This is a bottom 4 team

[Volley]

Needs to bypass the pie shop, fat and slow, are you serious "Needs to get fit" He needs to stop eating.

No need to be a **** about it

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

12 years since our last premiership and we are no where near being close to competing for one or being a consistent finals threat. Our longest premiership drought since the 70s.

Our salary cap is a complete mess, too much is paid to too few players who for various reasons aren't delivering value for what they are paid. As a result we're left with too many barely 1st grade standard plodders in the side to make up the numbers.

Face it, for the foreseeable we are just an also ran club. We might make the finals every few years but I'll be surprised if we win or even threaten to win a comp in the next 10 years. There is no vision, passion or plan from the owners to turn Manly into a "powerhouse" club again. They seem to be OK to just let the mediocrity is OK mentality to continue.

A degree of truth there.

What is the Penn plan for the future? They helped suck the LC dry. They have made little apparent attempt at trying to market the club across northern Sydney and the CC, despite the oft-repeated claim that Manly is the only club between the Bridge and the southern suburbs of Newcastle.

They are like the federal LNP of club owners. Little obvious motivation or ambition other than to hang onto power. In this case, as major owners of the Sea Eagles.

 

[Frogz]

Taking the piss right? Only bloke who looked half threatening out there. Needs to get fit, but the talent is there

You are allowed to look before u pass occasionally. How many of his passes landed on someone chest?

 

[pt73]

Three of those are at home and the other against a team we have already beaten, so I wouldn’t give up hope just yet.

It’s interesting reading these comments. You then watch the game and it’s rarely as bad as the image created by the usual motley crew, who death ride the coach and the team.

PS - I do not consider Ensign Parker a ‘death rider’.

Fair enough and Ensign Parker was definitely never a death rider.

I guess we're just going through one of those lows but it's also very hard to watch week after week.

 

[SeaEagle21]

We just don’t build enough momentum to earn the right to throw the ball around to stretch teams.

Last night we defended well in the first half but we just make the wrong choices at critical times.

I know this isn’t a major issue (minor compared to other things) but at the end of the first half Storm kick towards Jorges corner. Jorge was so slow to get to it and when he does he has Coates bearing down on him and tackled in goal. WTF didn’t he just take the ball over the sideline? With the luck we have i was expecting him to fumble that and Storm having a chance to score. It’s just dumb decisions that give other teams a leg up and me leaving the house for a minute to swear out my frustration.

Storm weren’t special at all last night, we were just $hithouse and that’s not on Tom not being there. Hold onto the ball and be disciplined and we were a shot to win that.

Des needs to drum into their heads to control what they can as possession and completion is king in the modern game. We are definitely bottom a bottom 4 team, top 10 at a stretch. I know injuries have disrupted our flow etc but fmd we have had that problem for the last couple of yrs so can’t use that as a reason anymore.

Des work on a plan B ffs!! And i mean not just sticking Garrick at 1

 

[SeaEagle007]

You guys need to relax a little , alot of posters out of the woodworks .. we have had heaps of injuries, chamges to the back line because of this nearly every week. hardly any combos in there for more than 3 weeks at a time.. we get a few guys back next week .. we talking like storm are crap and we had to win... they got hughes back , see how they went the other weeks without him, and munster decided to show up last night. we are having a crap run of injuries, and rub of the greens with the refs... Obvious we wont win anything this year, but i still believe we will make the 8

 

[Mitch]

We are not a bottom 4 side because we will beat every team in the bottom 8 right now. The problem is we are far leaps and bounds away from beating a top 8 team. We must win our next two "winnable games" against Warriors and Tigers and then we will equal up our record at 7-7 which is not as bad.

We just gotta keep tryna fight and hope that beating up on bottom 8 teams can get us far enough to scrape into the 8. Other than that, we are not in the right frame to beat a top 8 side or compete in the finals. It sucks because we've gone back again to not being able to back up a promising season. 2017, 2019, 2021, backed up by disapointing seasons after.

I was thinking the exact same thing last night, mate! I feel that every year after a reasonably successful season (making finals), we have followed up with a year dogged with injuries and poor form.

