The Elephant in the room

[HoldenV8]

I personally believe the elephant in the room is why our captain is happy to walk away from the club after so many years at the club. Since the price jersey saga the club has continued to make poor decision after poor decision (sacking Dessie, Sacking Foran, Shuster big money, Siebold, Issac Moses, Offers via nrl 360, leaking offers to media before they are made, centres as wingers, releasing Fainu’s, ditching grass roots to poach from western Sydney to name a few) our club isn’t focused on being a premier rugby league team it’s focused on turning a profit. I personally believe a snake rots from the head and until we deal with the issues in our board room we will continue to see issues on field. We need to bring in people who know how to win, not wooden spoons. We’re not a top 4 club, if we were we would be finishing in the top 4.

At the current stage it’s obvious we don’t know what we’re doing. Regardless of result I’ll be cheering for our team but until I see changes I’m not hopeful of us making any on field improvements.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.....

Since the day the Penn's took over ownership of this club, the running of the place has literally turned to 💩

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

oops …agree a rich benefactor would perfect where ROI is not the main objective.

Look at the rich clubs , they have none of the issues we have.

Broncos
Bulldogs
Storm
Penrith
Roosters

Doesn’t mean they are always super successful but they rarely have the issues we do.

 

[madmax]

Which makes me wonder why our coach persists in playing Jazz Tevaga at dummy half.

I thought we started well with Paseka & Aloiai starting, however apart from Bully we’ve had zero impact off the bench. Brbo is NOT a second rower. Jrbo is too slow & apart from defense he offers zero in attack. Jazz is not a No.9. We need some youth & enthusiasm in the forwards. As much as Brown & TKO put in the rest offer little. Not sure why players like Patolo, Pua’avase, Laiafi, Navale, Sykes & Dunford don’t get a look in. Maybe Lodge will help get some go forward soon & as much as I hate to say it Sips, Waddell, MCK, Brbo, Tevaga, Jrbo unfortunately offer zero!
I do like that No.9 from the Eels…..R Smith. Reminds a lot of Mahoney! Has some grit for sure.
Our backs are fine & depth is good if only Trbo could stay healthy!

 

[Chip and Chase]

I'd argue he's never been a great captain anyway. He's one of those captains that get the job because he's the franchise player and it suits his ego. Also when Barrett and Bozo put the broom through the place after the backflip season he was virtually the last man standing with ties back to that decade of dominance, so it was a default selection. I don't find him inspirational as a leader, and you could argue that our lack of success is also a reflection of poor on field leadership over that time - among the numerous other excuses. I think we were spoilt with that side from 2006-2015, so many winners and natural leaders in that side. We've never had buy in since, like those sides had. They were the days.

 

[HoldenV8]

I thought we started well with Paseka & Aloiai starting, however apart from Bully we’ve had zero impact off the bench. Brbo is NOT a second rower. Jrbo is too slow & apart from defense he offers zero in attack. Jazz is not a No.9. We need some youth & enthusiasm in the forwards. As much as Brown & TKO put in the rest offer little. Not sure why players like Patolo, Pua’avase, Laiafi, Navale, Sykes & Dunford don’t get a look in. Maybe Lodge will help get some go forward soon & as much as I hate to say it Sips, Waddell, MCK, Brbo, Tevaga, Jrbo unfortunately offer zero!
Our backs are fine & depth is good if only Trbo could stay healthy!

Personally I think Burbo should go to lock (or the bench) and Jake to the front row.

I still think unfortunately that when Froggy comes back it'll be Simpkin who gets dropped down to NSW Cup even though in just about every game, when we've scored its actually been with the kid at dummy half. No small coincidence what getting good dummy half service brings.

Paseka is a bigger out than most give credit for. Honestly, we don't really have anyone at that level to replace him which is why I wouldn't be playing Jazz at hooker. Its a waste of resources.

 

[madmax]

Personally I think Burbo should go to lock (or the bench) and Jake to the front row.

I still think unfortunately that when Froggy comes back it'll be Simpkin who gets dropped down to NSW Cup even though in just about every game, when we've scored its actually been with the kid at dummy half. No small coincidence what getting good dummy half service brings.

Paseka is a bigger out than most give credit for. Honestly, we don't really have anyone at that level to replace him which is why I wouldn't be playing Jazz at hooker. Its a waste of resources.

Mate I think Brbo is not a starter. Maybe bench. Jake is not the old Jake. He offers little to be honest. To be frank I’m over the Trbojevics. Paseka is a huge loss & for mine Aloiai is next best. I agree about Simpkin….he’s been great when he comes on. That 9 from the Eels R. Smith is a real goer. Reminds me a lot of Mahoney!!! Gritty & a good dummy half!

 

[mickqld]

Seibold has no spine to take the hard decisions here. DCE will stay as captain, he'll continue to phone it in , the forwards will continue to throw up rubbish ,Turbo will come back to play origin then get injured for the rest of the season and I'm confident that we're looking at our first ever spoon.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Seibold has no spine to take the hard decisions here. DCE will stay as captain, he'll continue to phone it in , the forwards will continue to throw up rubbish ,Turbo will come back to play origin then get injured for the rest of the season and I'm confident that we're looking at our first ever spoon.

Well if that happens , the only way then is up.

