The No-Look News (Schuster Chronicles)

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.
  • We have been getting regular requests for users who have been locked out of their accounts because they have changed email adresses over the lifetime of their accounts. Please make sure the email address under your account is your current and correct email address in order to avoid this in the future. You can set your email address at https://silvertails.net/account/account-details
  • Wwe are currently experience some server issues which I am working through and hoping to resolve soon, Please bare with me whilst I work through making some changes and possible intermittent outages.
  • Apologies all our server was runing rogue. I managed to get us back to a point from 2:45 today though there is an attachment issue i will fix shortly. Things should be smooth now though
It certainly was evident that we weren't anywhere near as fit as some of the better teams this year but a left field question - is there any chance that the training regime was pulled back to some degree given the uncertainty that surrounded young Keith Titmus?
 
Jason smith
jim dymock
scott hill
wally lewis started as a lock, pretty sure cliffy was a lock early


Actually Cliff started as 5/8 and moved to centre at Norths. He did play a little lock at Manly, but mainly near the end of his career when he was slowing down. He interchanged with Hasler at times who also played lock, half or 5/8. Fulton had him at lock in his first year, 1986, because Vautin was unavailable with a broken arm so Mitchell Cox played 5/8. But the following year and from then on he was 5/8 for most of his career. His brilliance was especially noted in the 7s comp, which showed his ball playing skills to the optimum. Fulton generally knew how to get the best out of his troops and what position suited them. His only flaw I felt was Phil Blake
 
Still have mixed feeling about the viability of Josh , short or long term as a 6 . Again to take into account the 6"s at the top 6 's especially in final 's teams Luai , , Cody Walker , Hynes , Brown , Deardon , Munster , Wighton , Keary All highly mobile , good on their feet , reasonable enough defenders . No doubting Josh's skill and passing level at his best but agility level definitely lacking at present and for some time naturally . , Defence has hardly been one of his better attributes as well for some time also . Very pleasing to see that he is apparently really knuckling down and making a real effort to get into some good shape and fitness at present . Maybe and hopefully this can see a transition into a much more formidable footy player and even into a competitive 6 role . and to get his tackling and direct front on defence up to speed again as well . if Josh can make a go of it as a decent 6 , , maybe Weekes could be given a crack as a centre , would seem to have more speed then Harper and no doubt Parker . Schuster giving good ball to koula or Weekes or getting them into space could be something well worth aiming for . As long again if Josh can get into the required fitness and mobility level to make a 6 role viable for him and the side
 
Sorry dont agree Manly Al.

No 1. His defense was outstanding in 2021 with one of the highest counts per game and one of the best completions.

No 2 At his best as a five eighth he is easily one of the best in the game. And that's not just passing. He has deceptive strength and speed and is able to jink about like the best of them (we've seen that with the package of his plays in his final year in juniors). He dominates, when his confidence is up. But he needs time in first grade as a 5/8 to develop those skills at that level

No 3 Easy to forget he had a serious injury early this year and yes his fitness level dropped. I would suspect part of the weight issue started when he was told to play second row. That required more bulk, which naturally would diminish his mobility. What was he to do? Remain like a 5/8 and be bowled over by big forwards or build up. He was meant to be five eighth and suddenly thrust into the forwards.

No 4 I seriously suspect (and I apologise to Des if I'm wrong) he was deceived by Des into believing he had the 5/8 spot sewn up, even when Foran was signed. That's why I suspect he refused other offers and stayed. Suddenly two years later he's still in the forwards and unable to utilise he's undoubted skill. Horrible though it may sound, and many would knock him for it, but I think he lost interest. Possibly playing himself out of the club. Hasler has had a Foran love since the kid first came to first grade. I suspect Foran left partly because Des left and lo and behold he eventually ends up at the dogs...with Des. Des has always had this blind spot, where he wont risk someone new unless forced to by injury. Because Foran was rarely injured the apparent promise to Schuster, went out the window. I suspect Des was forced to not have Foran resigned for that very reason. And again this is not about Foran who played well for us. This is about Des making an apparent promise to Schuster to keep him at the club and then reneging. No wonder Schuster lost interest.

Now Schuster may fail. I dont think so but its possible. Then judge his ability at 5/8. My gut feeling is that he'll take the Manly back line to another level, but we'll see and we should have been seeing it 2 years ago.
 
Sorry dont agree Manly Al.

No 1. His defense was outstanding in 2021 with one of the highest counts per game and one of the best completions.

No 2 At his best as a five eighth he is easily one of the best in the game. And that's not just passing. He has deceptive strength and speed and is able to jink about like the best of them (we've seen that with the package of his plays in his final year in juniors). He dominates, when his confidence is up. But he needs time in first grade as a 5/8 to develop those skills at that level

No 3 Easy to forget he had a serious injury early this year and yes his fitness level dropped. I would suspect part of the weight issue started when he was told to play second row. That required more bulk, which naturally would diminish his mobility. What was he to do? Remain like a 5/8 and be bowled over by big forwards or build up. He was meant to be five eighth and suddenly thrust into the forwards.

