The 32 points - Snake factor

[maxta]

Any team that scores 32 points is almost impossable to beat. May sound like a stretch but with Snakes talk ,defence,communication & presence from the back i believe Manly would have leaked 16- 22 at least 10 points less. Not out to do a this or that should have -could have crap & no disrespect to up & comer Hoppa here - Snake is as important to Manly as Benji is to Tigers or Thurston is to Cowgirls. Thoughts on this ??

 

[codewana]

No doubt Snake was a huge loss to us. He does take up a bit of our cap, so of course his presence usually helps get us over the line.

I wasn't able to watch the whole game, but from the sounds and look of things we were playing with a heavily depleted backline, and managed to lose the game by a penalty goal/poor conversion rate.

 

[Phantar]

My thoughts exactly Matt. He would have made a huge difference to our defence at the back.

 

[eagleE]

The difference would have been in his positional play. He is a good reader of the game but not as quick now. But his positioning of kicks ahead would have gotten us through with his presence in attack. Ben Ross would have been ****ting himself if Snake ran at him.

 

[MPC75]

Spot on Matt. Good fullbacks are not only good in attack, but their communication is just as important for the defensive line. Stewy is one of these types. Matt Ridge was another who was superb at organizing the defensive line. 

 

[Cameron]

mate you have nailed it

I watched very closely on tv round 1 and 2 and then watched the replay on thursday of rd 3.

People think its all about scoring trys for stewy and that is so not the case at all its about his cover defense and what he does off the ball.

He plays last night win its that simple

the best thing i like about this season is the promise our squad is showing how good was the ranga

 

[Masked Eagle]

I think we might have missed Snake for his talk more than his play.  I thought we matched up poorly several times last night.  They just didn't have one man advantage on us, several times they had 2 or 3 more numbers when they were attacking an open or short side.  Thats really poor reading of the play and can't be put down to just one person but better talking from the back should have helped.