That's not the question you should start with. What you should ask is how is it that Manly have lost the last 6 of 8 games. If we had no one else to look at, we would just have to grin and bear it. But we have options and they aren't being used. If a team is losing so consistently the question isn't who should we drop but rather how many. Its not working, so surely you try a few options and see what does work. Its no use being loyal to players if they cant get the job done. As I recall Steve Mortimer once saying, its not how you play the game, its whether you win or lose. No one remembers losers. Hard, pragmatic, but that's how businesses succeed.
Well, my question follows naturally on from your question - we've established some changes are required.
I'm asking who you will be bringing into the team & who they'll be replacing.
I know you're a big Schuster fan - where would you play him?
-5/8th means dropping Cust. Does Cust deserve to be dropped?
-Lock means dropping Jake. Does Jake deserve to be dropped?
-Second row means dropping Sirro or Thommo as well as leapfrogging Jetski, Waddell & now Olakau'atu. Out of those 5 I'd agree Jetski & possibly Waddell could be dropped but they're good centre & prop cover from the bench.
-Hooker means dropping Levi to the bench & Croker out of the 17 (or Levi out & Croker stays at 14) - I can see the potential here.
What backline position would you put Schuster in & who would be dropped to accommodate him? We have:
-Jorge (incumbent)
-Garrick (incumbent until Elliott's injury)
-Parker (incumbent)
-Suli (incumbent)
...with:
-Funa (debuted this season)
-Miski (debuted last year)
...already queued up to replace any out for injury or poor form.
I'm genuinely interested because while I understand frustration at our performance this season, I've also seen the same 17 click & be very competitive this season so I think our injury toll has more to do with our form than the quality of our 17.
Combined with Des' loyalty & reluctance to drop players I get that it seems he's unwilling to change his ways but when you actually go through the process of who you would drop & who you would replace them with as I've done above, you can see there are already young players in line to play in those positions, so the likes of Schuster & Hoppa are essentially in line behind them.
Dropping Jorge for Hoppa means overlooking Funa or Miski.
Dropping Elliott (now Garrick) for Hoppa means not only throwing a young bloke who hasn't played a full game of footy since he was 16 & has never played an NRL first grade game into one of the most demanding positions on the field, it also means bypassing Funa.
