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If I am right, I don't think Barrett would be high on Snake's Christmas card list. Brett still felt he had more to give, but Barrett believed he was done and his last game was against the Cows in Townsville in Rd.16 of 2016. And it was a bit of a late decision to drop him because in our next game against St Merge at Brookie, Tom played fullback in the #3 jumper.

Unlike with Barrett though, Turbo and Snake never had a falling out. Brett was mentoring Tom because he knew that he would eventually have to pass the baton so to speak, and Turbo looked up to him. And while Tom did benefit in a way because it gave him his chance at fullback, truth be told he probably would have been just as happy staying on the wing or in the centres for the duration of the season with Snake at the back.

After the career he had with Manly, Snake did not deserve to go out like he did, basically being dropped by a rookie coach and being told his career was done. At the very least he deserved one last game at Brookvale in front of the fans who had supported him through thick and thin. I'm glad he came back for that lap of honour last year, but he deserved to do that lap at the end of his last game at the ground that he ruled for 14 years.

In a lot of ways, Turbo has been lucky because so far in his career he has really been under the wing of not only the two best fullbacks of their era by a LONG way, but arguably two of the greatest ever. He had Snake when he first started in first grade at Manly, and appears will have him again, while he also learned from Billy Slater when he made it into last years World Cup squad (despite what we might think about Slater and his grub tactics at times, he was a great fullback).
It was strange what happened with brett, he definitely deserved better.. fk barrett!
Tommy will goto another level with a real coach like des and now with snake helping out. His positional play will improve and i expect to see him bob up on the right side more often and less of his running out of dummy half then running sideways. Exciting times ahead
 
It was strange what happened with brett, he definitely deserved better.. fk barrett!
Tommy will goto another level with a real coach like des and now with snake helping out. His positional play will improve and i expect to see him bob up on the right side more often and less of his running out of dummy half then running sideways. Exciting times ahead

The good thing about having someone like LG in the side (with others like Hodko as a backup), is that Tom won't have to try and be an extra play maker like he often had to this year. He'll be able to concentrate on his running and support game from fullback which is his strength. We all saw how good he could be in 2017 when we had DCE and Green as halves and I believe we'll see even better from him in the future. A play maker he isn't, just let him run.
 
It was strange what happened with brett, he definitely deserved better.. fk barrett!
Tommy will goto another level with a real coach like des and now with snake helping out. His positional play will improve and i expect to see him bob up on the right side more often and less of his running out of dummy half then running sideways. Exciting times ahead
I hope that’s fraud Barrett gets Ebola and ....
 
A point I would like to make is that a lot of Hasler’s support staff would be doing it for minimum $$$
They are looking for opportunities to learn and give back to Manly. A bit of healing going on.
What back room staff did Barrett assemble? None, because he had no reputation and no Manly pedigree.
He was on a hiding to nothing, and our team played accordingly.
Good times ahead
It’s true, and Barrett didn’t really have any good manly people he could bring in. His list of contacts would have been a long list of forgotten saints players like nick zisti, Shaun Timmins, what’s his name, and that balding forward.
 
Manly has almost always had a dazzling backline. This clip shows why following the club was so joyful; we'd see amazing speed and co-ordination among the backs, leading to breathtaking ball movement.
Last season, with a few sporadic examples, our backline was moribund; the slowest and least exciting of all 16 clubs. DCE and Turbo were the only two with attacking flair. Watching our play last season was a real trial. I was critical of our backline, and this clip highlights why.
I'm hoping DESpicable can enliven our backline so that we see some free-flowing attack, and not just rely on a sixth tackle 'kick-and-hope'. This will mean changing the modern-day thinking that backline bulk and brawn will beat speed and skill.
 
I think the biggest compliment that was ever given to Snake and his value to Manly was that throughout his career, a big red line was put through Manly's chances if he wasn't playing.

The general thought was no Brett Stewart, forget Manly.

We could have a full strength side.....but if Snake was out injured our chances of winning were considered much less than normal.
Exactly! He was that important to the side in both attack and defence.
 
It's starting to sound like Barrett's negative effect on the team started well before season 2018 - if, as stated in this thread & the Tom Symonds thread, Barrett was offside with the likes of Snake, Matai & Symonds (& who knows who else) then he effectively killed off the Manly culture in his attempt to assert himself as head coach.

Given that we've heard so much about how Barrett was such good mates with all of our players, does that conversely mean he was the opposite of (the aforementioned) players he didn't want there?

