Soft Defence does not lie....

[maxta]

If there is a truth in Rugby League, you learn at a young age....its the oldest gauge of Attitude being on or off = Defence....
A common denominator in Manly's recent run of losses is not moving up, which generally comes back to losing the contact.
The initial hits are lacking venom and the way opposition is steamrolling through the ruck and playing footy on the front foot, its lucky the games have been as close as they have on the scoreboard.
If this does not improve dramatically, a team like Illawarra who are fairly ruthless, will put 60 points on in second gear.
Most games I watch with envy as Sims, Whare and plenty of others get out and smash the opposition and win momentum for their team and take control of the ruck area....the Golden period of Watmough, Kennedy and Matai mashing players lifted the fans, but most importantly lifted the players....that Manly team would belt teams into submission, before coasting away on the scoreboard and piling on the points.
Instead of trying to work out set plays and better attacking options, that will take care of itself on the back of earning it, through the tough stuff in defence.

 

[sheridanstand78]

No doubt our defence needs t improve fast. Too many soft tries let in and it comes off the back of our own indiscipline. We turn over too much ball, then concede stupid penalties and the end result is try!

We need to control the ruck, we are getting over run too much. We need a backrower that has defensive qualities to help Jake.

to concede over 25 points a game makes it so hard to compete, we are 6 points a game worse off that last season and with the foes that we are facing in the next 6 weeks, we need to improved that or we will be totally out of the running and wooden spoon favourites!!

 

[COMMANDER]

It's a really simple game. If the other team doesn't score you are more than likely going to win.

One thing this below average team could do with the right coaching and motivation is defend. I don't know why they have not looked at becoming a grinding, defensive team that plays for territory and makes few mistakes.

A team without much natural ability or talent can achieve that.

 

[Spartan Eagle]

Trent Barrett and the Eagles please read these posts!

 

[Ranga]

While they are not travelling so well now, the reason why the Tigers got off to a great start this year was all to do with their attitude in defence. Would love to see it from our guys.

Another poster commented in another thread, but we are hopeless at putting the opposition on their back in the tackle. While Jake is an awesome tackler, his textbook cut them in half technique does not afford him the luxery of slowing down the play the ball and is a reason why he has copped a number of penalties this year.

 

[Nice Beaver]

I agree they need to muscle up a hell of a lot more.

But I also think they are a big gun shy from getting hammered by the refs.

We were copping so many bulls*it 4th and 5th tackle penalties, I reckon they are half scared to get up too quickly.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

No, no. It's our poor kicking game that is killing us.

Or.. I know, it's handling errors and silly penalties!

Aw, I give up, take your pick.

 

[mave]

Defence wins comps.
Defence is 80% attitude and commitment.

Barrett is quite obviously not demanding/inspiring/developing this attitude and commitment to defending our line like it means something to the players.

 

[brad]

Ahhh remember the days of massive hits and back slapping. We need that back and there were signs there last week with a couple of Thompson hits .

 

[lurker]

Defence wins comps.
Defence is 80% attitude and commitment.

Barrett is quite obviously not demanding/inspiring/developing this attitude and commitment to defending our line like it means something to the players.

What’s the other 30% cause, you know, everyone gives 110%

 

[lurker]

Ahhh remember the days of massive hits and back slapping. We need that back and there were signs there last week with a couple of Thompson hits .

Loved seeing Marty get up after copping a swinging arm to the jaw, give Radley an earful and then go “give me the ball again”. Ran a million miles an hour straight back into the teeth. No fear just laughed at them haha. I wouldn’t want Marty running at me

 

[brad]

Loved seeing Marty get up after copping a swinging arm to the jaw, give Radley an earful and then go “give me the ball again”. Ran a million miles an hour straight back into the teeth. No fear just laughed at them haha. I wouldn’t want Marty running at me

Hes a googen , hope he sticks around and doesn't go back to the pies.

 

[mave]

Hes a googen , hope he sticks around and doesn't go back to the pies.

If only we had 16 more googens.
And a googen as a coach.

 

[Mitch]

Looking at our defence, the really noticeable thing for me this year is the number of tries we’re conceding out of dummy half. There have been a number of times our defence has been breached this way (Slade Griffin, Luke Brooks, Pritchard etc). They’re the most frustrating and certainly point out some defensive issues.

 

[brad]

If only we had 16 more googens.
And a googen as a coach.

Yer 16 goodens and a googen coach .

 

[nightster]

If there is a truth in Rugby League, you learn at a young age....its the oldest gauge of Attitude being on or off = Defence....
A common denominator in Manly's recent run of losses is not moving up, which generally comes back to losing the contact.
The initial hits are lacking venom and the way opposition is steamrolling through the ruck and playing footy on the front foot, its lucky the games have been as close as they have on the scoreboard.
If this does not improve dramatically, a team like Illawarra who are fairly ruthless, will put 60 points on in second gear.
Most games I watch with envy as Sims, Whare and plenty of others get out and smash the opposition and win momentum for their team and take control of the ruck area....the Golden period of Watmough, Kennedy and Matai mashing players lifted the fans, but most importantly lifted the players....that Manly team would belt teams into submission, before coasting away on the scoreboard and piling on the points.
Instead of trying to work out set plays and better attacking options, that will take care of itself on the back of earning it, through the tough stuff in defence.

Walker tries to fly in with a hit ... sometimes he doesn't miss .... but he is not Steve Matai .... Gosiewski was trying and sometimes also not missing ... Jake tackles hard and fast but he is not a big forward ... I agree our guys need to hit harder ... Lane is pretty solid in defense

 

[nightster]

Walker tries to fly in with a hit ... sometimes he doesn't miss .... but he is not Steve Matai .... Gosiewski was trying and sometimes also not missing ... Jake tackles hard and fast but he is not a big forward ... I agree our guys need to hit harder ... Lane is pretty solid in defense ... and of course Marty when he is fired up is scary ...

 

[BOZO]