Walker special mention

[40 years an eagle]

I would love to have it explained as to how Walker ruins the defensive structure. I have played for almost 40 years. I have a pretty decent understanding of attacking and defensive strategies and I am yet to see our defensive structure simply collapse every time Walker comes on. Easy to say he destroys the structure - yet to hear x's and o's as to exactly how. Plus I would gather given Des is a slightly better coach than me or I am guessing most on here - maybe not all because there are obviously some closet NRL skilled and qualified coaches amongst us, that if Walker was destroying our defensive structures that Des would be rectifying the matter or sacking him. But then again these people probably also subscribe to the Des can't coach and he is lucky that the injuries saved him theory.

Your wish is my command.
Defence

If you replace a player that has ALWAYS been a middle forward with a centre who has displayed poor defensive reads for years, the glue holding your defensive structure is weakened because 1 of your structural pieces doesn't fully know where he NEEDS TO BE all the time in relation to the rest of the pieces. This is evidenced by how our middle has been VERY vulnerable to small, fast guys since this ploy has been used.

Attack

The extra so-called playmaker is taking the ball away from how we have done it all year with HUGE success. Schuster and Foran are getting the ball 1 position wider than before and don't have any room, making our attack clunky with Walker involved. Tom doesn't have the same space either. There is not enough room for the extra player and they are getting in eachother's way. Surely you have noticed this happening lately

You're welcome.

 

[Rowdy]

I rate him highly
However even if you have a gripe with Walker as a person, you must admit he’s been in far superior form to Lawton in the past few weeks. He’s come on and changed the game multiple times for us this year
Walker also has played more games and offers a similar utility value. I’m not sure where Lawton playing in the halves has come from but it has been thrown around a lot lately - I don’t think he has played a minute of halves in the NRL so definitely wouldn’t consider him “cover” for that position

Well, Lawton was playing fantastic often as a starter when we were playing our best football of the season — against some pretty average sides to be fair. He then got injured at the same time Shuster came back from injury. Since then he has hardly played while Walker has got most of his minutes off the bench. Not sure how you can compare the two over the last few weeks. Walker has grown on me but Lawton looks like a player born to play finals, Walker still looks like a bit of a luxury player to me.

 

[Tragic Eagle]

I respect everybody’s views on here. People on here know their footy and we all love the same club. There are always people that are considered extreme at times and I enjoy the characters on here. Okay that said i admit I wanted to see the back of Walker after his off field behaviour. But I’ve got to say he provides impact of the bench and he has improved his tackling technique. Walker is strong and has great speed and good leg drive. He is playing with great intensity and determination. He is a player that I wound pick in my top 17 in the big games ahead as he has X factor. I can’t believe I said that.

 

[grassy]

I respect everybody’s views on here. People on here know their footy and we all love the same club. There are always people that are considered extreme at times and I enjoy the characters on here. Okay that said i admit I wanted to see the back of Walker after his off field behaviour. But I’ve got to say he provides impact of the bench and he has improved his tackling technique. Walker is strong and has great speed and good leg drive. He is playing with great intensity and determination. He is a player that I wound pick in my top 17 in the big games ahead as he has X factor. I can’t believe I said that.

Agree, I have been hard on Walker too but he deserved it and was apart of bringing our club down. Having said that, he has excelled in his behaviour even on field and i have noticed a change in his attitude. I have no long term problem with any of our players having a bad game as Des can sort that out but when I see dick Heads in the side then I am going to voice it. But a spade being a spade, he seems to have seen the light and grown up somewhat. Des and the staff have excelled in setting him straight. Now with that said, we are staring at top 4. If not then it is still a better place to be than at the bottom of the ladder because of d…k heads. They don’t help that’s for sure. Tom turbo’s attitude along with Marty has rubbed off on others at Manly and we all are better for it.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Another fine game from Dylan tonight , hard to imagine but I think he’s reinvented himself into an outstanding 14.

 

[The better Robbo]

Another fine game from Dylan tonight , hard to imagine but I think he’s reinvented himself into an outstanding 14.

He's better when he thinks run first.

 

[Eagles4Life]

Walker's turning into a pretty handy middle. He's not playing like a lock, or like a backrower. His position is actually pretty hard to define. Whatever it is, he's beginning to play that role extremely well. His defence still needs work but it's improving with every game.

 

[The Who]

Yep. After dropping the first ball he received I thought he played well. It looks like he'll be a permanent fixture in our top 17 so I'm hoping he'll convert me to his worth. I'll be delighted to admit I was wrong about him.

 

[Remy]

going to be so crucial for us in the finals series. The luxury of having an x-factor player at 14 is just so good.