We beat Melbourne!

[eagleron]

I thought it was a possibility we could beat them but to actually see us screwing up and dropping the ball and still roll through them in the first 10 is not what I was expecting. Our forwards were very good. I thought Jake was great, seemed to take more hit ups and show a bit more guile in his passing. I swore I saw some no lookers there.

DCE was red lining and his kicking game was on which was great when the game needed it but when we just needed to grind them down he was still playing what was in front of him rather than adjusting for the match. Unfortunately when you play at 10/10ths you'll eventually make mistakes, when they happened it let Melbourne back into the game when realistically we should've won by 30+

Schuster was poor.

Garrick was hobbled which hurt us defensively and again was a reason not to put our defense under pressure by trying to force a pass or a kick. Backline was otherwise very good.

Taking Jake and Ola off was our undoing, add to that Schuster looked completely at sea and suddenly we're a different side

 

[eagleron]

The best thing is to learn from it and move on. No need to dwell, or it can quickly become a thing.

You focus TOO much on that last 10 minutes , it'll detract from the previous 70.

Relax mate, we won, and that's something that hasn't happened since 2015.

While you're right about us winning and surprisingly against the Storm Ryan I completely understand Bozos alarm at 4 tries in as many minutes, if the game had another two minutes to run I'm certain they would have caught us, it was shades of the previous week and not encouraging when thinking about the season ahead, Hasler did us no favours taking Jake and Ola off and Schuster didn't seem to have his mind on the game at all, hopefully the alarm bells are ringing loudly and measures are taken to ensure we don't have another scenario like this in the near future, my blood pressure is yet to subside 🙂

 

[QueefRichards]

Taking Jake and Ola off was our undoing, add to that Schuster looked completely at sea and suddenly we're a different side

Ultimately it rips the bandaid off. Jake gets blunted playing for 80 minutes, the rest of the team need to learn how to defend without him there.

I'm just glad that problem was identified while we still picked up the two points

 

[BOZO]

2 weeks in a row we blow a huge lead. Dumb options on both occasions by our captain and terrible defense out wide. Hard to be excited by that win after the hard work was done earlier. We are mentally weak at closing out matches. Something needs to change quickly or it will be habit forming.

We need to learn how to be a more composed , resilient and a ruthless team and not just scrape through wins .

We need to learn how to put teams to the sword when we are in the lead and not give them a leg up to come from behind and threaten our lead


Great competitive teams that become worthy title contenders do not let 4 tries in 5 minutes
They are more resolute that than

The moral of the story
and from the words of the Great Roman Philosopher Cicero

IT IS THE CHARACTER OF THE RESOLUTE PERSON NOT TO BE RUFFLED BY ADVERSITY


The symbol of the Resolute Eagle

 

[Mitch]

Ultimately it rips the bandaid off. Jake gets blunted playing for 80 minutes, the rest of the team need to learn how to defend without him there.

I'm just glad that problem was identified while we still picked up the two points

Yep, said it after his game at Prop in SOO 2, his form as been ‘down’ because he’s forever doing the **** work many of those other middle forwards in our team can’t at the moment.

 

[rifraff]

I think more people are more pissed off that their multi bet didn't come through. Just read the forums about how much everyone wins.. Woohoo. God help any team below us. Would hate to read those ones

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I watched the game but was in internet wilderness when it was being played so couldn’t comment.

Whilst the last 5 minutes was hugely disappointing, by golly the first 75 was hugely entertaining.

If it wasn’t post Origin I think Jake would have played 80 and we’d have won by plenty.

The drop off as soon as he left the field was massive!!

But let’s be happy as a win , is a win !!

 

[silvereagle]

I watched the game but was in internet wilderness when it was being played so couldn’t comment.

Whilst the last 5 minutes was hugely disappointing, by golly the first 75 was hugely entertaining.

If it wasn’t post Origin I think Jake would have played 80 and we’d have won by plenty.

The drop off as soon as he left the field was massive!!

But let’s be happy as a win , is a win !!

Absolutely Mark. I am very happy with the win particularly considering the drop balls, the 6-agains to the Storm and our missed tackles. Even more extraordinary considering the last 5 minutes give away....and we still pull off the 2 points. Just got to minimise the mistakes and not clock off early. Should not be that tough to sort.

Re 6-agains to the Storm....watched the game again this morning and obvious difference between the two sides in defence was that Storm always had at least 3 players in the tackle. They "wrestled" our guy while he was on his feet and then slowly got him down on the ground....and then slowly peeled off him. Close to 10-15 seconds and massively slowing down our ruck speed. We would only tackle with two guys with not much "wrestle" and fewer seconds to peel off. By my timing this worked out to between 5-10 seconds. Clearly we have a different structure in defence. Noticed the same in Cowboys and Parra game. Something for Des to review.

I understand the negativity on here but still see lots of upside IF we can rectify the above.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Absolutely Mark. I am very happy with the win particularly considering the drop balls, the 6-agains to the Storm and our missed tackles. Even more extraordinary considering the last 5 minutes give away....and we still pull off the 2 points. Just got to minimise the mistakes and not clock off early. Should not be that tough to sort.

