Taniela Paseka
17. Bryce Cartwright

18. Trent Hodkinson
19. Lloyd Perrett
20. Jack Gosweiski
21. Tom Wright
22. Frank Winterstein
23. Brad Parker
24. Moses Suli
25. Matthew Wright

That team and depth could worry any club.

 

[Fluffy]

Cut Waker and buy two players. Surely he'd be on $450, get a Chris Hicks and a Shane Rodney, might even have some change.

Fair dinkum he only plays 3 good games a year and is a deadset cat. His way is not the Manly way.

I think both are retired

 

[master blaster]

Agree with most but Kelly & Suli will develop.

Kelly’s done very well for most of this year , a few errors but every player has those.

Suli has a heap of talent, he’s young , and was thrown into FG due to the injury issues , he’ll be ok with a good off season and not as much pressure on him ( the week in week out grind) if he’s kept to play occasional games.

As to the rest , can’t disagree!!

What we have to hope for is that Suli doesnt go missing over the off season. I hope they keep an eye on him and have someone with him most of the time

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

What we have to hope for is that Suli doesnt go missing over the off season. I hope they keep an eye on him and have someone with him most of the time

They only get a month off, can’t control him then but I reckon they’d be on him as soon as he returns.

 

[The Who]

I can't understand this adoration of Suli. He's scored one try in First grade for us!
He plays in a position where the prime aim is scoring tries. He doesn't set up tries either as our wingers are equally unfamiliar with the try line. He doesn't sidestep. He doesn't have the skills required for a centre. He is not fast enough to be a centre. He doesn't have a kicking game.
What does he have? Bulk. He smashed kids his age primarily because of his size and power; a carbon copy of that big guy Demetrio (sic) who played in the backline in our Under 20s two seasons ago. Where is Demetrio now?
I'm not anti-Moses, even though I'm not religious. I think he has a place in our squad. But it's not in our backline.