 

[Under the Sticks]

You guys need to relax a little , alot of posters out of the woodworks .. we have had heaps of injuries, chamges to the back line because of this nearly every week. hardly any combos in there for more than 3 weeks at a time.. we get a few guys back next week .. we talking like storm are crap and we had to win... they got hughes back , see how they went the other weeks without him, and munster decided to show up last night. we are having a crap run of injuries, and rub of the greens with the refs... Obvious we wont win anything this year, but i still believe we will make the 8

I think the points you raise have nothing to do with the fact that this team is the dumbest and most ill-dispcined Manly outfit I have ever seen. They give the opposition 12 start every week through hteir errors and poor discpline.

There was no blaming the ref last night which exposed the poor dispcline and lack of ideas that Des has a coach in the modern style of the game.

 

[The Indian]

I don't think we'll finish bottom 4 because there are some truly atrocious teams in this comp. So by default we may well miss the wooden cutlery part of the ladder. Though we are very much deserving of being in that mix.

But To miss the 8 in a comp that is in my opinion at an all time low in terms of quality of the bottom half is a sad indictment of where we are. Most of the bottom 8 are a complete shambles and we are on the way to joining them sadly.

There's players in our squad who are good enough to be part of a succesful team and it may turn around sooner than we think. BUT only if we started to play to some form of coordinated or discernable plan. But we are mostly hap hazard, rudder-less, sideways and the one exception in the halves is being sold to the Gold Coast.

 

[jbb/james]

I dont see us as bottom 4.

We have things that bottom 4 teams dream of. Tom busted is the major one. DCE is still dangerous against lazy unstructured teams and foran and walker are both experienced and play direct

We are well conditioned to playing without the ball as its been happening for years so at times we have some good resillience and play plenty of attacking options so that keeps us above the bottom 4

Des has some motivational tricks up his sleeves

But we are not a top team without TOM firing on every cylinder

We were lazy when tom as playing well and ignored opportunities for self improvement preferring to dine out on short term success

Our leadership is weak on field

Our right side is pathetic in defence, and ignored as an atttacking option

Our kicking game is based on the wind and the opportunity to kick 40/20 s. If not is the generic off the shelf , no thought , going through the motions kicking game

Des has tried to find a game around our players but it hasn't worked. Time to start playing NRL and not footy and if people cant cut it, cut them

 

[CryingEagle]

Didn’t take user: bozo long to start annoying the p!ss out of me again

I think he might actually be him.

 

[CryingEagle]

Well they booked Manly in to play the most prime time games this season basically labelling them the entertainers.

In one game they completely destroyed the season, and the silver lining is they can now watch a bunch of meaningless Manly games for the rest of the year in prime time. Great for ratings.

In the words of Ice-T - “you played yourself”

Well they can simply go F&&k themselves while at it. They designed it, and here are the consequences.

NYEagle

Made it worse for spectators who actually go to the games.

 

[The Who]

You guys need to relax a little , alot of posters out of the woodworks .. we have had heaps of injuries, chamges to the back line because of this nearly every week. hardly any combos in there for more than 3 weeks at a time.. we get a few guys back next week .. we talking like storm are crap and we had to win... they got hughes back , see how they went the other weeks without him, and munster decided to show up last night. we are having a crap run of injuries, and rub of the greens with the refs... Obvious we wont win anything this year, but i still believe we will make the 8

Yes, we have a lot of injuries which, initially, gave me comfort.
Then I realised that there was only one Melbourne player in the team we played who would be in the Qld SOO side!

 

[deanm]

Yes, we have a lot of injuries which, initially, gave me comfort.
Then I realised that there was only one Melbourne player in the team we played who would be in the Qld SOO side!

Kaufusi, Munster , Coates

 

[Brookie Bob]

Last night was a real opportunity missed.

The Channel 9 commentators actually got it right for once. Even though both sides were injury-hit, Melbourne's 'class' got them through.

Manly used to be described as a team with 'class'.

What is 'class' - at least in a rugby league sense?

Performance under pressure, instinctive knowledge of what to do in a given circumstance, inventiveness, 'playing smart', accountability. Not just effort - I saw effort from Manly, but not the level of across the board enthusiasm and teamwork of Melbourne - very sad to say. Mostly it just boils down to being better in all aspects than your opposition, and looking composed and in control while you do it.

Last night's game disappointed me more than the two losses to the Eels and Bunnies before that. I can point to circumstances in those games that made it very hard for us to win.