 

[skull61]

The elephant in the room is that we have the worst forward pack in the comp.Why has it come to this? Where is our scouting and recruitment. We only recruit old slow and washed up forwards

 

[TJ55]

Seibold has no spine to take the hard decisions here. DCE will stay as captain, he'll continue to phone it in , the forwards will continue to throw up rubbish ,Turbo will come back to play origin then get injured for the rest of the season and I'm confident that we're looking at our first ever spoon.

Thats a big call lol

 

[HK_Eagle]

Manly is great at the Elephant game, we could create a circus out of the circus that has been our club ( at times over the last 14 years ).

I know a good Bozo clown we could employ…

 

[Eagle 1]

View attachment 29969
Thats a big call lol

Chooks at $6.50, Blobbo wont like that. He'll be pinning this up in the change rooms..lol.

 

[TJ55]

Chooks at $6.50, Blobbo wont like that. He'll be pinning this up in the change rooms..lol.

Haha seeing the rorters at $6.50 put a smile on my face and I don't feel bad at all !

 

[sheridanstand78]

I believe that Seibold for all his failings is doing this job with one hand tied behind his back.

There are some obvious changes that need to be made to our first team.

We have DCE, Jurbo and Turbo taking up a huge slice of our salary cap. We know DCE is moving on, what should also happen is that both Turbos should be on lesser wages as Turbo is missing half a season on average over the last 6 years, Jurbo is slowing down and is no longer an 80 minute player, Burbo is not first grade standard, you add in Waddell and a rank reserve grader given a 3 year deal is ridiculous!!

If Seibold dropped one of the Turbos for non performance there would be hell to pay.

You can only deal with the cards you are dealt with, the loss of Paseka is devastating for the team, Nathan Brown and Aloia are consistently injured and miss many games. Sipley has NOT developed and needs to be shifted on.

Apart from Oka, we have no fear factor in our pack. We need to invest in a lock forward who creates and helps control the middle, crying out for a dominant prop and what we need to get away from is tht its all about how big a forward it. The successful clubs have forwards who are nuggety, gritty and mobile, tough as boots. Our big fellas tend to run out of juice too easily.

Our backline has ability, Young Hoppa is already a gun. Koula has amazing potential. What we need is a centre who is imposing defensively, We need a Chricton like player who is no nonsense.

Our halves are getting squashed to our dummy half not controlling the ruck and limiting their time and space to make their plays. Simpkins is decent at 9 and we need a game manager in that role to take the heat of the halves.

Ive said it more than once now, the DCE announcement has crushed any momentum we had for this season. The club need to arrest this and get their sucession play into play, we need a captain who is invested in our cause for this season and beyond. This non decision is festering, DCEs form is in the trash since the announcement and its impacting on the team, Mestrov needs to fix this pronto!!

I think that Seibold needs to assert himself or he will perish. We are 7 rounds done for this season, this is a major crossroad, we either make these changes or rapidly the season will slip away!

 

[Sea Eagle 4 Life]

Manly $51 to win the comp. Load up everyone!

 

[Pete W]

Seibold has no spine to take the hard decisions here. DCE will stay as captain, he'll continue to phone it in , the forwards will continue to throw up rubbish ,Turbo will come back to play origin then get injured for the rest of the season and I'm confident that we're looking at our first ever spoon.

It will almost be impressive if Seibold can somehow be involved in another wooden spoon at another historically successful club in such a short space of time.

Who would have thought that a wooden spoon is also technically "breaking the cluster"?

 

[manly al]

Just can not see what intentions D C E may or may not have at the moment is affecting the side to any concerning extent
He is going and has been public knowledge for many weeks now , has generally handled the matter and on a fair consensus not very well at all but what " s done is done and no certainty that a heap of other squad members will be at the club next season also
, Not as high a profile as D C E but in the context of the future team make up , still some relevance and the normal professional reality applying for all current contracted players .
Would not rule out D C E even calling it a day after this season if he can not shake his most probable lingering niggle or part injury .
Head space maybe could have been in a better place in the i st half against the Saints but one of the most experienced and seasoned players in the comp now so would only expect him to get on with it accordingly and again preferably playing relatively injury free
Just a tough environment in general with the cap issues in the N R L ,
just recall the tough call in 2006 when the club probably very reluctantly would have been forced to choose between B K and Beaver to re sign and most likely would have been Beaver to go if B K had not decided to hang up his boots for 2007

 

[Tragic Eagle]

There’s no time from procrastinating from here. Seibold shows some gonads and makes the calls that must be made or the spoon awaits us and his career as Manly coach will be at an end. He can’t survive our first wooden spoon.

 

[The Indian]

I have been one of DCE's harshest critics on here - I wouldn't even say he's downed tools or anything like that. He's trying as hard as he ever has, evidence by the time he was the only Manly player chasing back a Dragons kick and pulled off a great try saver ( his best play of the game ). His effort to me is always first class.

I think his announcement has taken the air out of everyone in the club and that's been the real turning point. Hope has gone and we are playing like a team who knows it's all a bit pointless. DCE has always had awful games where he makes error after error and is on full tilt ( mixed in with brilliant games yes ) that hasnt changed for me.

We've just lost a few players and lost a lot of hope and the whole mood has been taken down by the Captains announcement and I fear its only going to get worse sadly.

 

[LeonardCohen]

The elephants are in the pack...slow, cumbersome, friendly giants that are ineffective. It's been pretty obvious for a few years now that the speed of the game requires a mobile pack that are quick over the advantage line...so we go and re-sign Paseka, Aloiai, Sipley, Lodge, Brown, and pick up TKO. Well done Manly!