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Reserve Grader
A near perfect spring like day on the Central Coast set up the chance for a packed crowd to witness our boys avenging the Warriors loss in Auckland and cement win no 6 in a row.
by CF2
Player ratings:
Brett Stewart: Yet another flawless performance. Swallowed the bombs with ease, purred through the gaps when needed, and of course clocked up another 2 "home" tries.
Jorge Taufau: Bit of a quiet day for Jorge but nothing to be concerned about.
Steve Matai: Did we not go left much today? Also seemed a slightly quieter day, but loved the sheer never give up enthusiasm on the very last play of the day to deny them a try.
Jamie Lyon: Sound game and strong in defence with 19 tackles. The goal kicking? More Joey practice this week please we can't afford those misses against the Bunnies.
David Williams: Maybe the whole team should be on the raw food diet. Sensational MOM display. 19 runs, 236 metres and 3 tries. Wouldn't surprise if he'd run the city to surf as a warm up. Let's hope he re signs soon.
Kieran Foran: Ok our left side must have been quieter today given Kieran didn't seem to really stand out either. Or maybe I missed something in the Gosford sun?
Daly Cherry-Evans: The early 40/20 set the tone for a busy performance, book ending it with a neat match practice field goal. Never lets us down and will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming weeks.
Glenn Stewart: Defence never being an issue, another much improved performance with the ball in hand and a brilliant grubber to set up a try.
Jamie Buhrer: Super sub found himself a late inclusion in the 2nd row and worked hard all day. Not only that but a very tough pair of shoes to fill given Horo's superb season long form.
Anthony Watmough: Succumbed to a nasty knee hyper extension in the first half. Let's hope its not a lengthy time out.
Brenton Lawrence: Whatever Toovs said at half time sure worked. Came out on fire in the 2nd half ripping up the metres. What a god send he's been all year.
Matt Ballin: Another busy performance topping the tackle count as usual and running with spark from dummy half.
Brent Kite: The Landcruiser continues to turn back the years week after week, defying the fact we are actually down two props for the season.
Bench:
Richie Fa-aoso: Solid work out again showing the importance of his bench muscle against the big Warriors pack and we're sure going to need it in spades on Fri night against the Burgess monsters.
David Gower: Some great busts up the middle showed why he's been given a bench spot in recent weeks. This somewhat unexpected depth will be critical come September.
George Rose: The big man never was as hard to stop as ever in a few well timed stints, though like our other front engine boys will need to step it up on Fri night.
James Hasson: Another relatively short spell makes it hard to judge his real worth to the squad, but in Toovs we trust.
THE GOOD:
5 good out takes from the day:
1. After a sloppy first 40 mins we took total control of the 2nd half from the very first set ensuring the match was in no danger.
2. Our right side showed they can be as potent as our left with a classy display including the steady return to normal transmission for Glenn.
3. Choc's setback aside, we are in remarkable shape for rd 22, boasting something like an unnrivalled 12 players who've only missed one game or less.
4. As per above our virtually unchanged 1-7 are in sensational form with the well deserved reputation as the best in the business.
5. The invigorated Wolfman has added so much raw energy in more ways than one.
THE BAD:
Horse Head Maxwell and his annoying mate Suttor tried hard to spoil the day with their niggly as hell refereeing style but it wasn't enough to do any real damage.
THE UGLY:
Sunday 2pm kick off. 21 degrees of superb sunshine. A brilliant stadium to watch footy. A dead easy drive from Sydney or even a gorgeous ferry ride up from Palm Beach. Excellent match up against entertaining opponents. And of course 5 wins on the trot heading for a 6th. So why on earth did only 12,000 turn up? I just don't get it. Very disappointing. The placed should have been packed to the rafters today. Worse still pretty hard to see how any more will make it back there in 5 days time given the ridiculous difficulty of getting up the F3 on a Friday night. Expect we'll be easily out numbered by the Rabbitoh's fans.
SUMMARY:
Mrs CF2 attended just her 4th Manly game today (including the 2011 GF) and has never seen the boys lose. After just 57 minutes she announced the result was as good as done, and despite the somewhat surprising early call I couldn't disagree given the Wolfman's hat trick put us in a commanding mood.
Even taking into contention our sloppy first half completion rate we did indeed control the 2nd half from the get go with relative ease, stepping up an important gear when needed, but at the same time leaving plenty of petrol in the tank for next Fri nights bunny blockbuster. That fuel reserve will be vital for such a big game against physically huge opposition.
The 6/6 wins have been a methodically precise goal to setup a priceless top 4 position, but the work is not complete. A return to Gosford as the away team in just 5 days will be a tough task, Inglis or not, but we are playing like a team who truly believe in themselves. Credit of course to Toov's who's engineering a very fine season.
