Thoughts on the game

[DSM5]

Williams is a worry.  He came in twice when he didn't have to.  Two tries.  last season Bell helped him, this season someone else will have to have that role.  I thought Hall deserved mention.  He always drove forward with the ball.  This side is very well balanced and will be hard to crack.  Good times ahead.  I didn't think Leeds played all that bad.  There's just a widening gap between ESL and NRL, though not in skill, it's just that ESL is a quicker and thus less physical game.  I'd like to see Senior in a Manly jumper.  He's hard to stop and quite skillful.   

 

[Fluffy]

DSM had williams stayed out you would have got 2 tries closer to the posts because they were past lyon.

My thoughts were not bad for a trial. Expected rusty plays like ballin throwing an obsolutly wild one.

Bailey looked ok and from what i saw last year i expect him to be 5/8. Lyon kept getting dragged in and william had to follow so that needs work.

We looked to run out of puff in the last 10 minutes as well and the scoreline is flattering

 

[The Wheel]

We seem to put the queue in the rack with about 20 mins to go.  How did we fare injury wise - from the TV I feel we got through sae & sound

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

F**ken stupid pommy comentators still thinks they have a chance

It was funny at half time they stated Manly would eventually tire out then we come out & scored a couple of quick tries.By the way i have my manly scarf flying outside my aust post van window through balmain you should see all the looks i'm getting.

 

[DSM5]

Fluffy, while I agree that Williams gets dragged in, he had the same problem last year and it may be a hangover from his days at Parra where they are/were famous for standing up and in.  Anyway we had a problem on that side, but then again, Senior is a hard nut and very experienced.  We did run out of puff with about 20 to go and we were lucky to zoom ahead early in the second.  That said, we bombed a couple and all looks good.  Rusty, but slick at times.  Berkley, they couldn't do it in 2005 when they were extremely lucky to be premiers so they're just jealous.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Des likes to use a very compressed defensive pattern, and when we get it right we are unbreakable, but the flipside on that is that the centres and wingers have to make split second decisions, and if not right they can look pretty ordinary at times, as we have seen with Matai in the past and Lyon this morning. Lyon and Williams will get that understanding with each other, as Matai and Robbo seem too

Thoughts, very impressed with what was effectively our 1st real hitout. Got a bit scrappy once the win was iced, but I saw enough in the 1st part of the match to know we will be up there again

My favourite part of our game was there to see again, we don't just try to stop teams, we smash them in defence. Makes us very intimidating. Were some nices touches in attack as well, the moves weren't quite working at 100% but they looked quite nice

Rodney will be a very good buy for us, Des and Crusher have found us another good one. I don't expect massive things of Bailey straight up, players coming to a new club can quite often take a long time to settle in, as Lyon did, and i even remember people wanted Kite punted after his initial season with us. Be patient and it will work, as Lyon did

Our forwards hammered then i thought, even in the fight, was good to watch. The Watmough hit was a beauty, should not have been a penalty. Cuthbo looks weird skinny, but had a top match as well.

Just a couple of thoughts on Leeds

MacGuire, watching him tonight, and in the past, he can play but not a big fan of him as a player, seems to have a lot of niggle and filth in him

Also that big guy Bailey, what a cat. Must have thought he was a big man having a crack at Ballin and Orford, and I am pretty sure he was throwing cheap ones into Perry as he was being held as well which prompted 1 of our blokes, Maybe Hall, to put a couple on him.

All in All, have to be happy with that hit out, enough signs were shown that if we put in the hard work and our key players stay fit, we will be right in the hunt again

 

[nita]

how cute was it at the presentation how cuthbo still had his headgear on, and wore that cap over the top?!  hahahah.. sooo sooo cute!

 

[Canteen Worker]

Cute and Cuthbo aren't words I normally put together Nita!!!

 

[DSM5]

Got the word from a mate at the ground that it was extremely cold.  Maybe an excuse for Cuthbo's headwear.

 

[Zep]

that or he performed well and that normally leads to his head swelling...

J/K - though he is definately a confidence player.

 

[ManlyBacker]

Bailey from the Rhinos is definitely a cat and was putting the niggle in all game. Threw some cheap ones from behind at the Perry stoush and had plenty of dirty shots - but the boys had him sussed and gave back plenty at the back end.

I was just thrilled in seeing George get another crack as I still shudder at that incident. He is a big improver and I expect him to do a Hall as the year goes on.

That was one hell of an impressive trial considering everything. If we don't get key injuries I am positive we will be there GF day. You are all possibly bored with betting but the odds have come slightly in - around the $4.00 to $4.25 mark. I know it is a long way away but there are very few teams that have really strengthened their rosters and even at that short quote it looks good to me. Also saw that Snake is $9.00 for top try scorer this year which is very appealing.

 

[eggson]

Does anyone know how cold it was?  i was surprised not to see any of the boys wear those 'skins' underneath.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Cute and Cuthbo aren't words I normally put together Nita!!!

LOL, well I woulda thought the same mate, but my ex thinks he is hot and we were looking at some photos at work 1 day and 1 of the girls thought he was hotter than the Stewarts haha

 

[Canteen Worker]

Does anyone know how cold it was?  i was surprised not to see any of the boys wear those 'skins' underneath.

It was meant to be 6 degrees by game time but what it turned out to be, not sure. That is cold by our standards but mild according to the Poms!

 

[TigerNige]

Does anyone know how cold it was?  i was surprised not to see any of the boys wear those 'skins' underneath.

Given the weather we'd had just before the team came over it was almost balmy weather but by Northern Beaches standard it was cold. Got colder as the game progressed but Burrows was warm under the blanket Watmough threw over him, top hit & not a penalty (The League Express, weekly RL paper over here, gives it as tackle of the match). Whinos fans around me were calling for him to be sent off, but then again they're a bunch of self abusers as a Castleford (& Manly) fan we have to put up with their sh*te on a regular basis. If we'd have had 3 competative games as Leeds had then the scoreline would have reflected the GF one.

Manly Sea Eagles - World Club Champions, now for back to back NRL championships.