No 4 I seriously suspect (and I apologise to Des if I'm wrong) he was deceived by Des into believing he had the 5/8 spot sewn up, even when Foran was signed. That's why I suspect he refused other offers and stayed. Suddenly two years later he's still in the forwards and unable to utilise he's undoubted skill. Horrible though it may sound, and many would knock him for it, but I think he lost interest. Possibly playing himself out of the club. Hasler has had a Foran love since the kid first came to first grade. I suspect Foran left partly because Des left and lo and behold he eventually ends up at the dogs...with Des. Des has always had this blind spot, where he wont risk someone new unless forced to by injury. Because Foran was rarely injured the apparent promise to Schuster, went out the window. I suspect Des was forced to not have Foran resigned for that very reason. And again this is not about Foran who played well for us. This is about Des making an apparent promise to Schuster to keep him at the club and then reneging. No wonder Schuster lost interest.

Now Schuster may fail. I dont think so but its possible. Then judge his ability at 5/8. My gut feeling is that he'll take the Manly back line to another level, but we'll see and we should have been seeing it 2 years ago.
No 1 his defence was OK last year, I wouldn't say outstanding

No 2 No he is not easily one of the best 5/8s in the game, he isn't even one of the 16 NRL 5/8s at this stage! Yes he had great potential as a kid. Agree with that.

No. 3 Pure speculation on your part, about bulking up to play back row. He was already a big kid who naturally has a very solid build. Second row forward at NRL level requires a superfit hard body not a body loaded up with extra bulk, especially when that bulk is not even made of muscle

No. 4 Pure speculation on your part once again, firstly to suppose Schu lost interest and secondly to blame that on Hasler lying to him. Seriously!

I fully expect a fit Schu to start strongly in 2023 and have a great year, but so much will come down to how well he controls his risky plays. A player who repeatedly gifts the ball to the opposition won't get picked up by any NRL club. So we need a fit and especially a very focussed Schu next year, and if we get that then the disappointments of his 2022 season can be consigned to the dustbin.
 
A bit off the current position of this topic but I can't help but think if it was another club, the headlines regarding shu training would be:

"The sight that should have all other clubs worrying"

"Shu foregoes holidays to be the man to lead Manly"

or other positive headlines like that.

Ok

carry on
 
A bit off the current position of this topic but I can't help but think if it was another club, the headlines regarding shu training would be:

"The sight that should have all other clubs worrying"

"Shu foregoes holidays to be the man to lead Manly"

or other positive headlines like that.

Ok

carry on
Schu putting his 2023 campaign on a solid footing!
Schu prepares to lay the boot into NRL rivals in '23!
 
It certainly was evident that we weren't anywhere near as fit as some of the better teams this year but a left field question - is there any chance that the training regime was pulled back to some degree given the uncertainty that surrounded young Keith Titmus?

I think so, and have been since the fitness issues were raised. Donny also seemed to be mentally effected as well as emotionally, then finding out the circumstances were still being investigated recently only adds to the possibility that they pulled back on the fitness demands last off season and early in the year.
I think its a real possibility it would be a heavy load to carry with that on your mind.
 
His size early 2021 before being asked to play backrow.
Gets back to that shape and let's see.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20220914_152923.jpg
    Screenshot_20220914_152923.jpg
    339 KB · Views: 33
  • Screenshot_20220914_153135.jpg
    Screenshot_20220914_153135.jpg
    402.1 KB · Views: 33
Well there will only be two outcomes for Silvertailers , following game 1 , in 2023.

1) what a revelation the Shoe is , man why didn’t we play him in this position last year !!

2) yeah we were right last year weren’t we , he’s a ****ing disaster and we are headed for the spoon absolutely guaranteed.

There will be NO MIDDLE GROUND
 
It certainly was evident that we weren't anywhere near as fit as some of the better teams this year but a left field question - is there any chance that the training regime was pulled back to some degree given the uncertainty that surrounded young Keith Titmus?

I think so, and have been since the fitness issues were raised. Donny also seemed to be mentally effected as well as emotionally, then finding out the circumstances were still being investigated recently only adds to the possibility that they pulled back on the fitness demands last off season and early in the year.
I think its a real possibility it would be a heavy load to carry with that on your mind.
No, surely not. Look, we also had that big reserve forward nearly die from heatstroke a few years ago, but that wasn't on Donnie's watch, it was back in 2018.
And Keith's tragic death was November 2020
I don't recall too many people questioning Manly's fitness in 2021 when we were blitzing all comers (well, nearly all) with length of the field tries.
I doubt there is much guessing in NRL these days when it comes to sports science.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Team P W L PD Pts
10 9 1 124 20
10 8 2 81 18
10 7 3 70 16
10 7 3 69 16
11 7 4 59 14
10 6 4 -10 14
11 6 5 107 12
11 6 5 -9 12
10 5 5 -56 12
11 5 5 30 11
10 4 6 15 10
11 5 6 -12 10
11 4 6 -7 9
10 3 7 -103 8
10 2 8 -81 6
10 2 8 -91 6
10 1 9 -186 4
Back
Top Bottom