The No-Look News (Schuster Chronicles)

[Disco]

Not a good situation for Manly if he can't make a decent go as a 6 , especially in the short term and of course hope that that your optimism has a good outcome .

True but at some stage you have to give young kids a go.

You can't keep holding players back forever.

If the Cowboys held back the Nanai and Deardens of this world cause they may not work out then they'd have gotten nowhere.

 

[manly al]

True but at some stage you have to give young kids a go.

You can't keep holding players back forever.

If the Cowboys held back the Nanai and Deardens of this world cause they may not work out then they'd have gotten nowhere.

No question about that policy but in Josh 's case , already has had an opportunity and for various reasons has gone backwards . Fair enough hasn 't had a lot of opportunity as a 6 and realize that a lot of the discussion revolves around that point and not a bad game there against the warriors some time back but gee a long way of the pace to get back to his form level from last season let alone making a go of it as a 6 . Not too sure what his current weight is but a good part of that could just be natural growth and simply would not in his best interests footy wise to lose that much weight to play his natural instinctive type game as a 6 . Great if he could transition into a 13 but would still have to find a capable 6 in that instance . Guess that he just hopefully has to get back to some good playing fitness level and see how it goes from there

 

[Nordburg]

So obviously Schuster isn’t one of those players that when interviewed say “I’m just happy to be in the team.I’ll play front row if the team needs me too”

 

[Woodsie]

True but at some stage you have to give young kids a go.

You can't keep holding players back forever.

If the Cowboys held back the Nanai and Deardens of this world cause they may not work out then they'd have gotten nowhere.

You mean like Koula at 19 ..? ... A fullback playing at centre ..

 

[Nordburg]

True but at some stage you have to give young kids a go.

You can't keep holding players back forever.

If the Cowboys held back the Nanai and Deardens of this world cause they may not work out then they'd have gotten nowhere.

DCE didn’t make his debut til he was 22,he seems to have gone ok

 

[Disco]

You mean like Koula at 19 ..? ... A fullback playing at centre ..

Exactly, you play it safe saying he might not be ready and keep Suli or you allow space and opportunity for young talent

 

[Disco]

DCE didn’t make his debut til he was 22,he seems to have gone ok

Yes....but we had Hodgkinson, we could have kept him saying "what if DCE doesn't work out" but we didnt, we gave DCE his shot.

Won us a premiership too

 

[Marto1970]

S

Spot on. Latu is the long term 6 and Humphreys should be the long term 7 imo. The problem is that humphreys will only be prepared to wait one more year in reserve grade before he wants to be the starting halfback for us and now that DCE is signed up for another 3 years I can definitely see Humphreys going to another club, which is a real shame. As I believe by 2024, both Latu and Humphreys will be ready for first grade and would form a nice halves pairing.

O will they both play for Blacktown next year

 

[Woodsie]

Exactly, you play it safe saying he might not be ready and keep Suli or you allow space and opportunity for young talent

My point is we do give young talent a go ... some are ready at 18 ... some not until they are 22/23 .

You can't have a blanket policy, because all players are different . and the biggest difference is not necessarily physical maturity ... but mental maturity ...

 

[Disco]

My point is we do give young talent a go ... some are ready at 18 ... some not until they are 22/23 .

You can't have a blanket policy, because all players are different . and the biggest difference is not necessarily physical maturity ... but mental maturity ...

Well we agree on that then.

In regards to Schuster we tried to get a 1 year extension for Foran but he took up 2 years on the GC.

For mine two years would have been too long so I prefer the situation we face ourselves now.

Schuster has every chance now to knuckle down and kill it next year.

 

[Smokin Joe]

So obviously Schuster isn’t one of those players that when interviewed say “I’m just happy to be in the team.I’ll play front row if the team needs me too”

So are you saying he should lie and say yes to that question if asked?
He needs to re-hash a tired cliche that no one really believes to make a few fans feel better?
People on here might then consider him a liar and question his character......

 

[ManEagle]

Not many players come out publicly and say they are thinking of not representing their country in a world cup year in order to get right for their team.
I'm willing to give Shu the time to find his feet if he is prepared to do that for our team.

 

[The Who]

I can't figure out why Burbo has been preferred to The Shoe on the reserves bench. This is not to disparage Burbo who I'm sure will be a regular in our 17 in 2023. But The Shoe offers a X-factor. If we are chasing points he is the player you want to be able to throw into the fray.
All I can think is that he is not 100% fit, and DESpicable is playing it safe in the belief that the Eels match will be one of attrition rather than high scoring.
Maybe The Shoe is being cherry-picked (no pun intended) to play against certain teams that play a particular style of football. I don't know. What I do know is that The Shoe is the most talented Manly junior I'd seen for many decades.

 

[aidos]

S

O will they both play for Blacktown next year

Well humphreys has already played a fair few games for blacktown this year and latu is making his debut in the flegg team this week. So I’d assume humphreys will be the regular halfback in nsw cup next year and latu will probably start the season in sg ball and then once that competition finishes (as it’s much shorter than flegg and reserve grade) he’ll play the rest of the season in the flegg team. My understanding is that latu is 17 at the moment and will turn 18 next year so definitely still very young but you’d think by 2024 he will be ready for first grade as he’ll be turning 19 that year.

 

[XV-1]

Not many players come out publicly and say they are thinking of not representing their country in a world cup year in order to get right for their team.
I'm willing to give Shu the time to find his feet if he is prepared to do that for our team.

