So what does the opposition really think??

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Agree totally that we had a good run & playing Illawarra or Wests would have been a much tougher gig in the finals.
The fact is if you look at most premiership winners there is a gifted run with often the GF played a week earlier. A prime example would be Illawarra in 2010 who met Rooters in the GF who had burnt out & Melbourne were out by default yet they smashed Illawarra when they met in club game & I recall Manly touching Illawarra up by 20 odd points when at full strength bar Snake Stewart & still believe without injury & suspension would be on a hat trick going into 2012.
Noone can deny the earlier point made though - Cows with a disabled Thurston - Boncos without Lockyer & Warriors were def preferable to Illawarra & Cubs -No doubt. Opposition, injury & suspension all play a major part in premiership success.
 
At the end of the day the Sea Eagles were the form side in the semis and worthy premiers and i dont give a **** what the opposition really think and what excuses they come up with .
 
Mark from Brisbane said:
bones said:
To win a premiership you need your share of luck and I believe Manly had it in bucket loads this year. To play the Cowboys (with Thurston a passenger after his injury) then the Broncos (without Lockyer) and finally the Warriors (who rarely beat Manly) in the finals to win the premiership is a dream run. The two teams who i believe were the biggest threats to Manly winning the Premiership (Tigers and Dragons) were knocked out by other teams and Manly didn't have to face them. Not only did the Broncos knock the dragons out but Lockyer breaks his cheekbone in the process. Im not saying Manly wouldn't have won the Premiership anyway , but I definitely believe it would have been a LOT more difficult to win had we played a game against either the Tigers, Dragons or a full strength Broncos. Manly may well have still won it because they are definitely good enough.

That's a good point really, and if you look back very similar in 2008.

We were still good enough to beat those others BUT it was somewhat a dream run.

Not exactly the same because the Dragons were our bogey team. Although I was reasonably confident of success before hand, the touch up we gave the dragons in week 1 fulled me with the utmost confidence and I knew it was only waiting til we were to lift the trophy.

The major difference between 08 and 11 in terms of buildup was no Beaver. 08 was all about sending the great man out on a winning note. I think it played a huge part in the squads success, because it allowed them to focus on something really positive and take out some of the self doubt that was obviously present in the 07 decider.
 
Berkeley_Eagle said:
Yes I agree would have been a tougher GF against the Tigers, Broncos or Dragons but you play who is put in front of you and go from there, perhaps if we had the AFL top 8 system it may have been different but we will never know, Manly lost 6 games in 2012 and that was equal with the Storm who I think we would have beat too

Hope those arnt Rnds 1-6, lest there be more coach/board troubles.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
3 2 1 45 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 22 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
3 2 1 10 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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