Thoughts on Tonights Performance:

[Ryan]

1. Travis Burns - FINALLY Manly have a 5/8.
2. Adam Cuthbertson:- AWESOME debut. ALREADY started to offload in that second 1/2 !!!
3. Michael Monaghan actually played a Hookers role, and did it well.
4. Why Steppa was interchanged is beyond me. Did Willow go into the centres?
5. Jason King had another poor game in my opinion.
6. The backrow fired on all pistons...but Choc, FFS put some of the sticky spray on your hands !!!
7. There was STRUCTURE tonight. We had a 5/8, a Hooker, and a 1/2 back doing their roles. When Orford was out of the play, Monaghan predominantly passed it to Burns, who exectuted very well.
8. Brett Stewart had a fine game, and looked as though he had X factor.
9. Chris Hicks had a fine game, and looks to be gaining some confidence.
10. COMBINATIONS !!! Orford / Stewart, Orford / Burns, Hicks / Robertson....there were VERY good signs.
11. Michael Robertson definitely doesn't lack confidence. He has real heart in both attack and defence.
12. Willow made impact tonight in defence.

We probably need to take stock, because it doesn't get any easier next week. In fact, we need to lift. The Roosters are always a hard team to crack, but we have improved game on game so far, therefore, I can't see any reason why we can't beat them.

Bell will play Origin this year. I can't believe STILL that we have the bloke. The thought of him and Lyon in the centres is just mind boggling.

All in all, a top performance for the second 1/2 of the 1st half, plus the second half as a whole. Cronulla only scored 6 points in that second 1/2, as did Nth QLD last week. That's a defensive attitude ANY team can be proud of !!!

Well lads, the signs are there, but we have a hell of a long way to go. Well done Manly !!!!

 

[Crushercleal]

1. Played well - but is he a real 5/8?
2. Great in attack - MUST start instead of King
3. Was good for us tonight
4. Not sure
5. Agreed - drop him. No impact
6. Dropped a bit of ball - were ok but not at their best
7. I disagree. I thought there was NO structure in attack. We looked terrible near the tryline.
8. Played well
9. Played well, should have finished off that no-try though
10. Getting better
11. Played ok - needs to communicate better with Stewart
12. Played well

 

[Ryan]

I would have liked a little more back up runners for Orford / Cuthbo / Kennedy. They had opportinty to offload tonight...but no-one was there....Cuthbo got the ball away, and it hit the deck, until someone HAD to take the ball up.

 

[ChuckWood]

I was pleased with our defensive effort , but thought our attack was very limited. Apart from Bells try , the other 2 were pretty ordinary. As for "structure" , as I mentioned in a previous post , it will take a few weeks for combinations to gel. The game next Sat night against the Roo$ter$ will be the acid test for the Eagles.

Good to see Michael Robertson going well. Before the season started , I was rating him highly ( better than Donald) & have full confidence in his ability. My major concerns are still Matai & Stephenson.

 

[KaZa]

structure? Our attack is still awful.

Stewart and Bell were awesome.. Hicks was good.. Monas when he came on changed the game in the 2nd half.

Dunley.. is a massive waste. Monas for 80 min at hooker. I like Burns but for some reason i cant see him at 5/8.. he has no flair.. i think hes more of a hooker than Monas is.

No matter what anyone has said in the past regarding Monaghans attitude.. he was brilliant out there tonight. Always patting the guys after a good play.. was stoked for Burns who took his spot when he scored off his grubber. Just in general the whole guys seem to have good chemistry and thats what you need to win competitions.

They will start to gel slowly slowly.

Btw.. i thought King played well tonight.. someone shoot me.. He got stuck in defence.. and made some decent hit ups. much improved on last week.

 

[toovs]

king did have a good game needs to get knocked out more . :yeah: monas did change game when he came on 2 .burns was outstandingas was choc. orford played to flat. beaver had the sh** house game and i never thougth i would ever say that !pray: but we won that all that matters

 

[Garts]

I thought we played pretty ordinary but at least we got the 2 points.

anyone notice King miss that tackle straight up that led to the first Cronulla bust in the 1st set of the game. he is consistant at least!!!!

