Round 25 - When Des Hasler became Trent Barrett

[Snake]

68 points in last 2 games. Des better find the defense blueprints and quick or it's bye bye. Seriously he needs to be tearing strips off the senior players. It's obvious our on field leader was Joel because Dce is found wanting when the chips are down.

You don't see the correlation between the leaking of points and injuries forcing guys out of position and the mental fatigue of a long season where you overachieve by giving 110% every week until you run out of puff?

 

[torana355]

We lose a few games and everyone loses their minds and wants to change a team that has proved they can match it with the best this year. Relax people, losing Turbo was always going to have a huge impact at this end of the season against any top 8 team. Hopefully we can still put an end to someone's season next week.

 

[Kevinward777]

We lose a few games and everyone loses their minds and wants to change a team that has proved they can match it with the best this year. Relax people, losing Turbo was always going to have a huge impact at this end of the season against any top 8 team. Hopefully we can still put an end to someone's season next week.

It’s hilarious.

 

[joeboy]

It’s not that we are losing that’s upsets me, it’s how we are losing. Dropped balls/falling off tackles/woeful kicking/alllowing offloads are the kind of things we should be getting right at this stage of the season.

Losing from being out played is one thing, losing because you are not even competing and fundamentals have gone out the window is a completely different matter.

 

[Shoe1]

Dessie had an absolute Clanger with his approach to the game tonight.

To put Elliot on the wing and Reuben at fullback was a terrible decision, and the first reason why they lost. Why would you put these guys out of position in the final game before the finals?.- laughable, and they were clearly found out by three very simple tries to The Fijian beast on the wing.

The second decision, which was just as bad was to move away from the middle corrider and play this bull**** structure around Walker all night. Every play was two passes backward (losing over 10 metres) before anyone ran forward. How many times today did we finish on the 40 metre line on tackle 5!. Even Fainu was lost half the time because when he ran out of dummy half there was no one around him. They were all 10-15 metres back in formation. What is that rubbish?. I was screaming at the TV all game. What happened to some good tough hit ups and support around the middle corridor?. It seemed to work great all year, but now all of the sudden Walker is receiving the ball flat footed trying to dodge around players in front of him. This guy has no standing start skills he is most effective when players are pushing up and the line is moving forward.

Dessie had a real stinker in planning strategy for tonight’s game, and they got well and truly burned because of it.

NYEagle

I didn’t mind the idea of Garrick at 1, but Elliott should have been at centre with suli on the wing. Elliott has had strong games filling in at centre.

 

[niccipops]

I can't really comment on last night's match due to watching only snippets through wine vision at a social event.
Therefore I can't have an opinion on DCE's input last night.
What I do have an opinion on is how quick some are to attack the bloke after a couple of losses. It's not Cherry's fault that Manly stuffed up his contract negotiations in '15 or that Manly have been mistake ridden in the past two matches. He kicked that 40/20 last week and then the ball was dropped first carry.
IMO DCE's had an awesome year in '19. His work rate is huge in every match. For the past few weeks he's been without top support players, Turbo, Thompson, Siro for a couple. He's also played injured for most of the year.
I stand by captain Cherry and wouldn't swap him for anyone.

 

[davohan123]

I can understand people being upset by a loss but for mine, these types of threads (along with the sack this player and that player type threads) are really emotion getting in the way of reality.

There are so many variables that account for the last couple of weeks of our season.

First, there are the injuries and our lack of depth. We are playing under the salary cap and we are still picking up the pieces from our Northern Eagles 2.0 days. Thompson, Turbo, Boyle, JetSki, and Sipley would all be picked for last nights game if fit. Yes, every team suffers their share of injuries, but most do not suffer them in a clump at this time of year; it would destroy any teams chances.

Secondly, the psychology around losing a player like Turbo is massive for an inexperienced side like ours. We need him more than say the Roosters need Tedesco. The Chooks have Keary, Cronk, Mitchell, Manu, Morris, Tupou (all rep footballers) to combat the loss of a guy like Teddy. We have no other elite players in our backline to lean on outside of DCE; and that brings me to my next point.

Thirdly, our Captain and most creative component of our attack is tired and busted. A massive SOO series and an obvious ankle complaint are hampering his effectiveness.

My fourth point, as I already touched on, is the inexperience. A top 4 birth and a final series is uncharted waters for Tommy, Jake, Siro, Taupau (1 finals game each), Garrick, Parker, Suli, AFB, Fainu, Boyle, Paseka, (0 finals experience). I'm sure there is more to add to the list but you get the idea.

Hasler has overachieved this season and the biggest disappointment in my opinion, is with Tommy, we might have been able to jag a finals win or two to set us up for next year. As it stands, we are long odds to shake this finals series, which means we miss out on valuable finals experience for the years ahead.

One thing I will say though is this; Des is a lot like Wayne Bennett in that when you least expect something to happen, it usually does. I wouldn't be surprised to see us win next week against all odds.

Win against the odds you say
We are no chance , lucky if we get within 20 of the Broncos next week
Going to be tough viewing
But the rest of your post I agree with
Think we are still another 2-3 years away from being a serious contender
The one person more than most I feel for is Jake , he has given everything this year and for us just to limp out of the finals series like 2017 is a real shame he deserves better.

 

[globaleagle]

It’s not that we are losing that’s upsets me, it’s how we are losing. Dropped balls/falling off tackles/woeful kicking/alllowing offloads are the kind of things we should be getting right at this stage of the season.

Losing from being out played is one thing, losing because you are not even competing and fundamentals have gone out the window is a completely different matter.

