Something little - That's Big !

[maxta]

Ok this comment has got me in trouble at home for years, but now let's talk footy !!
Great win to Manly again against Eels, but this (little, BIG) area we were murdered and was the biggest key imo, that kept Eels in the game....

On tackle 5 when getting out of our end of the field, we now have Tom usually - sometimes Jake or a winger trying to win a quick play ball to get on the front foot and give time for DCE - which is GOLD !
Somehow the Eels defenders still managed to harrass DCE and pressure him, especially Hodgson from marker who should have been pinged 3-4 times for leaving early.
Thing is, it disrupted our kicking game, though we went well considering the pressure applied (legal or not) with solid kick/chase, including a charge down that should have been 6 more to us.

On the flip side, when Eels had the ball, they done similar having a power play on tackle 5 to allow Moses time and they did it with ease.....such is the modern game.
In fact our kick pressure was ordinary, especially from marker and Moses kicked them back into the game, with 2 long drives having Tom caught 10m - 15m out and errors 2 - 3 tackles later.
In fact much of the turnaround in Eels favour came from mistakes that came from field position, that came from Moses getting these driving kicks away with zero pressure, the missed tackles were the end result ppl talk about, but I feel this is the 1 part of the Manly game that will need improvement and where these Top 4 sides in recent seasons gain much of their advantage.

 

[Once Was Brissie Kid]

Eels are one of the teams that a lot of the time do a super quick roll ball without getting to their feet to play the ball properly. The referees always let it go, even though the Eels are getting a super quick play the ball advantage from it.

Moses also when kicking jumps in the air, in hope of getting a penalty for being tackled dangerously in the air. He can just as easily do the kick without jumping, or by standing deeper. But at least once every game the referees gift the Eels a penalty for it.

And i've lost count of how many times a game that Gutho forms a t-shape while he cries to the referee asking for a Eels penalty for who knows what.

 

[Brookie Bob]

Have more kicking options in the team than DCE. While Daly's one of the best, having more quality kicking options offers more points of attack.

I see that Croaker's trying to do more - maybe more practice needed there.

 

[Killer03]

I don't think we do appropriate blocking for our kickers (Which teams like the Panthers are masters of). These are little things, which can have massive repercussions if done correctly.

 

[alafua siaosi]

Mentioned this before that our kicking game after the 5th tackle in our half just needs to be away from the catchers .Only once we did it against the Eels and scored from it .It definitely brought the Eels back into the game in the first half as our kicks were straight at the receivers . I'm sure the team are watching the video and will improve moving forward .

 

[Seagles68]

I agree that we can do more with our kick protection and kick options but I was thinking the same thing @maxta, we are very slack on harassing the kicker on the last tackle. We seem to do it early but it drops off pretty quickly. I don't know how practical it is to have someone nominated as the kick harasser (probably not) but I do remember years back at a Brookie game against Canberra. We were favs to win but they'd obviously cooked up the plan that Ricky Stuarts job that day was to just up out of the line and hassle Cliffy to cut down his passing time. It worked like a charm and they knocked us over. As I say, not sure it's very practical every week but we need to do something to put them off a bit.

 

[Once Was Brissie Kid]

Thanks to the NRL's current rules and officiating, harrassing a kicker risks a penalty. Charging down the ball risks giving away six more tackles. If I was a NRL coach, unless my team was playing against Cleary or Burton, i think i'd not bother having a defender make any move towards a kicker. Not worth it.

 

[40 nil]

Another little thing we're not so good at is preventing the opposition from regaining the ball after a short kick off. There was an example of this late in the Eels game.

 

[maxta]

I agree that we can do more with our kick protection and kick options but I was thinking the same thing @maxta, we are very slack on harassing the kicker on the last tackle. We seem to do it early but it drops off pretty quickly. I don't know how practical it is to have someone nominated as the kick harasser (probably not) but I do remember years back at a Brookie game against Canberra. We were favs to win but they'd obviously cooked up the plan that Ricky Stuarts job that day was to just up out of the line and hassle Cliffy to cut down his passing time. It worked like a charm and they knocked us over. As I say, not sure it's very practical every week but we need to do something to put them off a bit.

Thing is, we all know how precious the officials can be in relation to pressure on a kicker and in general really, but if we are to contest against heavyweights, we are a long way to losing a footy game if no heat on Cleary, Reynolds, Moses types kicking games....need to be up in the face and use common sense not to hit once the ball leaves boot - but let em know your around....this extra effort will lead to mistakes, misplaced kicks, shorter kicks, better field position to start a set and an uncomfortable vibe to the playmakes that can cross over into general play.
In fact, if there is no pressure in these vital area's we can look forward to the 6 - 10 placing by seasons end.

 

[Seagles68]

Thing is, we all know how precious the officials can be in relation to pressure on a kicker and in general really, but if we are to contest against heavyweights, we are a long way to losing a footy game if no heat on Cleary, Reynolds, Moses types kicking games....need to be up in the face and use common sense not to hit once the ball leaves boot - but let em know your around....this extra effort will lead to mistakes, misplaced kicks, shorter kicks, better field position to start a set and an uncomfortable vibe to the playmakes that can cross over into general play.
In fact if there is no pressure in these vital area's we can look forward to the 6 - 10 placing by seasons end.