 

[Chip and Chase]

What I liked

- Good variation in kicking from Orford, he mixed it up well.
- Bell played well and unfortunately looks like he may be a SOO chance this year. Got a good combination going with Beaver on the RHS.
- Kennedy and Watmough made good ground all night.
- Stewarts involvement was great, he popped up all round the park and looked keen to get the ball. He just provides that other little option in attack.
- Bryant was good, he really needs to start the game rather than be wasted on bench.

What I didn't like

- Our goal line defence was poor again. They have got to get rid of this static shuffle / slide pattern, it's rubbish. get off the line and put pressure on the ball carrier and cut down his time. The gimp had an eternity last night every time he got the ball.
- Our attack inside the opposition 20m is still disjointed and disorganised. It seems like no one wants to take control, we have people running from dummy half or first receiver while everyone else stands around and watches. Orford's on the big $$$, he needs to step up in this department. Two of our tries were scrappy last night, and one was the result of some good structured attack.
- Our ruck defence was fragile again at times last night. Even though Hampstead was letting the play the ball be slowed down we still seemed to struggle to get the defence set, especially the markers getting into position.


It was a win....but hardly one to get overly excited about. There is definitely more improvement left in this team, especially if some combinations in attack get sorted. BUT we really need our defence to improve if we are going to be a serious semis chance. Any decent team will put points on us everytime they get within 10m of our line.

 

[Nutzcraw]

My thoughts are:

Good Points

Travis Burns i thought had a top game! 31 tackles i think he made and did some good things in attack aswell.... I thought Choc had a pretty good game... monaghan i think is standing up to some critics, he has played above average for the first 3 games this year but the thing that has really stood out for me is that he is showing alot of passion out there.. putting his body on the line alot.. getting the players fired up.. i'm liking what he's doin out there!

The orford/stewart combination is looking better and better every week... stewart will have a flurry of tries this year! Bell is looking to be one of the buys of the season so far.. what an outstanding athlete he is!! Orford's conversions were great! Cuthberson showed glimpses of what he can do.. he dropped the ball a few times but perhaps that was nerves or something, apart from that he played well!!

I thought king was better than he usually is... beaver was better... I thought is was a character building win, in that we came from behind and it wasn't a pretty win but the boys showed some ticker again...


Bad Points

ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK..... i think our attack isn't real flash because of the new halfback and the changing of positions around the 5/8th and hooker positions... this will work out with time!

Chris Hicks should have finished off that no try .... Early on in the game we kept giving up possesion and field position and were lucky not to get punished more for it!!

I won't dwell on the bad points too much because it was a win and i'll take it!

Good on them for the way they stuck in and got over the line!


My Best and Fairest voting

3 - Travis Burns
2 - Anthony Watmough
1 - Brett Stewart

 

[Downie]

I went:
3- Travis Burns
2- Steve Bell
1- Anthony Watmough

if I remember correctly. Every time Bell touched the ball, he looked dangerous. Him, Menzies and Hicks hooked up well in attack, with Hicks put down the wing twice. Watmough just put in heaps, constant hit ups and runs from dummy half.

Everyone played well. Robertson did some good things at the back. Seriously, when was the last time a ball was passed between our back three? You could see him talking to Stewart when he was running the ball as well. Good on him.

Stephenson also had some good hits in defense. Just need to work on the combination between him and Robertson. He also adds more to the team than Matai I reckon.

Menzies made up for his lacklustre performance last week, working well in defence and attack. For Ballin's sake, I hope Dunley is suspended this week for the elbow and gets a run off the bench. He'd be a good utility, able to play both dummy half and second row. However, when Leuluai gets back, I kinda hope he replaces Williamson, as we already have enough utility players who can defend well (Monaghan, Burns, Ballin) and we need more size on the bench. I'd be rooting for this bench for when Leuluai gets back:

14. Ballin
15. Cuthbertson
16. Bryant
17. Leuluai