Watmough Unleashes On DCE

[Chip and Chase]

Last year TC , DCE was the best half in the comp. It was his expertise that got us over the line several times during the year...and yes got us into the semis. Even without DCE this year, despite his more patchy form, we would be at the bottom of the comp. We have no one else of DCE's class as a half back in the club. If we had managed to secure Pearce, the story would be a lot different. The problem we have is not DCE, its the 5/8 position.

DCE was the best half in the comp last year ?? The rep selectors didn't share your enthusiasm mate.

 

[manly al]

D C E was among the leading halve "s performers last season and probably did feel understandably disappointed being left out of at least one of the QLD origin squads last series . Probably initially one of the reasons for his drop in form this season , trying too play too much as an individual in order to prove himself origin level and combined with poor positional play and then general failing form has really struggled to regain his confidence and effective playing input . Hope that he able to just re focus and find the capacity to start playing again up to his expected level and earning the big bucks that he is on at Manly for future games

 

[SeaEagle21]

DCE was the best half in the comp last year ?? The rep selectors didn't share your enthusiasm mate.

Finished best Australian half and overall best #7 after 26 Rds in Dally M 2017. Selectors have their own favs and agendas. He couldn’t do much more.

 

[SeaEagle21]

D C E was among the leading halve "s performers last season and probably did feel understandably disappointed being left out of at least one of the QLD origin squads last series . Probably initially one of the reasons for his drop in form this season , trying too play too much as an individual in order to prove himself origin level and combined with poor positional play and then general failing form has really struggled to regain his confidence and effective playing input . Hope that he able to just re focus and find the capacity to start playing again up to his expected level and earning the big bucks that he is on at Manly for future games

He should honestly just come out and retire from Rep footy. It’s an aspiration of his no doubt but would possibly do a Jamie Lyon for his career at Manly. Coincidentally the Captain he replaced who never got the recognition he deserved.

 

[Chip and Chase]

View attachment 8720

Finished best Australian half and overall best #7 after 26 Rds in Dally M 2017. Selectors have their own favs and agendas. He couldn’t do much more.

If you are going to use facts to put forward an argument, then make sure they are correct.

That's not the final Dally M points table and Michael Morgan was named Dally M halfback of the year. Everyone has their favs and their agendas that cloud their objectivity.

 

[SeaEagle21]

If you are going to use facts to put forward an argument, then make sure they are correct.

That's not the final Dally M points table and Michael Morgan was named Dally M halfback of the year. Everyone has their favs and their agendas that cloud their objectivity.

Never said it was the final board if you read my post correctly, but by the end of the regular season DCE was up with the best if not outright based on expert opinions.

I know Morgan was named Dally M Halfback of the yr but overall what happens in finals footy when some teams go further than others hence why comparing up until the regular season is the only real indicator. Lets be honest Morgan had an amazing finals series, but up until then the Cowboys barely scraped in and Morgan wasn’t the messiah, his 2018 form suggests it was a fluke. Oh and until Thurston got injured he was a 5/8

Agree to disagree.

 

[Chip and Chase]

As far as I know finals performances do not count in Dally M points. I'm happy to agree to disagree, I just don't think DCE was the best halfback in the competition, he is far too inconsistent. That's been shown again this year, much like Morgan - maybe DCE's previous form was a fluke too.

 

[hairylittlehobbit]

I've always thought DCE plays more like a Five eight than a halfback

 

[Chip and Chase]

6 and 7 are just numbers on jerseys. These days most teams have a half each side of the ruck, so it's just semantics about who's a 7 and who's a 6 IMO. I guess the better definition is running halves and ball playing halves.

 

[madmax]

DCE was the best half in the comp last year ?? The rep selectors didn't share your enthusiasm mate.

Most commentators & most league supporters apart from the QLD selectors did!

 

[Fluffy]

And wasn't it watmough who said that there were times that he didn't want to get out of the car to go to training? Maybe he was sitting in the car with DCE?

You might be on to something, DCE might have dropped one after a curry the night before.... would explain a lot

 

[Fluffy]

As far as I know finals performances do not count in Dally M points. I'm happy to agree to disagree, I just don't think DCE was the best halfback in the competition, he is far too inconsistent. That's been shown again this year, much like Morgan - maybe DCE's previous form was a fluke too.

pretty sure the Dally M points do not dictate who is awarded a position of the year, from memory we were pretty unhappy that Lyon outpointed Gasnier yet he got the centre of the year.

 

[Peter C]

DCE was the best half in the comp last year ?? The rep selectors didn't share your enthusiasm mate.

The reality is that he will never be selected for Queensland, they're a bit precious up there over the backflip, [ would it be different if he backflipped on another Sydney Club, absolutely.] and probably was not in Cameron Smiths clique, and that being the case was a longshot to represent Australia

 

[HoldenV8]

DCE was the best half in the comp last year ?? The rep selectors didn't share your enthusiasm mate.