Yup, I'm not sure how much experience one needs not to drop a ball with the try line wide open, or to know how to play the ball properly, or to realise not to deliver a soft kick into the hands of the opposition standing still in front of you.

 

[NYEagle]

I wasn't too happy with a couple of decisions either, like, after Elliot got swatted by sivo I would have swapped him with Garrick.
And I was spewing Api finished the game instead of Manaise but that was because of injury apparently.
Nonetheless
To compare Dessie with that clown is comparing Phar Lap to Radish.
Please...

Your last point is correct Harvie, but that’s why I put Round 25 at the front - he has only been Trent Barrett this week. Just a horrible game plan. I was really surprised last night.
NYEagle

 

[NYEagle]

To be fair on Des, his hand was forced last night due to the injuries in the team and it was a bit of a dead rubber game so I think he was trying out a few new things to see how it would pan out.

I agree that Elliot needed to be fullback and leave Garrick on the wing. I think we need a specialist half and Cust should come back into the team and put Dylan back at centre. We lacked creativity in a big way and I would like to see Fainu get more game time.

I think you will find that depending on injuries it will be more of a normal Manly team that runs out in the first final.

There are a few things that Des is rightly concerned about. It is true that performances have dropped off since that win in Melbourne. Our completion rates and general discipline have been well below par. The team needs to get back to being adaptable in games and when required get into the arm wrestle, for 20 minutes in each half the team did that last night. We need to do it longer!

To compare him to Barrett is pretty laughable when TB had our halves kicking for touch when we were chasing points in games. The performance last night was a bad one as was last weeks. Losing 6 players to injuries in the last fortnight has really derailed us. Lets hope that we get a few back this week and I predict a much better performance next week!

He was TB this week based on his game plan.
But, perhaps he wasn’t trying to win at all costs and was testing some variety.
If we are going to be postive, consider that with 11 minutes to go Manly were just 6 points down with the ball a metre out - before dumb head destroyed all that - not bad in that context and it won’t take too much to get the team back on the wagon.
The concern is if we now have even more injuries.
NYEagle

 

[SeaEagle21]

Possibly went in with a plan b last night so the team we play has to second guess what we will bring next week. Speculation of course but we have suffered some big injuries the last few weeks and players have been playing out of position which hasn't helped.

Walker at 6 was good for a few weeks earlier but almost has ended up backwards as teams have figured us out.

Marty will be a huge loss, especially if we are up against the Broncs. Wish we had the Toff as cover.

We are in the Finals and didn't scrape in either, just unfortunate we don't have our strongest team available.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Let’s hope we get the real Des this weekend, not the round 25 one!!

 

[eaglebuzz]

I have been saying for weeks that we wouldn't have the depth to compete against the top sides if injuries struck.

The simple truth is: our top 17 could win the premiership, our top 25 can't. We still have some dead wood to cut loose to round out a stronger squad.

 

[SeaEagle007]

Seriously we have some glory hunting supporters... End of the day We look fatigued, we are down on troops , we have limited cap space this year , and our best attacking weapon is unavailable.. The game was a dead rubber anyway.. Just be thankful we arnt running second last. and we made the 8 against all odds. If we had a full team fit ready to go , then no excuses but we dont . this is 2006 all over again, and 2006 was the beginning of a mighty Dynasty.... If we bow out next week which is more than likely i'll still be proud of what this team achieved.. Next year we will give it a mighty shake and the competition knows it. Manly are Back!!!!

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Seriously we have some glory hunting supporters... End of the day We look fatigued, we are down on troops , we have limited cap space this year , and our best attacking weapon is unavailable.. The game was a dead rubber anyway.. Just be thankful we arnt running second last. and we made the 8 against all odds. If we had a full team fit ready to go , then no excuses but we dont . this is 2006 all over again, and 2006 was the beginning of a mighty Dynasty.... If we bow out next week which is more than likely i'll still be proud of what this team achieved.. Next year we will give it a mighty shake and the competition knows it. Manly are Back!!!!

Been a fabulous year , just a pity it’s turned to **** at the end.

But that’s football I guess.

 

[Bring back the.... Biff?]

Des made some really odd calls last night regarding player positions, AFB on the left edge, Elliot on the wing, etc.

Also having much of the attack revolve around Walker was another odd plan.

I would like to think Des was trying some different things in a game that "doesn't matter ", I can't put it down to anything else.

No he knows elliot is terrible in attack at fb so he tried Garrick because of his size and speed.. he really really stuffed up. Des knows Elliot at fb wont win us many games in the finals. See his stats he scored 1 try and assisted in 1. How many times did he ignore support players costing us a try. I have a feeling garrick will be there next week meaning we will get pumped again. Too many injuries, we had a good year it was fun.. manly are back we are a top 4 side easy! And we proved it this year. Gonna go for the raiders after we lose... **** storm souths and roosters...

 

[HappilyManly]

Let’s hope we get the real Des this weekend, not the round 25 one!!

The Round 25 Des could be the master strategist

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

The Round 25 Des could be the master strategist

He’ll need to be!!

 

[ManlyTragic]

Yep barrett 2.0
Fainu needs to start, api to play 15 mins.
Walker to centre, cust to 5/8 or even croker. Suli to bench or left out.
Swap elliott and Garrick back to normal.
And dont put AFB on the edge, if we had enough props than maybe but we don't!

Gees man. Comparing Des to Barrett is a bit mean! Just sayin!

 

[robbiea]

We fans are spectator's not coaches,lest not forget.