That makes no difference to the moron brigade. Schu being the new whipping boi seems more fun for them.

He will kill it next year.

 

[MuzztheEagle]

I can't figure out why Burbo has been preferred to The Shoe on the reserves bench. This is not to disparage Burbo who I'm sure will be a regular in our 17 in 2023. But The Shoe offers a X-factor. If we are chasing points he is the player you want to be able to throw into the fray.
All I can think is that he is not 100% fit, and DESpicable is playing it safe in the belief that the Eels match will be one of attrition rather than high scoring.
Maybe The Shoe is being cherry-picked (no pun intended) to play against certain teams that play a particular style of football. I don't know. What I do know is that The Shoe is the most talented Manly junior I'd seen for many decades.

Burbo can fill in at centre if there's an injury (as well as 2nd row) - which, in fairness Walker could do as well but his rotation with the forwards is part of the game plan now.
I think the problem is, who comes off for him? If the game is close, would you pull DCE/Foz/Jake for him? Would you reduce the tackle power of the middle or risk disrupting the defensive line by pulling Davey?
I wouldn't be too surprised if Foz gets benched if (once) the finals become a "mathematical impossibility"

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Strange that Fittler and Johns have both come out and said that Schuster has a fitness and attitude problem. Now given Fittler is heavily invested in Schuster and saw him last year as a future Origin player and would have been keeping close contacts on him.. he obviously would have some intel. It is not too late to turn it all around though... he has skill to burn. As Fittler said and as people on here who have played at a decent level know and understand - the getting fit part is the easy part... there are no excuses for not being fit this late in the year... unless you are injured. Now given he is playing or available to play I am guessing he can't be that injured that he cant get fitter and if he was that injured Des would put him out to pasture until he was healthy. So it just comes down to desire and commitment. He has the world at his feet but at the moment he is living on the past. Hopefully he stays at Manly and plays the house down as 6 next year. But gee at the moment it is a huge huge risk. I can even see him leaving at the end of the year seeing Des is not coping his performances.

 

[Woodsie]

Strange that Fittler and Johns have both come out and said that Schuster has a fitness and attitude problem. Now given Fittler is heavily invested in Schuster and saw him last year as a future Origin player and would have been keeping close contacts on him.. he obviously would have some intel. It is not too late to turn it all around though... he has skill to burn. As Fittler said and as people on here who have played at a decent level know and understand - the getting fit part is the easy part... there are no excuses for not being fit this late in the year... unless you are injured. Now given he is playing or available to play I am guessing he can't be that injured that he cant get fitter and if he was that injured Des would put him out to pasture until he was healthy. So it just comes down to desire and commitment. He has the world at his feet but at the moment he is living on the past. Hopefully he stays at Manly and plays the house down as 6 next year. But gee at the moment it is a huge huge risk. I can even see him leaving at the end of the year seeing Des is not coping his performances.

Mate ... get with the program ..

It's Dessie's fault
It's the the Assistance coaches fault ..
It's the clubs lack of knowing how to bring players on at fault
It's the medical staff's fault ..
It's his managers fault ...

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Mate ... get with the program ..

It's Dessie's fault
It's the the Assistance coaches fault ..
It's the clubs lack of knowing how to bring players on at fault
It's the medical staff's fault ..
It's his managers fault ...

Sorry yes they are all at fault. It is someone's fault.... but who? Anyone giving him a free pass for his weight/lack of fitness because he was injured and his off season was interrupted and/or that it is because Des' isn't playing him is simply deluded. I have not and would not question his talent - he has rare talent... but his problem is his ego and between his ears. You need a decent ego to be a good sportsman but I think his might be in overdrive and he obviously isn't the smartest tool in the shed packing on the kilos to end up dropping out of the 17 - really sad. Des can't keep picking him on ability - effort, desire and performance have to be the criteria and I think just about all Manly supporters if they were honest would say in all three areas THIS year (last year he was great) but THIS year he is not up to standard across all three of those areas.

 

[The Who]

Strange that Fittler and Johns have both come out and said that Schuster has a fitness and attitude problem. Now given Fittler is heavily invested in Schuster and saw him last year as a future Origin player and would have been keeping close contacts on him.. he obviously would have some intel. It is not too late to turn it all around though... he has skill to burn. As Fittler said and as people on here who have played at a decent level know and understand - the getting fit part is the easy part... there are no excuses for not being fit this late in the year... unless you are injured. Now given he is playing or available to play I am guessing he can't be that injured that he cant get fitter and if he was that injured Des would put him out to pasture until he was healthy. So it just comes down to desire and commitment. He has the world at his feet but at the moment he is living on the past. Hopefully he stays at Manly and plays the house down as 6 next year. But gee at the moment it is a huge huge risk. I can even see him leaving at the end of the year seeing Des is not coping his performances.

Not all players have the same level of fitness, nor need to train hard in order to play well.
The only thing that matters is playing well in a match. The Shoe hasn't really been given enough game time in the last few months to know if his fitness is affecting his skill levels. Our beloved Cliffy wasn't a great trainer, I understand, and smoking certainly didn't help his fitness but he managed to get through each match and show great dexterity and footy nous.
The Shoe hasn't played well this season, but it could simply be the second-year syndrome curse which, you'll remember, also affected Sandwich.