Same old Same old

[Forster eagle]

Thanks for your view mate and this is how I see it and why ...

It has only been 2 games together as a team and in the fist game our young hooker was not available through suspension and Des did make changes and bring him in the second game . Api also had his first game after months out of action from surgery and he will get better with more playing time .

It has only been 2 games and a coach has to give a player a little time to try and instill confidence in them . You do not instill confidence and team morale by panicking and making anxious changes. I am sure Des is on to this and we will see more changes in good time.

To put things in perspective I think our team will keep improving as we proved it on our last 40 minutes of play in only our second match of the season out scoring the Roosters by 3 tries to one . That was not going back wards it is a sign of moving forward

Yeah same......I’m a little more positive as well.
The conditions over the last 2 weeks have been appalling, however it has showed up that our kicking game both defensively and attackingly is poor and way behind good kicking games like Benji/Farrar or Kearey.
But I’m loving our defence.....last week we only missed 10 tackles and defended repeated sets of six 3 times. 4/ 5 tries came from kicks which we haven’t defended well
For a long time and have to be better. Against tigers our defence was really solid albeit a poor miss from Cherry ( but he is a good defender) but defended back to back sets 4 times. We are no longer catching and holding, the Barrett way, but are starting to hit. Good teams start with good defence. Hopefully the attack will come with settled combinations and good ball control.
After Saturdays game I was thinking this could be the start of a 3-4 year continued improvement......on the back of defence. Reminds me of the beginning of our last reign that ended with a 10 year dominance.

 

[Stevo]

I can see Api being shown the door this year if his form doesn't improve dramatically. We've only really scored points when Fainu has been running the show.

Des doesn't have a very good recent track record when it comes to Hookers though. #Lichaa

 

[Stevo]

Almost 30 in the rain is a cricket score, simple as that. Tupou had a field day, and carved us like a Christmas dinner for the second year straight.

Let me make this VERY clear. I'm not changing my tune. They did exactly what I expected. I thought the rain would be a leveller, but it wasn't.

30 odd points ripped through you in that weather, is like 50+ on a dry track. You hear the commentators say that after 10 points against us, and the rain coming down, "in this weather, that's a LOT of points to pull back". They are the pros, and they are right.

We were beaten by 8 points, Ryan.

 

[Ryan]

I was despondent when I saw that Taufua (and I love Jorgie-boy) was playing on Tupou - although I've been despondent about our club's position for a while generally I guess.... for Jorge's many positives, reach and jump are not his main attributes and he was on a hiding-to-nothing against DT....

I can't remember the last time I felt so uninspired by a Manly team as I have in these first 2 games and I think it's just because our backline is so disjointed and unproven... even last year when we were playing for the spoon, I always felt like the likes of DCE, Walker, Turbo and Kelly could put tries on and show what our team was TRUELY capable of but I am just not feeling it right now.... Garrick looks promising but I am not convinced that LG, Parker or Elliott are true first-graders and if Suli is I reckon it is as a winger not a centre....

... I will be the happiest person in the world to be proved wrong over the next 24 weeks ...

thanks for listening, I needed to unload as I don't tend to talk football much lately...

Exactly how I feel mate.

 

[Ryan]

Actually it is not mate, see Nrl stats on team missed tackles;
https://www.nrl.com/stats/teams/?competition=111&season=2019&stat=4

Points against mate is more the measuring stick. You can miss 1,000 tackles of you keep them to 0 points.

I get everyone is trying to find positives though.

 

[manlyfan76]

I can see Api being shown the door this year if his form doesn't improve dramatically. We've only really scored points when Fainu has been running the show.

Des doesn't have a very good recent track record when it comes to Hookers though. #Lichaa

Api is coming back from injury, he may yet improve a bit on the first two games.

 

[frank stokes]

Api is coming back from injury, he may yet improve a bit on the first two games.

This time last year he was being touted as first-in-line for NSW hooker... Fainu does look good but he's coming on once the sting has gone out of the hits and legs are getting tired whilst Api has been there from the get-go and on the back foot scrambling in defense the whole time... I still rate Api as our No.1 hooker (for now at least)...

 

[Fluffy]

After only 2 matches we are evaluating Des for the whole season . That amuses me and what does not surprise me is that you only have 3 people that agree with you here .

but you have only 2 people who agree with you, so by your logic I am correct

 

[wombatgc]

I can see Api being shown the door this year if his form doesn't improve dramatically. We've only really scored points when Fainu has been running the show.