Not last night. Last night we just weren't 'good enough'.

If you rated our players versus their Storm opposites, you would be hard pressed to say which of them outplayed their opposite number. People have been bagging DCE - and yes, Hughes was more influential for the Storm than DCE was for Manly - but Foran (who tried very hard) was also clearly outplayed by Munster.

I thought Garrick and Tuipulotu tried hard, and would have lost no fans. Croaker also get an 'A' for effort. I don't know why Davey came off when he did -perhaps Des thought our attack was ineffectual (which it was), and that Schuster would be an X factor.

Our 'go-forward' forwards (Sipley, Keppie, and to an extent Aloiai and Jake) didn't bend the Storm line. It's worth pointing out that Melbourne didn't really field any 'star-power' forwards - just blokes who do their job enthusiastically, efficiently and with a minimum of mistakes. Once we lost the arm-wrestle in the middle, our backs started to look (and play) disorganized. The Storm bench was almost a group of no-names - no matter, their 'system' wins again.

The Storm - the kings of the grind - ground us down again. And we knew what was coming, and couldn't / didn't stop it. Mass sackings is not the answer; individual talent / leadership / desire / fitness / injuries etc are almost side issues till we rediscover the winning Manly DNA again.

The bounce-back evident in the Parra game from Souths the week before was very good - where was that same bounce-back last night?

I don't think we're bottom 4; but until we can change some of our football fundamentals we will not be a top 4 team again.

 

[Rocky]

Unfortunately, they aren't even fun or entertaining to watch anymore. It's literally a chore & painful to sit there through a game and watch the same old crap, week after week. I'd be very surprised by anyone enjoying this team, these players, and this coach right now. Just awful.

Time to record the games, and just delete the losses. Hopefully I get a game or two to watch between now and September.

Des has lead us completely into the doldrums.

Agreed - a team needs to sell the fans either success or hope. Manly are giving us neither this year.
The only game I legitimately enjoyed watching this year was v Parra last week for the first 70 minutes.

The rest - even the flogging of the tigers didn't "watch well" for a fan with half a brain.

 

[Ryan]

You guys need to relax a little , alot of posters out of the woodworks .. we have had heaps of injuries, chamges to the back line because of this nearly every week. hardly any combos in there for more than 3 weeks at a time.. we get a few guys back next week .. we talking like storm are crap and we had to win... they got hughes back , see how they went the other weeks without him, and munster decided to show up last night. we are having a crap run of injuries, and rub of the greens with the refs... Obvious we wont win anything this year, but i still believe we will make the 8

Dude:

• Harry Grant (adductor, round 13)
• Alec MacDonald (illness, round 13)
• Will Warbrick (ribs, round 12)
• Nelson Asofa-Solomona (knee, round 13)
• Ryan Papenhuyzen (knee/hamstring, round 15)
• Tepai Moeroa (shoulder, round 15)
• Reimis Smith (pectoral, round 22)
• Christian Welch (achilles, season)

It's a dead set gee-up if you're using injuries as an excuse. Also, Melbourne are historically one of the most penalized teams in the league, but they just deal with it, and win anyways.

All I heard right there from you, was excuses. And frrankly, most people have had enough.

In regards to us making the 8, we'd need to be able to beat a top 8 side for that to occur (let alone a top 4 team). We can't beat either. This team has a stink to it, and people are losing interest all over the shop. And they only have themselves to blame.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

We are not bottom 4

We are between 9-12

I go 12th most years , and I'm largely wrong , reckon I'll be close to the money this year.

 

[mickqld]

We would need 6 or 7 more wins to make 8th spot. I cannot see us getting enough of those wins. Most of our home games are against the top 8 teams. We will have to beat the Tigers, Dogs and Titans away from home as well as beating the Warriors, Knights at home. There's no chance of beating the Cows ,Storm, Roosters , Sharks, Eels at home or the Dragons and Raiders away.

 

[Ryan]

We would need 6 or 7 more wins to make 8th spot. I cannot see us getting enough of those wins. Most of our home games are against the top 8 teams. We will have to beat the Tigers, Dogs and Titans away from home as well as beating the Warriors, Knights at home. There's no chance of beating the Cows ,Storm, Roosters , Sharks, Eels at home or the Dragons and Raiders away.

And that's optimistic. I literally don't see a win in these plonkers.