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The talking point here isnt wether DCE is a good player, we all know he is very good. but his limitations reflect the teams and that does not look to be going away soon

The respect he gets in the qld team does not mirror the focus the manly players have when they are addressed by him. is this evident to others . not even the same postcode

We have seen DCE go well in a team with 4 million dollar plus playmakers
his role is limited due to the talent he is surrounded by in this situation
Dce loves smaller roles, its how he rose to prominence and its why he has struggled since
he just isnt a big role guy.
No disrespect, im a housewife and my mrs is a corporate i just have a sauasage roll

But NO NRL function like this or can assemble such a luxury and still have an adaquate forward pack. so thats OUR MANLY, in no mans land waiting for the new messiahs to be born rather than going out and getting them

DCE number 6 partners is probably bigger than our CEO turnover, and we always lose the good one like green and foz due to coin. bloody johns

its never been about wether he is great for qld or if he is skilled
Its about being fit for purpose

I suppose purpose just means different things to us all. maybe thats the coversation we should have more often

Lets not forget DCE has had 2 games for manly in 2023 against souffs and knights where he could have imparted his special skills only afforded to the financial few, but in reality he failed due to a lack of having a go, just didnt get in there enough, but is lauded for defence.

On silveratls in 2023 Dce would have iced 2 parra games, a couple of chooks games and a storm game but gets the chance in ours and fires a **** ball a oku.

also Did DCEs form on the tackle bags and not on ball selection cost oku a chance to play for the blues.


maybe the legend is bigger than the man. something to ponder.
Its simple mate, having an unbelievable year. He is the form number 7 in the comp and leading from the front week in week out in an under performing side. Cannot ask much more than that.
 
This is a very interesting question tbh.

And raises many more, around DCE, and how that whole edge functions, or malfunctions, depending on your viewpoint.
From my point he has been giving a lot of early ball this year to Quac and Koula, always looking for the spread, but mixing it up with bringing Quac on the inside where he is most damaging.

So yeah, he has been responsible for giving Quac a lot of opportunities, hence why he was in selection talk. Freddy just went with experience but obviously didn't pay off
 
@jbb/james I think you will have to admit most half backs look better with a good team around them.

Cleary only started looking good when he had a super star side around him. Gun pack, great creative hooker, flashy 5/8, fast outside backs, very under rated full back, great edge back rowers etc etc

I feel DCE has performed pretty good considering he has Crocker at hooker, a pack that can go missing, Tom mostly out of form, Cooper Johns as his 5/8 for the majority of the season, outside backs apart from Koula that are not overly dangerous.

He definitely frustrates me at times, maybe tries too hard and takes the wrong option but dam he is a competitor and gives it everything every week. It shows how lost we are on the field without him.

But this year I feel his defensive reads are much better, he is trying to really lead from the front and is playing a better composed game. He looks confident out there.

No player is perfect, look at Cleary last night, he is an amazing half, but even with all that possession didn't look great, throwing balls behind players and stifling attack.

You have to give DCE some credit this year for working on his short comings and playing pretty consistent footy with no spine around him to help.
 
The difference between Cleary and DCE last night was leadership and passion for the State jersey. DCE made so many effort plays. Its why it pisses me off greatly that when you read the NSW experts player ratings for last nights match that Cleary still equalled or bettered DCE's rating. If QLD had of lost it would have been all about DCE's performance. Not a peep on Cleary and it was somehow all Luai's fault.
p.s. and a lot of NSW experts gave Tedesco a 7 rating "because he broke the 200m barrier". He is the new Gallen - touch/run the ball as much as possible while stifling the rest of the team. He also had the opportunity to stop at least 3 of the QLD try's.
 
The talking point here isnt wether DCE is a good player, we all know he is very good. but his limitations reflect the teams and that does not look to be going away soon

The respect he gets in the qld team does not mirror the focus the manly players have when they are addressed by him. is this evident to others . not even the same postcode

We have seen DCE go well in a team with 4 million dollar plus playmakers
his role is limited due to the talent he is surrounded by in this situation
Dce loves smaller roles, its how he rose to prominence and its why he has struggled since
he just isnt a big role guy.
No disrespect, im a housewife and my mrs is a corporate i just have a sauasage roll

But NO NRL function like this or can assemble such a luxury and still have an adaquate forward pack. so thats OUR MANLY, in no mans land waiting for the new messiahs to be born rather than going out and getting them

DCE number 6 partners is probably bigger than our CEO turnover, and we always lose the good one like green and foz due to coin. bloody johns

its never been about wether he is great for qld or if he is skilled
Its about being fit for purpose

I suppose purpose just means different things to us all. maybe thats the coversation we should have more often

Lets not forget DCE has had 2 games for manly in 2023 against souffs and knights where he could have imparted his special skills only afforded to the financial few, but in reality he failed due to a lack of having a go, just didnt get in there enough, but is lauded for defence.

On silveratls in 2023 Dce would have iced 2 parra games, a couple of chooks games and a storm game but gets the chance in ours and fires a **** ball a oku.

also Did DCEs form on the tackle bags and not on ball selection cost oku a chance to play for the blues.


maybe the legend is bigger than the man. something to ponder.
If only DCE could close out games when we're in a position to win, the way Nathan Cleary always does. ;)
 
Last night when DCE dropped the ball cold in good field position, he was extremely upset with himself. I haven't noticed him being so upset when he makes errors playing for Manly. This begs a question: is winning Origin games more important to him than winning games for Manly?