Des doesn't have a very good recent track record when it comes to Hookers though. #Lichaa

He did alright with Ballin and Le’Strange(he was very underrated imo.). Let the dominant tackler start the game (Api), take the sting out a bit, then send on your creative half in Fainu to do his part. I can see Des having Api in there chopping down the Warriors forwards, and limiting Issac Luke’s scoots from dummy half. Then we bring Fainu on depending of the tempo of the game. My hope is they get 20 mins (give or take) in each half to do just that.

 

[Fluffy]

We have lost Walker Lane and Kelly from Barrett’s list and Tom has t played a game. All of the above three would be walk up starters in this side. Also it was Barrett who put this ridiculously unbalanced list together and Des is having to deal with it.
Last year we had no kickers in general play other than DCE and one hooker! How could anyone put that together. It’s a joke.This year we have one ageing winger in our top 30 as some of Barrett’s deadwood had to go from the shambles that was last year.With no ability to recruit we’ve now ended up with an overload of halves as we are so thin elsewhere.

Des has had to inherit this amateurs roster and he’s going to have to spend a long time unravelling it. The bloke was an embarrassment.

I’m a bit surprised at a couple of his selections from a very bare cupboard but Des is a bloke who has the skills , tenacity and love for Manly to turn this around.Orher than maybe playing Fainu more and dropping Parker for Elliott as I suggested he has basically got no other options.None. Id have liked to see him try those options but that’s just me.This weeks side is basically the best Barrett has left us.It should be good enough to get the job done.

Barrett hasn't made a call on the team since last July. Every coming/going since then was made by the owners or De$. Barrett also had nothing to do with the TPA penalty. Barrett Didn't sign the Wright brothers, Myles etc, Stewart and Matai's retirement million plus year sitting on the sideling but had to deal with it hence the roster he was left with which included backending guys like Sirro so we could field a team.

Barrett is hardly a high bar but he had plenty to overcome with less support and staff than De$.

If De$ cannot beat Barretts 6th then questions should be asked and right now he is not.

 

[Fluffy]

Very irrational post and you have 2 likes out of all our 10, 000 members to support your logic of comparing our 2 game team under Des with the 3 year rookie quitter and failure .

You posted the same points twice and have no likes on this one.....

 

[Fluffy]

He did alright with Ballin and Le’Strange(he was very underrated imo.). Let the dominant tackler start the game (Api), take the sting out a bit, then send on your creative half in Fainu to do his part. I can see Des having Api in there chopping down the Warriors forwards, and limiting Issac Luke’s scoots from dummy half. Then we bring Fainu on depending of the tempo of the game. My hope is they get 20 mins (give or take) in each half to do just that.

The difference is that Ballins service was tremendous and his strongest skill, whereas the is Api's weakest.

 

[Moops]

We were beaten by 8 points, Ryan.

1) 26-0 after 50 minutes
2) Raining
3) Roosters down to no one on the bench/Cordner in Disneyland

Um, you don't think the Roosters may have taken their foot off the pedal just a little bit?

I think the tries Manly scored are commonly referred to as consolation tries. Manly were NEVER in that game...

 

[bennyeagle]

Fair enough.

I think the Dogs are in a completely different position to us. They essentially have their top squad out there and are getting flogged.

We've got the players I mentioned above out so Des can't be too reactionary to the first 2 games because we aren't full strength.

What's the point in running an u20s tried player in first grade for 1 game if Turbos due back? Or that you are currently in the market for Walker replacement....?

You've just mucked around with combinations and potentially crushed young kids confidence purely to be reactionary to a team that isn't your top squad anyway.

Look at Dessies change in the forwards this week. He's rewarded Waddell with a bench spot knocking out Tanginoa. That's huge. Welcome back Paseka and we have a monster/aggressive forward pack.

I just think Des is thinking long term, not week by week like Dean Pay. Des sees benefit in running out guys with some games under their belts in Parker and Tafua as apposed to 2 young kids in Funa and Anderson.

The club has already said their seeking compensation for the Walker situation so they know Parker and Jorge aren't long term.

There would be a lot happening in the background we aren't privy to so after only 2 games, I'm happy to trust Des and the coaching team in their decisions. I understand though that you have a completely different view.

Understand your views also mate, I just think we will be waiting a while for results, the hangover from Barrett will take some time unfortunately.

 

[Fluffy]

Serious question, with Walker, Turbo, Hoppa injuries and $300k tied up in cap penalties, can I ask who you would have trotted out?