Bring it on.
by CF2
Player ratings:
Brett Stewart: Yet another flawless performance. Swallowed the bombs with ease, purred through the gaps when needed, and of course clocked up another 2 "home" tries.
Jorge Taufau: Bit of a quiet day for Jorge but nothing to be concerned about.
Steve Matai: Did we not go left much today? Also seemed a slightly quieter day, but loved the sheer never give up enthusiasm on the very last play of the day to deny them a try.
Jamie Lyon: Sound game and strong in defence with 19 tackles. The goal kicking? More Joey practice this week please we can't afford those misses against the Bunnies.
David Williams: Maybe the whole team should be on the raw food diet. Sensational MOM display. 19 runs, 236 metres and 3 tries. Wouldn't surprise if he'd run the city to surf as a warm up. Let's hope he re signs soon.
Kieran Foran: Ok our left side must have been quieter today given Kieran didn't seem to really stand out either. Or maybe I missed something in the Gosford sun?
Daly Cherry-Evans: The early 40/20 set the tone for a busy performance, book ending it with a neat match practice field goal. Never lets us down and will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming weeks.
Glenn Stewart: Defence never being an issue, another much improved performance with the ball in hand and a brilliant grubber to set up a try.
Jamie Buhrer: Super sub found himself a late inclusion in the 2nd row and worked hard all day. Not only that but a very tough pair of shoes to fill given Horo's superb season long form.
Anthony Watmough: Succumbed to a nasty knee hyper extension in the first half. Let's hope its not a lengthy time out.
Brenton Lawrence: Whatever Toovs said at half time sure worked. Came out on fire in the 2nd half ripping up the metres. What a god send he's been all year.
Matt Ballin: Another busy performance topping the tackle count as usual and running with spark from dummy half.
Brent Kite: The Landcruiser continues to turn back the years week after week, defying the fact we are actually down two props for the season.
Bench:
Richie Fa-aoso: Solid work out again showing the importance of his bench muscle against the big Warriors pack and we're sure going to need it in spades on Fri night against the Burgess monsters.
David Gower: Some great busts up the middle showed why he's been given a bench spot in recent weeks. This somewhat unexpected depth will be critical come September.
George Rose: The big man never was as hard to stop as ever in a few well timed stints, though like our other front engine boys will need to step it up on Fri night.
James Hasson: Another relatively short spell makes it hard to judge his real worth to the squad, but in Toovs we trust.
THE GOOD:
5 good out takes from the day:
1. After a sloppy first 40 mins we took total control of the 2nd half from the very first set ensuring the match was in no danger.
2. Our right side showed they can be as potent as our left with a classy display including the steady return to normal transmission for Glenn.
3. Choc's setback aside, we are in remarkable shape for rd 22, boasting something like an unnrivalled 12 players who've only missed one game or less.
4. As per above our virtually unchanged 1-7 are in sensational form with the well deserved reputation as the best in the business.
5. The invigorated Wolfman has added so much raw energy in more ways than one.
THE BAD:
Horse Head Maxwell and his annoying mate Suttor tried hard to spoil the day with their niggly as hell refereeing style but it wasn't enough to do any real damage.
THE UGLY:
Sunday 2pm kick off. 21 degrees of superb sunshine. A brilliant stadium to watch footy. A dead easy drive from Sydney or even a gorgeous ferry ride up from Palm Beach. Excellent match up against entertaining opponents. And of course 5 wins on the trot heading for a 6th. So why on earth did only 12,000 turn up? I just don't get it. Very disappointing. The placed should have been packed to the rafters today. Worse still pretty hard to see how any more will make it back there in 5 days time given the ridiculous difficulty of getting up the F3 on a Friday night. Expect we'll be easily out numbered by the Rabbitoh's fans.
SUMMARY:
Mrs CF2 attended just her 4th Manly game today (including the 2011 GF) and has never seen the boys lose. After just 57 minutes she announced the result was as good as done, and despite the somewhat surprising early call I couldn't disagree given the Wolfman's hat trick put us in a commanding mood.
Even taking into contention our sloppy first half completion rate we did indeed control the 2nd half from the get go with relative ease, stepping up an important gear when needed, but at the same time leaving plenty of petrol in the tank for next Fri nights bunny blockbuster. That fuel reserve will be vital for such a big game against physically huge opposition.
The 6/6 wins have been a methodically precise goal to setup a priceless top 4 position, but the work is not complete. A return to Gosford as the away team in just 5 days will be a tough task, Inglis or not, but we are playing like a team who truly believe in themselves. Credit of course to Toov's who's engineering a very fine season.
Bring it on.