If so I imagine he could have been seen as a divisive coach as opposed to 1 who could get all of his players to buy into his plans.
 
Ah you were too young to see Graham Eadie at his peak. Eadie was a very fast forward like full back who crashed or out sped oppositions, positionally brilliant, an excellent defender and could kick goals from anywhere. Not as scintillatingly fast as Stewart, but if Fulton hadn't come along Eadie may well have been our best ever player. He was awesome. In my best ever Manly team I have Eadie at full back, Stewart and Irvine on the wings, Lyon and Fulton centres, Lyons five eighth and Toovey half.
The forwards would be Reilly, Randall, Menzies, Bull, Krillich, O'Neill and reserves Hasler, Watmough, Kennedy, Roberts

Well I wasn't too young to see all of Wombat and Snake careers. Eadie came along after Fulton, not the other way around. If not every game, then nearly every, including Semis, matches at Penrith, (which was a long way to go in the '70s) eg 70-7, . . . matches at Pratten park, Belmore and other defunct grounds. Every game at Brookie, both careers, every GF. From every angle I saw them; when I was single, divorced, sick, well, broke and well off. I'm 60 now. I heard them accompanied by Frank Hyde, - Yes we had earphones in those days!, . . . . or Vossy/Gus. I think I have seen almost 1000 MWSE matches, one way or another. On "newsreels", on the internet. Originally the Western Stand at Brookie was free. er . . .no extra :)

There is only a split hair between them, and rate them both above Slater, Mullins, Tedesco, etc. We love them both, what wonderful things they did for our club. I am delighted to hear, if true, that Snake has come back to help Dessie.

And I can unequivocally say that Snake had a better pass (by far) and these resulted in oodles of tries that were never scored in the 70's. Wing play has improved, but the corner post rules are different now. Eadie was the more feared. Kangaroo FB for years. Would you enjoy Wombat tackling you ?, No you didn't . But by the same token you'd know you wouldn't be able to get past Snake no matter what you did when he was last line. Who will forget that Ingles example SCG. 2013?.
Snake played 233 for MWSE and won oodles of game for us with his 163 tries. Eadie scored 71. Yes, Snake was a professional, Eadie probably mostly amateur. So how can you compare eras? You cannot. Nevertheless I always found Wombat's play to be the more devastatingly predictable. I found Snake's personal struggles (Diabetes, court cases, knee reconstructions) to be the more inspiring when he then 'delivered' on the field despite them eg the 2011 GF.

Snake by a blade of turf. At Brookie. Quagmire or not.
 
It’s true, and Barrett didn’t really have any good manly people he could bring in. His list of contacts would have been a long list of forgotten saints players like nick zisti, Shaun Timmins, what’s his name, and that balding forward.
David Barnhill?
He's too busy running a pub in Wagga Wagga I think it is...
 
Loving this news! Fantastic to see the prince return! Now all we need is gifty to sign on as a forwards/ halves coach!
The ox and Tooves could run the halves.
Anyone heard any update on the ox's health of late?
Hope he's good.
 
Well I wasn't too young to see all of Wombat and Snake careers. Eadie came along after Fulton, not the other way around. If not every game, then nearly every, including Semis, matches at Penrith, (which was a long way to go in the '70s) eg 70-7, . . . matches at Pratten park, Belmore and other defunct grounds. Every game at Brookie, both careers, every GF. From every angle I saw them; when I was single, divorced, sick, well, broke and well off. I'm 60 now. I heard them accompanied by Frank Hyde, - Yes we had earphones in those days!, . . . . or Vossy/Gus. I think I have seen almost 1000 MWSE matches, one way or another. On "newsreels", on the internet. Originally the Western Stand at Brookie was free. er . . .no extra :)

There is only a split hair between them, and rate them both above Slater, Mullins, Tedesco, etc. We love them both, what wonderful things they did for our club. I am delighted to hear, if true, that Snake has come back to help Dessie.

And I can unequivocally say that Snake had a better pass (by far) and these resulted in oodles of tries that were never scored in the 70's. Wing play has improved, but the corner post rules are different now. Eadie was the more feared. Kangaroo FB for years. Would you enjoy Wombat tackling you ?, No you didn't . But by the same token you'd know you wouldn't be able to get past Snake no matter what you did when he was last line. Who will forget that Ingles example SCG. 2013?.
Snake played 233 for MWSE and won oodles of game for us with his 163 tries. Eadie scored 71. Yes, Snake was a professional, Eadie probably mostly amateur. So how can you compare eras? You cannot. Nevertheless I always found Wombat's play to be the more devastatingly predictable. I found Snake's personal struggles (Diabetes, court cases, knee reconstructions) to be the more inspiring when he then 'delivered' on the field despite them eg the 2011 GF.

