The Ruck

[LeonardCohen]

When dissecting games, it's easy to blame individuals and/or moments but unless a game is two sides competing hard against each other and a pivotal mistake happens at the death, it is rarely ever down to a moment.

Personally, when I watch Manly, I see a side consistently beaten at the ruck most weeks. It's a big reason why the edge defence is exposed. At no point today did we look on top of Penrith. Even when we scored those tries down the edge and were winning 12-4, it still felt like Penrith were running harder and tackling harder. I was not surprised when they went to halftime in front.

A game is 17 on 17; that's 34 variables. Nine times out of ten, a game will be won by the team that 'on average' wins contact, either in defence or with the ball. Our side do not win the little contests enough across the 17 players. Most of the contact today was won by Penrith and we lost the game. It's not Garrick or Ben T. It's the team.

Every year, the two teams that make the GF are usually the two teams who 'on average' win the contact more than their opposition. Now, that might seem obvious and pointless, but I don't blame individuals for our position in the middle of the table. We do not have the pack and power outside backs to challenge quality opposition when they decide to turn up, like Penrith did today. Wins against the likes of Melbourne at Brooky, happen because we turn up and give 100% and the opposition are slightly off the boil.

 

[The '47ers]

17+17=34

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

I found the penalty on Gordon for a flop extremely tough, I’d seen numerous examples of that the whole game let go

 

[Pete W]

When dissecting games, it's easy to blame individuals and/or moments but unless a game is two sides competing hard against each other and a pivotal mistake happens at the death, it is rarely ever down to a moment.

Personally, when I watch Manly, I see a side consistently beaten at the ruck most weeks. It's a big reason why the edge defence is exposed. At no point today did we look on top of Penrith. Even when we scored those tries down the edge and were winning 12-4, it still felt like Penrith were running harder and tackling harder. I was not surprised when they went to halftime in front.

A game is 17 on 17; that's 34 variables. Nine times out of ten, a game will be won by the team that 'on average' wins contact, either in defence or with the ball. Our side do not win the little contests enough across the 17 players. Most of the contact today was won by Penrith and we lost the game. It's not Garrick or Ben T. It's the team.

Every year, the two teams that make the GF are usually the two teams who 'on average' win the contact more than their opposition. Now, that might seem obvious and pointless, but I don't blame individuals for our position in the middle of the table. We do not have the pack and power outside backs to challenge quality opposition when they decide to turn up, like Penrith did today. Wins against the likes of Melbourne at Brooky, happen because we turn up and give 100% and the opposition are slightly off the boil.

Guys like Choc, Gifty, Skivvy, Killer made it a point to get on top of their opposite at every moment they could. They craved the contest, frothed at the tough stuff like rabid dogs scrapping over a bone

 

[seaeagles4life]

I've mentioned it before, we are terrible for getting 3 or more in a tackle and always grass cut tackles that are not rewarded but let teams get quick play the balls against us.

 

[joeboy]

we are well below average on both sides of the ruck. Give up way too many post contact metres, late offloads, players landing on their front and getting quick play the balls. We look to back peddle in defense from the opening whistle most weeks.

With the ball, it’s become obvious that not a single player in our squad has a decent pass from dummy half. We never hit the advantage line, the passing and run up are out of sync and we dont make enough metres through the middle too many players without leg drive and thrust.

 

[Eddie Rapido]

When dissecting games, it's easy to blame individuals and/or moments but unless a game is two sides competing hard against each other and a pivotal mistake happens at the death, it is rarely ever down to a moment.

Personally, when I watch Manly, I see a side consistently beaten at the ruck most weeks. It's a big reason why the edge defence is exposed. At no point today did we look on top of Penrith. Even when we scored those tries down the edge and were winning 12-4, it still felt like Penrith were running harder and tackling harder. I was not surprised when they went to halftime in front.

