The Silvertail's optimism pulse 2025.

[Woodsie]

as 2024 winds down, 2025 looms as a defining year in the quest to keep our record of a premiership every decade in tact. We have 5 years to do it ....

Victory is often the result and culmination of several years of getting many things right ... on and off the field ... so I think it's timely to assess our progress .. are we moving in the right direction?

Jack Gibson said that success starts in the front office ... after many years of penny pinching ownership and musical chair CEO's ... have Penn and Mestrov steadied the ship and have us navigating towards glory?

Have we healed the rifts in the playing group and on our way to restoring the "esprit de corps" necessary to conquer?

Have we built the competent group of support staff capable of taking us to the next level?

Is our playing roster improving and moving in the right direction?

Is Seibs the man to coordinate and unite the many facets into a cohesive whole?

and do we feel lucky ... (anybody that doesn't feel that we also need a bit of that is a numbnut)?

Q ... So, as things stand today ... do you believe we are heading in the right direction ... are you optimistic or pessimistic bout our progress.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Several of those issues seem to be a tick, but a couple of others are TBA. I'm optimistic, which probably counts for little because I'm usually optimistic about Manly even when the evidence points elsewhere.
Your point about luck is 100%, could be all we need. Bad luck (mostly Turbo) has certainly set us back a few times in recent years so maybe we're due.

 

[maxta]

My vibe is very positive
I see a Top 4 finish in the the 2025 pipeline and a Premiership win, maybe a season away
The keys are pretty clear also, need another 9 to shine, even if Seibold persist with Croker....which he will
Need either Butbo/Patolo to make that right edge improve by 20% of 2024
Lastly need a breakout rookie and I see Navale as possibly that player, though there are a couple of other "suprise packets" who will get a chance in the trials who could make an impact.

 

[manly al]

Knock out final against the Roosters and late season loss against the Sharks probably indicated the present shortcomings to go to the next level and it manly revolves around defence and a bit more authority in the middle .
Plenty of instability in the background organization wise during that very successful 2007 - 2011 era so would not place that much significance on that in relation to on field and premiership level successes then or going forward but can only help with some helpful administrative stability and management in general .
Luck or some degree of luck never goes astray but at the present time and into the immediate future, have to get the forward pack and defence all round up to a more competitive and consistent level .
Seem to have the backline capability and points in the side and again ongoing to make a statement or better but have to get that forward line up or combinations there bolstered up a bit
Plenty of reasons to be relatively optimistic but again just tempered a bit until some of those necessary improvements can largely eventuate

 

[jbb/james]

I think the team has enough skills, grunt and oomph to compete with the big boys but regularly finds a way to not compete with the less credentialed as we can not play to that level consistently enough

Its a broken record
Years of racing to big leads and blowing it more spectacularly than the last

I know its defence but its capitulation,
Just can not hold there nerve. The dont have a nerve to spare, not even a square

I think the 2 fwds will be like last years recruits, basically the new players seem to do better without the manly baggage but the extra oomph and grunt they provide wont change us too much past 6.

Its even possible the same attitude that clocks us off in games may already be trying to emulate 6 but still having some winter downtime

 

[Rocky]

I see us where we finished last year, somewhere between 5th and 7th. So i guess neither pessimistic or optimistic if we are benchmarking off last year's finish.

The Storm, Penrith and Sharks are clearly better, and we are probably well off them. Broncos also better if they can get things together.

In saying that i think the club is headed in a better direction. Although we don't have the cash to make a splash in free agency, upgrades were made on the margin. It won't move the needle as they are in the back end of the roster, but this shows me we are trying at least to do what we can.

I don't think we can be legitimate premiership contenders until Jake and Tom's contracts roll off and i would expect both of them to take very realistic contracts when that time comes, to try and finish their careers with a premiership.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I’m Optimistic but I guess I’m almost always like that , however I do think we have improved year on year that Seibold has been here , so purely based on that I see us improving on last year.

5th but in with a chance at 4th.

An awful lot rests on Turbo playing every game.

Good to have you back @Woodsie you do this poll very well

 

[Woodsie]

In saying that i think the club is headed in a better direction.

Thank you ... This is the point of the thread ... we could all list things that can be better .. but as a club are we taking the right steps on and off the field to improve is the issue.

 

[Phobia]

We weren't too far off a Top 4 finish this year. It was a mental attitude thing that costed us, and we could probably afford to be a bit more fit. There were far more games we should've won, and the two games we were smashed, a significant portion of the blame can be leveled at Koula's defensive reads at fullback, Lodge's slack efforts, and the two concussions to start against the Roosters.

That said, for the other players seeing Schuster's rapid decline during the off-season, that situation probably didn't encourage them to work heavily on their fitness.

We did a lot of things right this year, but from all accounts, the off-season was a targeted improvement to reorient our attack towards 2021-style, to strong effect. That had some strange consequences. We had some of the lowest dummy-half runs and offloads. Given we had prolific running dummy-halfs in Simpkin, and formerly prolific offloaders in Brown and Lodge, you can't see this as anything but a coaching choice.

