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The Insomniac

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Watching the recent Manly Club day last week on Fox it struck me what a good half Orford was for us. He owned Thurston in the 07 qualifing final we won 30 to 6. He cruised us through the final series in 08 culminating in the greatest grand final win in NRL history. Looking back i must admit to underestimating his influence at the time. Discussion ?
 
Yeah, ill admit I wasn't his biggest fan when he turned up at the club (still waiting on that signing announcement ;) ), but he had a really big role in that 08 final series dominance.
 
07 and 08 were great years for Orford no doubt.
In The 2008 final series we were as dominant as any team has ever been.
 
I was never a massive Orford fan but you have to respect his efforts in 2008 for sure. You can't dominate a finals series like we did without a dominant half. He might have got a touch lucky with his Dally M but fair reward for a pretty consistent season topped off with a crunching finals run. I think injury got the better of him in then end and he didn't really finish his time at manly on a high
 
I was never a massive Orford fan but you have to respect his efforts in 2008 for sure. You can't dominate a finals series like we did without a dominant half. He might have got a touch lucky with his Dally M but fair reward for a pretty consistent season topped off with a crunching finals run. I think injury got the better of him in then end and he didn't really finish his time at manly on a high
Raiders fans didn't get to see the best of OX. They still want him drawn and quartered.
 
I remember in media circles there was always a big question mark over Orford's temperament during big matches...they used to call him a 'choker' and I remember Sterlo was particularly critical of Orford's short kicking game under pressure. The 2008 finals series was the moment he finally silenced his critics.
 
Wasnt a bad comeback for the club after the dreadful Northern Eagles fiasco. Des must take a lot of the credit too. I recon looking at him closely at the Doggies he's not really happy. Moneys great but he bled for Manly. Wouldn't be surprised if he comes back one day.
 
I think what 08 showed us was also what a class half partner Killer was. I was super critical of De$ putting Killer in the halves. I used to think why would you put one of the worlds great centres out of position? I saw him play some good games and some ok ones. Then Killer got injured just before the finals series in 08.....anyone remember that? We copped a few losses and started looking a bit disjointed. Suddenly we realized that Killer was having a very positive effect on Ox, and he was severely missed.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I agree on Ox, he was a much maligned player. I never thought he was brilliant, but I certainly never thought he was a dud either. One thing I did love about him was he had heart, and you can't teach someone that. Aside from his kicking game in the 08 GF what I remember is his massive hit on one of the storm forwards which dislodged the ball (I think we scored soon after).
 
I think what 08 showed us was also what a class half partner Killer was. I was super critical of De$ putting Killer in the halves. I used to think why would you put one of the worlds great centres out of position? I saw him play some good games and some ok ones. Then Killer got injured just before the finals series in 08.....anyone remember that? We copped a few losses and started looking a bit disjointed. Suddenly we realized that Killer was having a very positive effect on Ox, and he was severely missed.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I agree on Ox, he was a much maligned player. I never thought he was brilliant, but I certainly never thought he was a dud either. One thing I did love about him was he had heart, and you can't teach someone that. Aside from his kicking game in the 08 GF what I remember is his massive hit on one of the storm forwards which dislodged the ball (I think we scored soon after).
The hit was on Kafusi and it was the moment the game swung to us and we never let that momentum go.
 
Remember when his kicks at goals would not make the distance? He only kicked at 70% and we still flogged them.
 
I knew from my seats in the Jane Try during that period that A LOT of people thought he was ****. I loved the little guy so what's the lesson - Loobs is always right!
 
I knew from my seats in the Jane Try during that period that A LOT of people thought he was ****. I loved the little guy so what's the lesson - Loobs is always right!
The lesson is if Loobs needs "seats" then he needs to make some lifestyle choices.
 
Also great guy. I saw him once out when I was pretty trashed and he happily posed for a photo while repeatedly told him how awesome he was...
 
Matty Orford and Preston Campbell are the only Dally M Medal winners who never played rep footy higher than City vs Country (I'm still trying to figure out how Pearce got selected for NSW in front of Ox...and then managed to keep getting selected despite loss after loss).

Every other winner has either represented their state and/or country.

Would Ox have won the Dally M in 2008 if Billy Slater hadn't been suspended (2 matches later downgraded to one) for throwing punches at Jason Nightingale in a match late in the season?
 

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