The Daly Cherrygraph

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to see the game tonight. I was able to watch the highlights and press conferences afterwards.

My take away:
Despite their usual underdog status, and something that NSW have been getting wrong since the first game, Queensland just get Origin.

They understand what they need to do to win the game/series. For me, it was highlighted by Billy Slater's comments during the presser where he said something like 'We know our players'. 'We know who they are'. 'We've got our team'. Despite losing game two convincingly, and as they often do after setbacks and not going with the general consensus, they didn't panic and held their nerve and went with the team they believed could win it. Congratulations to Daly and the Maroons.

P.S. And this is going to hurt me to say, but I think Slater has the makings of a top line coach, a la Craig Bellamy. Look out!
 
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This might sound a little harsh but realistically DCE didn't really do anything except display a fantastic long kicking game in the 2nd half, early in the tackle count, constantly pinning NSW back. Yes, this was a brilliant tactic when QLD were under the pump, and last night Chez executed these kicks perfectly. The kick chase by QLD was exceptional, and this is what made those kicks so effective. Congrats to DCE and QLD for this ...

BUT

If you watched closely, Dearden outplayed Chez by a long way. More runs and metres, less missed tackles, but more importantly, created more opportunities with a try assist, and linebreak to boot. He played more direct and looked far more threatening with ball in hand all night - and this guy is a rookie. Chez created nothing, lacked composure at the end with some poor short kicking. Grant, Hunt, and of course Ponga made Chez look better than he was. Last night did nothing to change my mind that yes DCE has one of the best, if not the best, long kicking games in the comp, but everything else about his game is very underwhelming for a player of his stature and experience in the game.
 
Pete W said:
This might sound a little harsh but realistically DCE didn't really do anything except display a fantastic long kicking game in the 2nd half, early in the tackle count, constantly pinning NSW back. Yes, this was a brilliant tactic when QLD were under the pump, and last night Chez executed these kicks perfectly. The kick chase by QLD was exceptional, and this is what made those kicks so effective. Congrats to DCE and QLD for this ...

BUT

If you watched closely, Dearden outplayed Chez by a long way. More runs and metres, less missed tackles, but more importantly, created more opportunities with a try assist, and linebreak to boot. He played more direct and looked far more threatening with ball in hand all night - and this guy is a rookie. Chez created nothing, lacked composure at the end with some poor short kicking. Grant, Hunt, and of course Ponga made Chez look better than he was. Last night did nothing to change my mind that yes DCE has one of the best, if not the best, long kicking games in the comp, but everything else about his game is very underwhelming for a player of his stature and experience in the game.
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On the surface, what you’re saying is correct. It wasn’t like he provided highlights in the same way Ponga, Dearden and Hunt did...it was predominantly about the long kicking game...

however, that long kicking game was the single biggest defining factor in the victory. It’s what put Ponga, Hunt, Grant and Dearden in positions to make their plays and what had the tired defence vulnerable against the likes of said players. There’s no Capewell try on halfway time without Daly’s kick that bamboozled Tupou.

A real feature of Daly’s game at SOO level is his ability to play percentages and let the strengths of others bubble to the surface (something I wish he’d do more of, for Manly). I thought he did some really good things for Kalyn; a couple of nice inside passes for line breaks and the bullet (smart early pass) he threw to give Kalyn the time and space to dance for his try in the second half. Not to mention, NSW don’t miss Ponga for that crucial try without the fatigue caused from constantly being turned around...you’ve got the repeat set when Burton was trapped in goal. Even the NSW errors (Crichton and Luai) are frustration/panic plays because they wanna play footy up the other end.

Sometimes the flashy stuff is the icing on a cake that’s been baked by someone else.

I should also point out that I’m critical of DCE at times. I can see his short comings. He can lack composure at club level. His ball playing options and running game are not what they once were. But credit where it’s due.
 
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Snake said:
On the surface, what you’re saying is correct. It wasn’t like he provided highlights in the same way Ponga, Dearden and Hunt did...it was predominantly about the long kicking game...

however, that long kicking game was the single biggest defining factor in the victory. It’s what put Ponga, Hunt, Grant and Dearden in positions to make their plays and what had the tired defence vulnerable against the likes of said players. There’s no Capewell try on halfway time without Daly’s kick that bamboozled Tupou.