Guessing maybe Funa? Perhaps Des doesn't think he's ready...? Who knows.

Surely Anderson - Barrett was a fool last year for not using him

 

[Fluffy]

1) 26-0 after 50 minutes
2) Raining
3) Roosters down to no one on the bench/Cordner in Disneyland

Um, you don't think the Roosters may have taken their foot off the pedal just a little bit?

I think the tries Manly scored are commonly referred to as consolation tries. Manly were NEVER in that game...

Roosters also missing half their starting spine for the match and 3/4 during our mighty comeback so were far from full strength.

 

[ManEagle]

So we get towelled up in our first two games and don’t score a single try in the first half of either game - with the obvious issues being a lack of organisation and speed in the ruck leading to a terrible kicking game and no go forward and a backline that only plays to the right side due to Cherry being there and poor left hand side options.

So to address our issues in attack we keep the same left hand side - a bloke whose handling is putting us behind the eightball every game and another who since the start of last year has played 19 games, scored three tries, made three line breaks,had zero try assists and run for a staggering 70 metres metres per game despite playing almost all his games on the wing.How can a modern day winger run for 70 metres! To have figure like these and be considered for an NRL position is staggering. Goat photos ???

To keep both these guys in the side we dispatch a bloke who has a very good try scoring record and filled in pretty well at fullback.Parker needed to go. Jorge is our only genuine winger and at least has some runs on the board.Im assuming Funa is still injured.

We then also keep a bloke at starting hooker who has played the majority of time on the field and in that time we have scored one eightieth minute try and looked a disorganised rabble, as we have for three years.To cater for that selection we have a bloke warming the bench who lit up Brookie last week for the first time in living memory, had the forwards rolling and DCE on fire.

I hope we can jag a win against a poor Warriors side last week to get our season rolling but to say I’m confused is an understatement. Lose this game and inevitably the Bunnies the week after and any remote top eight chance is gone. Thought there might have been a bit more urgency with selections.If we don’t start well like the sad starts of the last two weeks the crowd and emotion will give them a huge lift. We know it doesn’t work - surely something different needs to be tried.

Personally I thought Elliot deserved to retain a position in the starting 13 ahead of Jorge/ Parker and is probably my only surprise, I don't mind the status quo with Api and Fainu for now with little adjustments to actual playing time, I can see the benefits of starting Api taking the sting out for Fainu to come on, getting the best out of Fainu's abilities. With Fonua back and hopefully Turbo (though named I wouldn't be surprised if he doesnt play). If they play as named, those few changes can alter the dynamics in a huge way.
I think Des has used a little perspective when selecting his side, disappointing for Elliot not getting ahead of Parker / Jorge but happy to see how the addition of Turbo and Fonua effect the team's performance without getting emotional after just 2 rounds.

 

[Moops]

You posted the same points twice and have no likes on this one.....

He has said the same things in about four different posts. He also likes repeating the word 'pessimist'.

 

[Sue]

He did alright with Ballin and Le’Strange(he was very underrated imo.). Let the dominant tackler start the game (Api), take the sting out a bit, then send on your creative half in Fainu to do his part. I can see Des having Api in there chopping down the Warriors forwards, and limiting Issac Luke’s scoots from dummy half. Then we bring Fainu on depending of the tempo of the game. My hope is they get 20 mins (give or take) in each half to do just that.

Valid point in isolation but my issue is that it’s NOT working anyway. Tigers and Roosters rolled all over us early. In that game we hardly had a tackle in their quarter because we had no go forward or kicks off the back of momentum.Ballin had a wonderful passing game, that why it worked then.

Bringing Fainu on when we are getting flogged doesn’t help.The mindset worries me too. Let’s try to hold them and get points later. Bugger that . Let’s go at them and score points. We are just so slow and clunky and it starts at 9.

Actually one thing I’m glad about is that Roach, their second hooker is not playing. He is far better than Luke now and really works over second rotation forwards, which has been a problem for us when Marty and AFB go off.

 

[Deleted member 26876]

I read your title and went straight to type this so may be completely irrelevant, but if this is what I think it is about then..

I disagree. In 2018 we saw defeat. In 2019 we’ve seen defeat AND effort/desperation

22-0 down against the reigning premiers, injuries, wet conditions and they never gave up. Got ourselves in a position to win. Against the Tigers in the wet, defending for a huge majority of the game, never gave up, then cracked, then kept trying and secured a try at the end. That’s what we want to see. As Des said, he wants manly to constantly be a competitive outfit, and with that we will build success