The forwards are the ones to blame

[The Royal Soup]

Honestly, we were on the back foot from that terrible stuff up on the kick off.

then for most of the night on the first three tackles of each set we had it was Harper, Saab, Garrick, Walker etc taking all the hit ups….

our Pack looked soft and scared and didn’t provide any momentum or tackle busts etc to lay a platform for the halves and backs, therefore everytime we went wide there was no room

 

[BOZO]

We cant blame any player . They did their best

and you can only play as well as your opposition allows you to

The storm have proven over the years that they are dominant finals footy team

Finals footy is another level above club footy and we need players that have the ability to compete at that level

 

[winnyason]

Agree forwards did not compete

 

[Marto1970]

It was a good lesson on how you have to play in a finals series

 

[The Who]

We cant blame any player . They did their best

So, if we can't blame any player that only leaves one person to blame for our lamentable performance: DESpicable!
It would be nice to hear him accept some responsibility.

 

[BOZO]

So, if we can't blame any player that only leaves one person to blame for our lamentable performance: DESpicable!
It would be nice to hear him accept some responsibility.

Perspective time

I can feel your passion and disappointment

But let us not forget that Des has lifted his team from bottom 4 in the start of the year to top 4

You can only fly as high as your players wings take you and we are rebuilding and with the inclusion of better players Des will go one better next season

 

[winnyason]

Marty performance concerning me penalties and the crash ball tackle 6 try was around him

 

[maxta]

Honestly, we were on the back foot from that terrible stuff up on the kick off.

then for most of the night on the first three tackles of each set we had it was Harper, Saab, Garrick, Walker etc taking all the hit ups….

our Pack looked soft and scared and didn’t provide any momentum or tackle busts etc to lay a platform for the halves and backs, therefore everytime we went wide there was no room

You my friend are bang on !!
These supposed amazing defensive shutdown of Tom T and co was more the dominance of Storm in the trenches.....Manly need to learn how to compete here before expecting 90m runaway tries.
The pack seemed shellshocked and out of their depth and were ambushed big time.
Can they come back ???
I damn hope so and know they can do far better than that....welcome to Finals footy Manly, now it's time to pick up the pieces - regroup - get angry - stop listening to media talking them up - get ugly and roll up the sleeves...cause if we can't get some authority in the middle, will be out in straight sets or be cannon fodder against Penrith the week after !!

 

[Dee Why Eagle]

Good argument to select Tof over Siro...
He can't fix all our problems but he sure will add some mongrel

 

[eaglebuzz]

Paseka had a great game, none of the other forwards did. Olakau'atu tried his best but was getting hospital passes from DCE all game.

 

[XV-1]

Totally agree. Our forwards were one out and soft.

Surely in the first 15 - 20 mins, just hold onto the ball and run it forward right into the middle forwards.
Run hard at Munster and or Smith over and over again to tire them out and hopefully get them to defend poorly, like what happened to DCE & Harper.

We do not need to try razzle dazzle footy until later in the game when opposition players are tired.
Bring big boppers off the bench and continue to run at Munster and Smith.

 

[The Insomniac]

Perspective time

I can feel your passion and disappointment

But let us not forget that Des has lifted his team from bottom 4 in the start of the year to top 4

You can only fly as high as your players wings take you and we are rebuilding and with the inclusion of better players Des will go one better next season

The inclusion of better players ?
When is this being announced ?

 

[BOZO]

The inclusion of better players ?
When is this being announced ?

We have some promising players coming though the grades feathered friend as well as some surprise signings 🙂

 

[BOZO]

Agree forwards did not compete

Our backs with out Tommy firing have been proven not effective as well

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Honestly, we were on the back foot from that terrible stuff up on the kick off.

then for most of the night on the first three tackles of each set we had it was Harper, Saab, Garrick, Walker etc taking all the hit ups….

our Pack looked soft and scared and didn’t provide any momentum or tackle busts etc to lay a platform for the halves and backs, therefore everytime we went wide there was no room

I blame the attitude and (lack of) desire from the whole team first

Then it’s the experienced forward Taupau, and then the rest of the forwards. I don’t even want to look at their stats again.

Then I blame the lack of urgency and moping around by the likes of Schuster - although he is inexperienced so its a little excusable

Then our other experienced players. But in terms of the level of blame between these different players it doesn’t vary much as this really was a terrible game from the entire team

 

[JBW]

When Melbourne's pack are on song, no team can match them, they have size, experience and creativity. We were on the back foot from the word go, can happen to any team if the opposition comes out firing. Most of our sets were started from out own 10 meter line. They wore us out early, and we gave them possession, Harry Grant then put on a clinic against a tired pack. I can see why Sipley was left out as he sux in defence around the ruck and Smith and Grant would have smoked him, but that also meant extra minutes for others as Sirro hardly played. I feel he'll miss out again this week as Croker will come in for Sirro.

I still rate our pack, unfortunately they were owned last night against the best pack in the comp. Hopefully Des is doing overtime on his homework of the Rooters v Tits game. Both also have big agressive packs. They both lack that creativity at hooker though.

 

[pjayz]

We haven't played a forward / middle dominant game in a long time. I'd also love to see a shift away from our wingers taking hit ups out of our end. It is usually play four before a forward gets involved. I'd be changing it up and going a little old school. Have our edge forwards and middles more involved earlier in the sets getting us out of our 20. The only time Garrick or Saab should be running it out of our twenty is if they field a kick or we have an overlap.

We had no field position and Melbourne killed us because of it. The penalties and errors were largely a product of pressure; pressure created by being dominated at our end of the park.

 

[winnyason]

Our backs with out Tommy firing have been proven not effective as well

I have alot of concerns current roster can't do anything without Tom. It's so unbalanced and last night showed it.

 

[Kaufusi's Elbow]

With Welsh, NAS, Bromwich x2, Kaufusi, Finucane and two rep hookers what do you expect.

If I was Bellamy I would be furious is that pack didn't dominate.

 

[davohan123]

We haven't played a forward / middle dominant game in a long time. I'd also love to see a shift away from our wingers taking hit ups out of our end. It is usually play four before a forward gets involved. I'd be changing it up and going a little old school. Have our edge forwards and middles more involved earlier in the sets getting us out of our 20. The only time Garrick or Saab should be running it out of our twenty is if they field a kick or we have an overlap.

We had no field position and Melbourne killed us because of it. The penalties and errors were largely a product of pressure; pressure created by being dominated at our end of the park.

And it's like they read the press all week, Manly world beaters and were going to upset the storm this week.

I hope every talk show says our boys in the forwards were powderpuff this week and rips into our boys and des makes them read all the negative press specially in relation to our forwards.

They need to fire up.

We missed a AFB dont take no s$$t from anyone follow me lads type of leader last night it was no existent.

This week will truly tell us where we are as a club and how we respond to last night.

I don't we will win next Friday but we need to put in for the full 80 and gain some respect back.