A game is 17 on 17; that's 34 variables. Nine times out of ten, a game will be won by the team that 'on average' wins contact, either in defence or with the ball. Our side do not win the little contests enough across the 17 players. Most of the contact today was won by Penrith and we lost the game. It's not Garrick or Ben T. It's the team.

Every year, the two teams that make the GF are usually the two teams who 'on average' win the contact more than their opposition. Now, that might seem obvious and pointless, but I don't blame individuals for our position in the middle of the table. We do not have the pack and power outside backs to challenge quality opposition when they decide to turn up, like Penrith did today. Wins against the likes of Melbourne at Brooky, happen because we turn up and give 100% and the opposition are slightly off the boil.

Absolutely nailed it.

 

[Nike]

What exactly does Jim Dymock do to justify a wage?

 

[Under the Sticks]

What exactly does Jim Dymock do to justify a wage?

Especially when our defensive tactics are attack focused.

 

[mickqld]

Can someone explain why they keep picking the WORST #9 in the competition. In fact he's not even a #9. Surely Simpkin or GCKT get picked next week. We are barren out of dummy half. Every team knows they don't have to even try to defend around the ruck against us because we throw NOTHING out of there.

 

[Rocky]

Yeah, it was the first thing i noticed in the game. They were making 50 metres and we were making 30m.

I'm not sure we lose the ruck most games but this time we were way off the pace. But they aren't the 3 time champions for a reason.

Solutions? I actually thought Paseka and Aloiai were pretty good. But yeah need to find one or two Spencer Leniu or Rueben Cotters..but they don't grow on trees.

 

[eaglebuzz]

The ref was not policing the ruck at all when the Panthers were on defense, their guys were laying all over us for an eternity and getting away with

 

[bob dylan]

we are well below average on both sides of the ruck. Give up way too many post contact metres, late offloads, players landing on their front and getting quick play the balls. We look to back peddle in defense from the opening whistle most weeks.

With the ball, it’s become obvious that not a single player in our squad has a decent pass from dummy half. We never hit the advantage line, the passing and run up are out of sync and we dont make enough metres through the middle too many players without leg drive and thrust.

Maybe we are over achievers

 

[Disco]

When dissecting games, it's easy to blame individuals and/or moments but unless a game is two sides competing hard against each other and a pivotal mistake happens at the death, it is rarely ever down to a moment.

Personally, when I watch Manly, I see a side consistently beaten at the ruck most weeks. It's a big reason why the edge defence is exposed. At no point today did we look on top of Penrith. Even when we scored those tries down the edge and were winning 12-4, it still felt like Penrith were running harder and tackling harder. I was not surprised when they went to halftime in front.

A game is 17 on 17; that's 34 variables. Nine times out of ten, a game will be won by the team that 'on average' wins contact, either in defence or with the ball. Our side do not win the little contests enough across the 17 players. Most of the contact today was won by Penrith and we lost the game. It's not Garrick or Ben T. It's the team.

Every year, the two teams that make the GF are usually the two teams who 'on average' win the contact more than their opposition. Now, that might seem obvious and pointless, but I don't blame individuals for our position in the middle of the table. We do not have the pack and power outside backs to challenge quality opposition when they decide to turn up, like Penrith did today. Wins against the likes of Melbourne at Brooky, happen because we turn up and give 100% and the opposition are slightly off the boil.

Ruck has been an issue for years, kills me

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

When dissecting games, it's easy to blame individuals and/or moments but unless a game is two sides competing hard against each other and a pivotal mistake happens at the death, it is rarely ever down to a moment.

Personally, when I watch Manly, I see a side consistently beaten at the ruck most weeks. It's a big reason why the edge defence is exposed. At no point today did we look on top of Penrith. Even when we scored those tries down the edge and were winning 12-4, it still felt like Penrith were running harder and tackling harder. I was not surprised when they went to halftime in front.

A game is 17 on 17; that's 34 variables. Nine times out of ten, a game will be won by the team that 'on average' wins contact, either in defence or with the ball. Our side do not win the little contests enough across the 17 players. Most of the contact today was won by Penrith and we lost the game. It's not Garrick or Ben T. It's the team.