We nailed the fundamentals of our "attacking style" this year, which was highly unique as many commentators said, so I'd expect some more variation to this style in 2025. Instead of targeting just a quick play the ball and nothing else literally every single hit-up, which was proven ineffectual in the latter part of the season, this would probably see addition of some second-phase play, some offloads, and probably a bit more ball-playing through the middle. With Croker having an off-season to recuperate, and with Simpkin, Zaidas, and GCKT also in the books, some definite improvement in the dummy-half area can probably be expected, even if it's only back to Croker's norm. I'm in the minority of thinking that even this is good enough, as proved by Billy Walters somehow playing in a grand final.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Nathan Brown starting in 2025, and playing maybe 30-40 minutes at lock, with Tevaga or Navale running the rest off the bench. Don't be surprised to see Jake still named in the #13, but playing as a prop, as if he plays the next two seasons or so at lock, he will become the most capped lock forward of all time. Same goes for DCE, he'll overtake Cronk as the most capped halfback of all time this coming season. Can't see Seibold not letting Jake get there. When Brown was named in the #10 this year, he still played as a lock. If I had to guess the round one starting pack, I'd think:

8. Paseka
9. Croker
10. Brown
11. Olakau'atu
12. TBD
13. Jake
14. TBD
15. Aloiai / Taukeiaho (only if Paseka plays 50+ mins)
16. Bullemor
17. Tevaga / Navale

I'd expect this to change, and get younger throughout the season, as Seibs may put out Laiafi, Navale, Mafoa, Patolo, and some others, in place of Brown, Taukeiaho, and Tevaga. I believe these signings are effectively stopgaps until these guys come through.

Last off-season was about the attack. This season has clearly been earmarked by Mestrov as being about defence. Given they've hired a new defensive analyst, it'll be interesting to see if he can bring Dymock's defensive coaching up to scratch. I don't think we're actually that far off. We just need some luck, and less stupidity. Clubland has improved significantly. Penn has given Mestrov and Seibs some room to improve. I think our roster, besides the Lawton hole, has improved again. NSW Cup being at Brooky will help first grade.

Unless an injury crisis or typical Manly off-field silliness occurs, I think we'll improve.

 

[robbiea]

Not until we get a blue chip hooker ,Prop & lock ,I dont see too much advancement.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Not until we get a blue chip hooker ,Prop & lock ,I dont see too much advancement.

I think that’s years away so we are going to have to improvise.

Jake to Prop
Simpkin to Hooker
????? to lock

I reckon Seibold knows what we need

 

[Budgie]

I am full of optimism.
Make that certainty.
I think Mestrov has taken a grip on this whole club and will not be satisfied until we have that premiership.
So there!

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I am full of optimism.
Make that certainty.
I think Mestrov has taken a grip on this whole club and will not be satisfied until we have that premiership.
So there!

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

 

[deanm]

For Me, I see Taukeiaho starting at 13 , Jake at 10 and Brown at 14

 

[madmax]

Optimistic!
Top 4
Deep into finals, possibly GF

Starting lineup 2025:
Trbo
Saab
Garrick
Koula
Lehi
Brooks
DCE
Paseka
Simpkin
Jrbo
Olakau’atu
Patolo
Talau
Res: Croker, Taukei’aho, Aloiai, Brown

Merry Xmas Silvertails….have a safe & Happy New Year. 2025 is our time to shine!!!!

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

Can I be neither? I think we'll go okay, but at this stage I can't really see where the improvement we need will come from, so I can't see us doing much better than we did this past year. But maybe another year into the Seibold master plan will be enough. Happy to be proven wrong🙂

 

[Ryan]

We lack agility, both in attack and defense (particularly in defense). When we play big fast teams, we tend to get worn down (quickly) and fade. It's not even the players fault. We've recruited far too many of the same type of player, which is & will continue be our downfall.

We'll see very early what type of team we have. Bringing in 3, 30+ players into an already veteran rich club really adds little value to me.

We needed explosive, aggressive, but most importantly, very agile forwards (and hooker), but instead we exacerbated our already glaring problem by bringing in more pylons.

Unlike most others, I have concerns. But I also have hope. Do I think our adds will thrust us into the top 4? No. Everyone thought Nathan Brown was the bees knees, until the huge fade at the end of the season, where he got smacked around. I could see the same of Tevaga, MCK and Taukeiaho (strong start, hard fade). We already tried this with Woods, Lodge, Brown & James and it didn't work.

 

[Tragic Eagle]

We need to play Brown in the back row or 13 he is not a front rower. We have a number of older players in the pack and we need a better balance with youth, athleticism and speed. You need the older experienced hard buggers to lead but an older slow pack won’t compete with the Riff and the Storm. We need to do everything faster in 2025.

 

[Briza]

I'm optimistic, but with Waddell,burbo, froggy and Garrick in the 17 we won't be a genuine premiership threat.

 

[Woodsie]

Just a reminder ... the question is ... are we putting the right administration, structures, personnel and culture together to succeed over the next 5 years.

NOT ... are we going to win a premiership next year.

This goes well beyond the inclusion of a couple of budget additions to the current playing group and any immediate change.