Despite the "he's still in the mix" rhetoric we hear year in, year out from the likes of Kevin Walters and Darren Lockyer.....DCE will never play for Qld again unless they have a full on halves injury crisis. And sadly its got nothing to do with his ability. Its got everything to do with the fact that internally he is still blamed for their 2014 Series loss, and he is still branded as a traitor for turning his back on a Qld based club after the backflip to stay at Manly.

The problem with his blackballing from the Qld Origin side is that it means his only chance of ever getting a Kangaroos jumper again is really up to Mal Meninga. Though in fairness, Mal did select him for the PM's XIII last year but Cherry pulled out because his wife was due to give birth and he didn't want to be overseas, even if it was only in PNG, which is quite understandable.

If you are going to use facts to put forward an argument, then make sure they are correct.

That's not the final Dally M points table and Michael Morgan was named Dally M halfback of the year. Everyone has their favs and their agendas that cloud their objectivity.

DCE should have also won last years Dally M Halfback of the Year award, but didn't because the NRL in their infinite wisdom decided that it was feelgood that Morgan won it. To that end, all the games he played at 5/8 in the first half of the season were counted for his halfback points. That's a fact. With the games that they actually played at halfback with the #7 on their backs.....DCE's Dally M points were well ahead of Morgans.

Until his season ending injury in the 2nd Origin game last year, the Cowboys halfback was Thurston, not Morgan. Michael Morgan played 23 minor round games for the Cows in 2017, 10 of them at 5/8. Yet somehow all of his Dally M points were counted towards halfback. And it was those games at pivot that put his total points above DCE's. The whole thing was a joke and made a mockery of the award because the guy who had the most points in the position didn't win.

 

[Bearfax]

DCE was the best half in the comp last year ?? The rep selectors didn't share your enthusiasm mate.

Many of the experts did though. Trouble was QLD have a bias against DCE...that should be obvious. Check the different stats on the top halves last year. In most areas DCE was well ahead of the rest in defence,40/20s, doubling our set plays, tackling etc. He and Green stood well over the rest. We just didn't have the forwards to finish it off.

 

[The '47ers]

You might be on to something, DCE might have dropped one after a curry the night before.... would explain a lot

Nothing like locking the doors and windows after dropping one of those!

 

[Technical Coach]

Last year TC , DCE was the best half in the comp. It was his expertise that got us over the line several times during the year...and yes got us into the semis. Even without DCE this year, despite his more patchy form, we would be at the bottom of the comp. We have no one else of DCE's class as a half back in the club. If we had managed to secure Pearce, the story would be a lot different. The problem we have is not DCE, its the 5/8 position.

Not sure where you are coming from----my comment is in relation to DCE's first year compared to pretty much Ponga's first year, both good first years at different cycles of the development curve of each squad.

My comments have zero to do with last year or the current predicament of the teams performances.

There is a multitude of reasons why Manly are not performing well, never once stated performance wise DCE is solely to blame.

 

[Technical Coach]

I think you are confusing the contracts DCE signed. The 8 year contract worth over a million per year was signed in 2015 when he was 26 years old. The contract Watmough is going on about was the money DCE demanded back in 2011-2 after his first season when he was on about $150,000 a year. They upgraded it, but I don't think it was more than $500,000, similar to Foran, which he accepted. He said he wanted to be paid what he was worth and he was happy with that upgrade. Watmough took exception to his demands. DCE was complaining that he was a top tier half back on a rookie's pay packet, which seems quite reasonable to me.

Ponga actually left the Cowboys after his first season, when he was probably on a rookie's wage, because Newcastle asked a lot more than Nth Queensland were prepared to offer, that being $600,000 a year. Was Ponga castigated for taking the money another club offered because his club didn't come up with a comparable offer. No different and perhaps Ponga got a better outcome, because he also wanted to be paid what he felt he was worth, despite not having achieved by that time anything like what DCE had achieved

More respect to leave a club for more money than try to get a great amount at the same club that made you after just one year and pissing off people who gave you the time of day.

 

[MadMarcus]

DCE should have also won last years Dally M Halfback of the Year award, but didn't because the NRL in their infinite wisdom decided that it was feelgood that Morgan won it. To that end, all the games he played at 5/8 in the first half of the season were counted for his halfback points. That's a fact. With the games that they actually played at halfback with the #7 on their backs.....DCE's Dally M points were well ahead of Morgans.

Until his season ending injury in the 2nd Origin game last year, the Cowboys halfback was Thurston, not Morgan. Michael Morgan played 23 minor round games for the Cows in 2017, 10 of them at 5/8. Yet somehow all of his Dally M points were counted towards halfback. And it was those games at pivot that put his total points above DCE's. The whole thing was a joke and made a mockery of the award because the guy who had the most points in the position didn't win.

The good news from that interpretation is it means Jono Wright is eligible for hooker of the year.