Snake by a blade of turf. At Brookie. Quagmire or not.


Hang on Eaglefrommay1967. I never said Eadie came before Fulton. I said if Fulton had not come along (which is a general statement not a specific date statement), then Eadie would have been in my mind the best Manly player. I started watching Manly late 1965 and well remember Fulton's first year at 5/8 outside the then Manly star player of the day, Stanton. Eadie came to Manly and played reserves in 1971 and his first year in first grade was the year they won the premiership, five years after Fulton started at Manly in firsts. You have misinterpreted what I was saying.

As for your judgement of who was the better player, that's fine. That's your opinion. Personally if Stewart had played throughout his career without those injuries and the court matter, I may have had an alternative position. Then again I say the same about Johnny Gibbs who could have been Manly's best ever half but for injury. But Toovey gets it for his toughness and recilience. And my choice of Eadie is not in any way putting Stewart down, because I have him in my best ever side for Manly on the wing, where he would have been just as, if not more dangerous. As for the specifics of style, they had different qualities. Stewart was faster and yes he set up a lot of tries. He was also a good organiser from the back. Eadie as his record shows was more resilient, much tougher, stronger and a better defender (that's not putting Stewarts defence down. He was also good, but I saw him miss a bigger number). He was also a record breaking goal kicker

To compare the two, look at their records. Stewart played 233 games for Manly, scored 163 tries, helped win 2 premierships, played one test and 8 State of Origins. Eadie played 237 games for Manly, scored 71 tries, 847 goals and 3 field goals. At the time he held the record number of points scored of any player. He played 20 tests (kicking Langlands reputedly the best ever full back to that time, into the centre), 14 games for NSW. He assisted Manly to four premierships and was awarded in later years the Clive Churchill Award retrospectively for his '76 and '78 grandfinals. He went on to play four years with Halifax and assisted them in gaining their first Championship Cup since 1939, in 1987. They haven't won it again since. He also suffered a year long injury in 1981 and was out for almost half a season earlier in his career and Brannigan had to take his spot. He retired at 35

Both are outstanding players. If they had been wingers Brett would have been better than Irvine, Eadie better than Grothe. They are exceptional players. But I think the weight of evidence in my opinion gives Eadie the full back position. But that's just an opinion. And I also saw both players throughout their careers and I'm 68
 
Well I wasn't too young to see all of Wombat and Snake careers. Eadie came along after Fulton, not the other way around. If not every game, then nearly every, including Semis, matches at Penrith, (which was a long way to go in the '70s) eg 70-7, . . . matches at Pratten park, Belmore and other defunct grounds. Every game at Brookie, both careers, every GF. From every angle I saw them; when I was single, divorced, sick, well, broke and well off. I'm 60 now. I heard them accompanied by Frank Hyde, - Yes we had earphones in those days!, . . . . or Vossy/Gus. I think I have seen almost 1000 MWSE matches, one way or another. On "newsreels", on the internet. Originally the Western Stand at Brookie was free. er . . .no extra :)

There is only a split hair between them, and rate them both above Slater, Mullins, Tedesco, etc. We love them both, what wonderful things they did for our club. I am delighted to hear, if true, that Snake has come back to help Dessie.

And I can unequivocally say that Snake had a better pass (by far) and these resulted in oodles of tries that were never scored in the 70's. Wing play has improved, but the corner post rules are different now. Eadie was the more feared. Kangaroo FB for years. Would you enjoy Wombat tackling you ?, No you didn't . But by the same token you'd know you wouldn't be able to get past Snake no matter what you did when he was last line. Who will forget that Ingles example SCG. 2013?.
Snake played 233 for MWSE and won oodles of game for us with his 163 tries. Eadie scored 71. Yes, Snake was a professional, Eadie probably mostly amateur. So how can you compare eras? You cannot. Nevertheless I always found Wombat's play to be the more devastatingly predictable. I found Snake's personal struggles (Diabetes, court cases, knee reconstructions) to be the more inspiring when he then 'delivered' on the field despite them eg the 2011 GF.

Snake by a blade of turf. At Brookie. Quagmire or not.
I go with Eadie but you put up a great post.
I'm like you in just feeling lucky to have seen them both and wouldn't swap either of them for anyone...
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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