He was our standout performer in the recent loss to the Broncos at Suncorp. At the time, I cynically wondered if he was trying to live up to his status as QLD captain in front of a QLD audience :)
 
He was our standout performer in the recent loss to the Broncos at Suncorp. At the time, I cynically wondered if he was trying to live up to his status as QLD captain in front of a QLD audience :)

There's only one person they boo louder up here and that's Luai.
 
There's only one person they boo louder up here and that's Luai.
Does DCE still get booed? I thought he'd gained brownie points by captaining winning Origin sides.

Speaking of Luai, I was surprised NSW wasn't awarded a penalty last night when a Maroon pulled his hair.
 
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Does DCE still get booed? I thought he'd gained brownie points by captaining winning Origin sides.

Speaking of Luai, I was surprised NSW wasn't awarded a penalty last night when a Maroon pulled his hair.
a) he still gets boos. Like hating Manly they don't know why they just do.

b) I'd say Luai is the sort of bloke that would like his hair pulled. But yeah what's Origin coming to with a Ladyboy (Walsh) pulling another Ladyboys hair!
 
a) he still gets boos. Like hating Manly they don't know why they just do.

b) I'd say Luai is the sort of bloke that would like his hair pulled. But yeah what's Origin coming to with a Ladyboy (Walsh) pulling another Ladyboys hair!
Ladyboys, sadly your onto something, the evolution of the new age man is not trending well.

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@jbb/james I think you will have to admit most half backs look better with a good team around them.

Cleary only started looking good when he had a super star side around him. Gun pack, great creative hooker, flashy 5/8, fast outside backs, very under rated full back, great edge back rowers etc etc

I feel DCE has performed pretty good considering he has Crocker at hooker, a pack that can go missing, Tom mostly out of form, Cooper Johns as his 5/8 for the majority of the season, outside backs apart from Koula that are not overly dangerous.

He definitely frustrates me at times, maybe tries too hard and takes the wrong option but dam he is a competitor and gives it everything every week. It shows how lost we are on the field without him.

But this year I feel his defensive reads are much better, he is trying to really lead from the front and is playing a better composed game. He looks confident out there.

No player is perfect, look at Cleary last night, he is an amazing half, but even with all that possession didn't look great, throwing balls behind players and stifling attack.

You have to give DCE some credit this year for working on his short comings and playing pretty consistent footy with no spine around him to help.
admit it for sure. everything you said made complete sense and i probably agree 99%.Im deducting 1% to keep our differences alive.

i think apprehensively he has started to run the ball, from maybe round 5. not with too much authority but probing maybe, a few here and there. his leaderships looks to have been worked on . some pluses and growth

he has always worked hard, been a sturdy defender, a top bloke

But its HIS team, and someone else needs the reigns. if we can carry his wage, bring in a dominant halfback to partner schuster so we can get the full spectre of halfback roles and responsibilities and dce shares hooker with croker then sure

that new calming influence needs to be on top of a new halfback leader, the turbos, maybe craoker with DCE filling a more menzies style role then again maybe. from next year anyway but can we carry that wage

a lot is said about cleary v Dce, frankly its was an issue last night as a NSW supporter but i dont give a toss.Cleary has the robotic , patient game you can win premierships on if his forwards play the game. Dce has the athletic unpredictability but need too many moving parts and the cap makes it tough. you just have to be ruthless

the rift, the talk, the unity. im just not convinced its all hunky, but in effort the chez is trying to unlock something, i am not convinced the team really respond to him. even his kick chase is on his pat malone

anyway been a while simon. hope lifes good
 
BY FAR the most consistent number 7 in the comp. He isn't a 10/10...... but he is 7-8 out of 10 all the frikkin time.

He is simply superb, and the BEST use of $1m in the comp.

If THAT is a 5.5/10 game, then I will happily take it from DCE every week.

Any anyone who reckons we should go all out for Luai et al..... have a long, hard look at yourself

This is his 8th year at Manly on approximately $1.3 million a season... if for that amount of time and money, we expect and are happy with consistent 7/10 performances, then that really sums why this team hasn't been to a Grand Final in 10 years...
 
Give the bloke another 5-year extension on his club contract. He wants to taste a Manly Grand Final win where he was the reason for the GF win!
 
This is his 8th year at Manly on approximately $1.3 million a season... if for that amount of time and money, we expect and are happy with consistent 7/10 performances, then that really sums why this team hasn't been to a Grand Final in 10 years...
Thurston will go down as one of the all time greats. Fact

How many premierships did he win as the premier half at the cowboys? One

The cowboys, gifted with the best best half of the decade might have also won a spoon? (someone check that though before I post)

DCE record at club level (as painful as it is for us) will go down in the Thurston category.

My mates that don’t support manly always say “I wish we had DCE then we would be a good team”. My response is usually “then you would have no cap space left like us and have a tram with Morgan Harper”.
 
This is his 8th year at Manly on approximately $1.3 million a season... if for that amount of time and money, we expect and are happy with consistent 7/10 performances, then that really sums why this team hasn't been to a Grand Final in 10 years...
We signed a top halfback to a lifetime deal and didn't build a premiership roster around him. ( IE Thurston cowboys) even had two rookie coaches.
That's not on DCE.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 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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