The short kick off

[jbb/james]

It was a good one, the ball travelled 10, didnt do anything a footy doesnt normally do. Should have been taken. Now ive watched this a few times, slowed it down. Cherry doesnt have eyes for the ball, but the potential defence

I say this because. All footy players are tough as nails but cherry plays with too much self preservation in mind. He never runs to the line to ball play or kick and i suspect its because he is looking to avoid be hit.

Im not saying he is soft, no footy player is soft, but he isnt the toughest and i am sure its part of the reason his kicking game and try assists are so average.

its worth discusssing if an 8 year contract has you playing within yourself, to avoid the brusies
Tackling doesnt count as they run at you and he is not a man that uses the shoulder anyway

There is a reason he doesnt play at the line and it isnt others players, or form, hooker or anything like that. If you disagree thats cool but try to explain so maybe i can understand
If its BLIND Faith, thats cool, im like that with my family so i get it , kind of

 

[maxta]

I like DCE as a player but you have pinpointed his worst trait imo.
Always felt the same with DCE you are 100% correct....I mean watch a half busted Foran even today at only 70% effort running to the line to throw that short ball, copping the hit, but often helping his mate find space.
This is actually a very good point because as a DCE fan, he has a habit that really entices the Manly attack to play sideways...
Also you will always find when a player runs straight ball in hand, the support will push up in support adding pressure on the defence, where when the ballrunner travels sideways will tend to have the support players mimmick this action and also shift sideways, which is easy to defend and often leads to errors.
DCE will generally do the same things, where if the defence rushes up, will dummy and skip back inside which stifles the attack and almost collides with his own players or, if the defence is a few metres away will throw the outside pass without drawing the defence, but also after drifting sideways which takes the defence with him and actually helps the slide defence cover those outside players....especially because he is not playing AT the line giving the defenders extra time, plus has the defence going the same direction.
Foran in comparison will (dig in), playing direct which will turn the outside defence inwards and create space for his outside men, as did the 1 and only Cliffy Lyons.
Young Schuster actually has this attribute and does take it to the line which is a Super ability, especially when disguised and done at speed.
ANyways, just my take on this point.

 

[ManlyArmy]

It was a good one, the ball travelled 10, didnt do anything a footy doesnt normally do. Should have been taken. Now ive watched this a few times, slowed it down. Cherry doesnt have eyes for the ball, but the potential defence

I say this because. All footy players are tough as nails but cherry plays with too much self preservation in mind. He never runs to the line to ball play or kick and i suspect its because he is looking to avoid be hit.

Im not saying he is soft, no footy player is soft, but he isnt the toughest and i am sure its part of the reason his kicking game and try assists are so average.

its worth discusssing if an 8 year contract has you playing within yourself, to avoid the brusies
Tackling doesnt count as they run at you and he is not a man that uses the shoulder anyway

There is a reason he doesnt play at the line and it isnt others players, or form, hooker or anything like that. If you disagree thats cool but try to explain so maybe i can understand
If its BLIND Faith, thats cool, im like that with my family so i get it , kind of

One of the things about DCE is that he doesn't seem to adapt & learn from certain things in the game.

You often hear about the great players being 'students of the game' and DCE definitely doesn't fit into this category at the moment.

 

[jbb/james]

One of the things about DCE is that he doesn't seem to adapt & learn from certain things in the game.

You often hear about the great players being 'students of the game' and DCE definitely doesn't fit into this category at the moment.

And you would think after signing an 8 year contract as a halfback thats exactly what he should become, because unlike others who are playing for a meal ticket he had no pressure as such

His positioning as a kicker is primary school stuff

Its the simple basics where he lets himself dowm , but he has big plays and that are too much of a bobby dazzler for some to see past

Wow havnt used bobby dazzler for years.

 

[Shnorky]

Forgive me if Im wrong, but in the last 10 years I have not seen manly win a short attacking kick off, cant reall them successfully defend many.

 

[mave]

Forgive me if Im wrong, but in the last 10 years I have not seen manly win a short attacking kick off, cant reall them successfully defend many.

Haha, you aren't my Dad by any chance ?

He is forever harping on that point.

Both of you are right though.

 

[MissKate]

Do you think it might have something to do with DCE knowing he is the only playmaker and if he gets hit and injured then we lose our only playmaker

 

[The Who]

Forgive me if Im wrong, but in the last 10 years I have not seen manly win a short attacking kick off, cant reall them successfully defend many.

Yep. It's one tactic that our team only employs when we are desperate.
We should have a kick-off box-of-tricks: grubbers, short, high but not too long... Yet we just do the same pre-programmed kick-off deep to the left corner. And it's not surprising that this almost never results in us getting the ball back.
We show no flair or initiative, probably because players are too scared to make a mistake. It makes for dull, predictable and unsuccessful football.

 

[Woodsie]

The counter point is .... every week he puts his body on the line in defence ...