Every year, the two teams that make the GF are usually the two teams who 'on average' win the contact more than their opposition. Now, that might seem obvious and pointless, but I don't blame individuals for our position in the middle of the table. We do not have the pack and power outside backs to challenge quality opposition when they decide to turn up, like Penrith did today. Wins against the likes of Melbourne at Brooky, happen because we turn up and give 100% and the opposition are slightly off the boil.

To be fair, most of the Panfers’ tries were scored on the edges too. Our goal line defence was generally good. It’s the ground conceded up the middle that’s a concern. However as mentioned elsewhere, at least two of their tries involved forward passes, that Christian Brothers’* ‘edumacated’ Sutton missed.

Certainly a big improvement on Manly’s last few efforts up at Floodprone Stadium.

*They f-cked their pupils.

 

[Stuey Davis’s Socks]

When dissecting games, it's easy to blame individuals and/or moments but unless a game is two sides competing hard against each other and a pivotal mistake happens at the death, it is rarely ever down to a moment.

Personally, when I watch Manly, I see a side consistently beaten at the ruck most weeks. It's a big reason why the edge defence is exposed. At no point today did we look on top of Penrith. Even when we scored those tries down the edge and were winning 12-4, it still felt like Penrith were running harder and tackling harder. I was not surprised when they went to halftime in front.

A game is 17 on 17; that's 34 variables. Nine times out of ten, a game will be won by the team that 'on average' wins contact, either in defence or with the ball. Our side do not win the little contests enough across the 17 players. Most of the contact today was won by Penrith and we lost the game. It's not Garrick or Ben T. It's the team.

Every year, the two teams that make the GF are usually the two teams who 'on average' win the contact more than their opposition. Now, that might seem obvious and pointless, but I don't blame individuals for our position in the middle of the table. We do not have the pack and power outside backs to challenge quality opposition when they decide to turn up, like Penrith did today. Wins against the likes of Melbourne at Brooky, happen because we turn up and give 100% and the opposition are slightly off the boil.

Great post LC

 

[AndWeDon'tCare]

Can someone explain why they keep picking the WORST #9 in the competition. In fact he's not even a #9. Surely Simpkin or GCKT get picked next week. We are barren out of dummy half. Every team knows they don't have to even try to defend around the ruck against us because we throw NOTHING out of there.

@mickqld, I couldn't agree more.

He isn't an upgrade on Croker, he is a downgrade.

I paid close attention to Lawton and like most of his matches he is so underwhelming in attack and barely proficient in defence.

I'm sorry to say, after watching GCKT today, I'm not sure CGKT is the answer either (he is constantly behind the play in the attack, if you watch today's game, after we field a kick return, he isn't in position for the second or even third play the ball, that's not good enough so hopefully the coaching team remedy this, perhaps it's a fitness related issue).

I'd like to see Simpkin get a run as well, but we all know for some peculiar reason, Lawton will be picked again next week.

He'll be a star in the Super League (Lawton that is), however, in my opinion, he isn't NRL first grade material.

 

[LeonardCohen]

The ref was not policing the ruck at all when the Panthers were on defense, their guys were laying all over us for an eternity and getting away with

Because they win contact though. You don’t get an equal amount of time at the ruck, it favours that the team that wins contact. We were getting belted with the ball and they were running through our defence with the ball. That’s why they got the rub of the green at the ruck.

 

[HK_Eagle]

Because they win contact though. You don’t get an equal amount of time at the ruck, it favours that the team that wins contact. We were getting belted with the ball and they were running through our defence with the ball. That’s why they got the rub of the green at the ruck.

Completely agree. I’ve only watched the first half so far and was shocked by the huge gap between the two teams’ defences. I’m surprised we even got that close, TBH.

 

[IQofalimabean]

Over 800 kick meters was the only thing that kept manly afloat in this game forward pack was completely manhandled