A real feature of Daly’s game at SOO level is his ability to play percentages and let the strengths of others bubble to the surface (something I wish he’d do more of, for Manly). I thought he did some really good things for Kalyn; a couple of nice inside passes for line breaks and the bullet (smart early pass) he threw to give Kalyn the time and space to dance for his try in the second half. Not to mention, NSW don’t miss Ponga for that crucial try without the fatigue caused from constantly being turned around...you’ve got the repeat set when Burton was trapped in goal. Even the NSW errors (Crichton and Luai) are frustration/panic plays because they wanna play footy up the other end.

Sometimes the flashy stuff is the icing on a cake that’s been baked by someone else.

I should also point out that I’m critical of DCE at times. I can see his short comings. He can lack composure at club level. His ball playing options and running game are not what they once were. But credit where it’s due.
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Fair enough, and I do agree. What I'm really saying is that the only way DCE will lead Manly to glory is if and when every single other player in the team steps up, plays to the absolute best of their abilities and dominate the opposition in intent and energy. But I don't think he's the playmaker and captain to lift the team through his own personal merits such as the truly great ones
 
Pete W said:
Fair enough, and I do agree. What I'm really saying is that the only way DCE will lead Manly to glory is if and when every single other player in the team steps up, plays to the absolute best of their abilities and dominate the opposition in intent and energy. But I don't think he's the playmaker and captain to lift the team through his own personal merits such as the truly great ones
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Yep!
To me, he gets his head in the game for QLD because he can’t afford to rest on his laurels. There was a time when it looked like his rep career was finished and of course, there was the hatred from his own fans after the Titans backflip and rumours of unrest with the senior Maroons playing group. He plays like a guy with something to prove and when QLD win, you can see how much it means to him.

However, at Manly, it looks like it’s just another club game and he throws caution to the wind and plays without restraint. We lose and he laughs with the opposition. I’m not suggesting he doesn’t care at all, but it certainly looks like he plays with a different mindset.
 
TokyoEagle said:
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to see the game tonight. I was able to watch the highlights and press conferences afterwards.

My take away:
Despite their usual underdog status, and something that NSW have been getting wrong since the first game, Queensland just get Origin.

They understand what they need to do to win the game/series. For me, it was highlighted by Billy Slater's comments during the presser where he said something like 'We know our players'. 'We know who they are'. 'We've got our team'. Despite losing game two convincingly, and as they often do after setbacks and not going with the general consensus, they didn't panic and held their nerve and went with the team they believed could win it. Congratulations to Daly and the Maroons.

P.S. And this is going to hurt me to say, but I think Slater has the makings of a top line coach, a la Craig Bellamy. Look out!
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As far as Qld are concerned, it seems the bigger the loss (2nd game) the bigger the bounce back.
 
XV-1 said:
When DCE knows he can trust his players, it goes a long long way.
When you are surrounded by knuckleheads that make too many mistakes, it makes the life of DCE a lot harder.
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Agree with your opinion but that's what you get when you get paid $1.3 million yearly. Not much room to sign quality players.
 
There is no question that DCE had his finest moment in a QLD jumper last night.

What I learned from watching this is that QLD had 2 quality 9s sharing the burden of managing the and DCE was able to get his job done far easier.

I hope that we can have that scenario at Manly because I think it is what really has hampered us not having dual 9s to share this workload.

DCE silenced his critics last night in a big way!
 
sheridanstand78 said:
There is no question that DCE had his finest moment in a QLD jumper last night.

What I learned from watching this is that QLD had 2 quality 9s sharing the burden of managing the and DCE was able to get his job done far easier.
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I don't understand your point. NSW had both Api and Cook sharing the 9 spot....
Did you know that Cook was a former beach sprint champion, not that he showed any spark last night?
 
The Who said:
I don't understand your point. NSW had both Api and Cook sharing the 9 spot....
Did you know that Cook was a former beach sprint champion, not that he showed any spark last night?
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My point is that Manly do not have 2 x quality 9s and it heaps the pressure on DCE and Foran. This is why we need to know once and for all if Fainu will be free to play or do we go and get a replacement as this will really help our halves.
 
QLD's forwards won that match last night. Absolutely suffocated the life out of the NSW attack. It's maddening that they engaged in the kind of holding down that would unleash a torrent of 6 agains if it happened in a regular NRL match, but until NSW learn to respond in kind they will lose these matches no matter how much better the team is as a whole.

DCE was good but he was good behind a pack that allowed him to be good.
 
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