 

[jbb/james]

The counter point is .... every week he puts his body on the line in defence ...

All footy players are tough but there is a massive difference between the toughest and the softest.
All coaches want players that put there heads in places normal people dont. No team is full of these players

Kickers have a lot more protection these days, but you will never see cherry and tagatese rumble like we saw foz .

Can you ever remember cherry being hit hard in D while taking the ball up. I honestly cant but most halfbacks regularly get folded.

cherry is an arms tackler, not as bad, but in the alfie mould without the leg. Even i would have a go at tackling a forward like that as oppoed to running at 4 of them with eyes for something else. You generally dont get slapped in the chops when you blindside a centre in defence

Cherry would bitchwhip me in a minute btw

 

[maxta]

Do you think it might have something to do with DCE knowing he is the only playmaker and if he gets hit and injured then we lose our only playmaker

Though a fair point, it's more just his style in attack...even junior grades drifted across rather than playing direct footy, it can still work with Fainu and Tom T playing through that middle 3rd to provide him more space, but with the troops on board atm, is mostly inneffective.

 

[maxta]

All footy players are tough but there is a massive difference between the toughest and the softest.
All coaches want players that put there heads in places normal people dont. No team is full of these players

Kickers have a lot more protection these days, but you will never see cherry and tagatese rumble like we saw foz .

Can you ever remember cherry being hit hard in D while taking the ball up. I honestly cant but most halfbacks regularly get folded.

cherry is an arms tackler, not as bad, but in the alfie mould without the leg. Even i would have a go at tackling a forward like that as oppoed to running at 4 of them with eyes for something else. You generally dont get slapped in the chops when you blindside a centre in defence

Cherry would bitchwhip me in a minute btw

Damn Tagatese did not miss...Foz was up with Tooves as a tough nut I reckon....
I do recall DCE getting injured in a struggling Manly side, where there was no runners and he basically had to make that "ugly get out run" inside his own half and got monstered like bulls attacking a red flag...think done an ankle...
Far as playing direct and taking on the defensive line with no self preservation, especially looking for that deft ball to a support runner at the advantage line....does not happen.

 

[court83]

Dce has been literally the ONLY point of attack we've had for the last 7 weeks.. cust is helping out now, but 99% of tries weve scored since turbo went down have been either dce scoring them personally or dce putting someone thru holes....
I will take his deficiencies, cos wede be sitting about where Brisbane are atm without him this season

 

[Pittwater Legend]

I don’t know what the story is with DCE but from 2011-2015 he made an irresistible case for being the greatest halfback that Manly has ever had. He was also tremendous again throughout all of 2017

He used to be one of the hardest halves to tackle. Some of my fondest earlier memories of him used to be running into defences, bouncing or shrugging off players and then getting sneaky offloads away to keep the carnage going. Earlier on he was also naturally gifted at taking the ball to the line and then getting a short ball away to somebody like Brett Stewart for a try (think of our preliminary final win against Brisbane in 2011).

In defence he has always been phenomenal. Definitely puts his body on the line there and he can take down a forward who is running with a head full of steam in a pinch

 

[Chip and Chase]

You could merge this with the "Trust Me" thread. This is the main reason that we see Siro been turned under DCE. He crabs sideways, doesn't want to dig into the line and then his default play is to dump it into the lap of a flat footed forward so he doesn't get caught with the ball. The infuriating thing is that he does his best work when he runs straighter and engages the line. He doesn't always make the right decisions but at least it challenges the defence. He's not taking on the line enough, and I know the apologists will say it's because of poor go forward, or poor dummy half service, or poor 5/8 play or poor something.......but at the end of the day he's got to create and if you aren't going to run it occasionally then you need to have a brilliant kicking game or passing game to make up for it - he doesn't have those strings on his bow humming either. He used to be so good at digging into the line and he had this crazy habit of being able to shrug his way out of tackles somehow and get into the backfield. Haven't see that much this year.

 

[BOZO]

DCE is one of the most Dynamic and Durable players to grace the field
He has been Resilient and Victorious in the most Brutal games of finals, grand finals, SOO and every other Rep game
Being a Key player every opposition tries to target him but every game he come off the field without a crease on his 007 suit .
Any one that has the audacity to question DCE's Resilience and Greatness
is Jealous because DCE has the Money and the Honey

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

DCE is tough and it wouldn't surprise if he's been playing a bit busted this year. Of course, if you play then you don't make excuses, which is fair enough, and he doesn't. Nevertheless, the other side of the coin from him being our main play-maker and kicker is that he gets heavily marked every single week. In fact, any NRL coach who did not remind his players to get at DCE would be guilty of professional negligence!

 

[mike walker]

G'day all, I'd like to see our forwards all steaming on to the ball at full tilt like Brown and RCG do for the slipperies as well,might help our playmakers straighten up.
cheers mike