Yep, an early well timed and legal hit from someone like Haumole would certainly have them looking for the next one.

 

[Woodsie]

Ok this comment has got me in trouble at home for years, but now let's talk footy !!
Great win to Manly again against Eels, but this (little, BIG) area we were murdered and was the biggest key imo, that kept Eels in the game....

On tackle 5 when getting out of our end of the field, we now have Tom usually - sometimes Jake or a winger trying to win a quick play ball to get on the front foot and give time for DCE - which is GOLD !
Somehow the Eels defenders still managed to harrass DCE and pressure him, especially Hodgson from marker who should have been pinged 3-4 times for leaving early.
Thing is, it disrupted our kicking game, though we went well considering the pressure applied (legal or not) with solid kick/chase, including a charge down that should have been 6 more to us.

On the flip side, when Eels had the ball, they done similar having a power play on tackle 5 to allow Moses time and they did it with ease.....such is the modern game.
In fact our kick pressure was ordinary, especially from marker and Moses kicked them back into the game, with 2 long drives having Tom caught 10m - 15m out and errors 2 - 3 tackles later.
In fact much of the turnaround in Eels favour came from mistakes that came from field position, that came from Moses getting these driving kicks away with zero pressure, the missed tackles were the end result ppl talk about, but I feel this is the 1 part of the Manly game that will need improvement and where these Top 4 sides in recent seasons gain much of their advantage.

Two words ... NO FORAN ..

More words ... and we miss his kick chase .. was always first man down to pen in the reciever ....

 

[maxta]

Two words ... NO FORAN ..

More words ... and we miss his kick chase .. was always first man down to pen in the reciever ....

No better on the chase then Foz, as he realises the importance of winning this battle all day will go a long way towards the winning result come full time.
Foz made this a trademark through his career and let the player returning the ball know through contact, they were in for a "tough set" and also set a benchmark that had any "lazy" Manly players have to get their behind down field with him lifting the defensive energy....set's a great pattern and shows a winning desire to win every battle - but the competitiveness of Foz is both an inspirational, yet rare thing.....
Looking back on Manly's struggles against Top 4 sides, this factor has as much to do with the outcome as the fact they contained Tommy T, in fact helps teams be able to contain Tom.....I mean struggling to get out your 30m and playing bad field position leads directly to errors and makes it damn tough to bring your star players into the game when on the back foot.

 

[wedgetail eagle]

Eels are one of the teams that a lot of the time do a super quick roll ball without getting to their feet to play the ball properly. The referees always let it go, even though the Eels are getting a super quick play the ball advantage from it.

Moses also when kicking jumps in the air, in hope of getting a penalty for being tackled dangerously in the air. He can just as easily do the kick without jumping, or by standing deeper. But at least once every game the referees gift the Eels a penalty for it.

And i've lost count of how many times a game that Gutho forms a t-shape while he cries to the referee asking for a Eels penalty for who knows what.

Gutho is the Christ the Redeemer statue.

 

[Woodsie]

No better on the chase then Foz, as he realises the importance of winning this battle all day will go a long way towards the winning result come full time.
Foz made this a trademark through his career and let the player returning the ball know through contact, they were in for a "tough set" and also set a benchmark that had any "lazy" Manly players have to get their behind down field with him lifting the defensive energy....set's a great pattern and shows a winning desire to win every battle - but the competitiveness of Foz is both an inspirational, yet rare thing.....

Yep .. my point ... and, the Shu, having studied under the master, will no doubt lead the chase tonight .. damn, where is that hopeful emoji ...

 

[manlyfan76]

Schuster was no where near being an option on the 5th.
Needs to be back with DCE as an option or decoy

 

[Rafferty]

Yep .. my point ... and, the Shu, having studied under the master, will no doubt lead the chase tonight .. damn, where is that hopeful emoji ...

Forget hopeful, Koula should be the one to lead the hunt down town…….

 

[maxta]

Forget hopeful, Koula should be the one to lead the hunt down town…….

Fair call as he has the zip to get down quick and there is no winger or fullback gunna run around that kid, he had a bad miss on Gutho last week, but the technique is there....just ask Sivo who he brutally cut in half !

 

[maxta]

Schuster was no where near being an option on the 5th.
Needs to be back with DCE as an option or decoy

That's a good point to have a 2nd kicking option and I know blockers are illegal, but surely we can get better protection than last week, as they had a free shot at DCE and though the officials turned a blind eye to the offside defenders we allowed them access to him like a bull at a red cape...

 

[wombatgc]

When Sipley played last year he’d go after the kicker a bit. But he run out of puff pretty quick. And his hit ups became pedestrian
I noticed when Ray Stone comes on for the phins he goes after the kicker again and again.

 

[Dan]

I have something little that my wife tells me is big, but I think she is just trying to protect my ego