Re 6-agains to the Storm....watched the game again this morning and obvious difference between the two sides in defence was that Storm always had at least 3 players in the tackle. They "wrestled" our guy while he was on his feet and then slowly got him down on the ground....and then slowly peeled off him. Close to 10-15 seconds and massively slowing down our ruck speed. We would only tackle with two guys with not much "wrestle" and fewer seconds to peel off. By my timing this worked out to between 5-10 seconds. Clearly we have a different structure in defence. Noticed the same in Cowboys and Parra game. Something for Des to review.

I understand the negativity on here but still see lots of upside IF we can rectify the above.

We've been defending like this (2 not 3 in the tackle) for quite some time.
I'm sure it's a deliberate strategy aimed at giving Manly a key advantage in some way.
Either it doesn't work or the players just haven't perfected it yet. I suspect the latter - and they are getting closer!

 

[Snake]

Manly were almost certainties in my eyes as we performed better than it showed against Melb in Melb, Origin period Melb look flat and fatigued.(plus Melb have a softer underbelly this year and far easier to expose)

The small periods where Melb showed spark and energy Manly looked poor in attack and defence but we have improved big time generally speaking.

Prior to the NZ game i was actually hopeful Manly would win all these games in this period, that is why i mentioned "Manly might surprise themselves" prior to the NZ game if they believed in themselves and played with good intensity.

Been disappointing Manly have lost a lot of close encounters we could be well entrenched in the 8 after the last month or so since the Parra game.

There is still a lack of self belief within the squad to beat the top teams, this is evident in the unforced errors that come from nerves and lacking confidence against the big teams. Once Manly build belief and a healthy level of arrogance i feel the drop balls and mistakes will reduce, hands become softer, you don't look up at the defensive line before catching the ball, you are not thinking "i can't make a mistake we will get punished" you are thinking with a relaxed mindset and confident in your abilities.

We still lack the fitness levels of the top teams to always have confidence we can stay in the grind and compete, that we won't drop off the cliff too quickly when things go against us, but in saying that we have improved in this department also.

I think if Manly can go injury free(almost impossible) for the rest of the season we can win most games if the energy levels can hold up, but i fear the drop off in about 2-3 game time and Manly will resemble the early season form again.

Garrick is a danger now at FB and not just filling in, Davey hole running, Foran looking comfortable ballplaying as ever on the left and taking the line on often, Haumole a danger on the right, Paseka running with gusto and unstoppable with this mindset, Walker threatening the middle and offering ballplaying variety also, Croker strong in defence and building some running game off the back of better go forward, there is a lot to like about the improvements.

Now if we can get DCE to keep improving his directness, Schuster to build some fitness and spark off the bench and the forwards running with continued direct punch the season is not lost just yet, the players just need to believe a bit more in themselves.

Yeah I think those early errors against Melbourne were a combination of nerves and trying too hard. As you suggest, confidence can help in this area.

 

[Karshy]

Not forgetting we missed 5 conversions!!! Should have been 46 points......disappointed to be honest. Could have, should have put 50 on them tonight. Had Garrick been kicking we'd have been over 40 guaranteed as some of the kicks Cherry missed were too rushed.

Not to mention the two absolute bombed tries. Could have put 50 on them and made the whole competition happy.

 

[XV-1]

And Cronulla thrashed Melb and did not allow 4 tries in 5 minutes.

 

[47MVEagle]

And Cronulla thrashed Melb and did not allow 4 tries in 5 minutes.

They were minus Munster & Grant tonight.

 

[XV-1]

They were minus Munster & Grant tonight.

Munster never played against us.

Cronulla had Hynes and Rudolf pull out at the last moment.

What is your point?

We should have beaten Storm by 30+ but failed pathetically in the last 7 minutes.

 

[47MVEagle]

Munster never played against us.

Cronulla had Hynes and Rudolf pull out at the last moment.

What is your point?

We should have beaten Storm by 30+ but failed pathetically in the last 7 minutes.

That half of their spine was out.

 

[Spartan Eagle]

To be fair we battered the Storm up for the Sharks.

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

I think it's fair to say that the Storm are in a slump if not completely on the slide. They were awful against us and worse against the Sharks, so we shouldn't get too carried away by the fact that we beat them by six points. I hope Desmond's big takeaway from that game was our humiliating capitulation in the final minutes. Still plenty to work on, still rightfully under the radar.

 

[Waz13]

I think it's fair to say that the Storm are in a slump if not completely on the slide. They were awful against us and worse against the Sharks, so we shouldn't get too carried away by the fact that we beat them by six points. I hope Desmond's big takeaway from that game was our humiliating capitulation in the final minutes. Still plenty to work on, still rightfully under the radar.

Imo Storm are not near the side they have been in years gone by. I’ve not had a close look at their draw and who they have beaten to date but this year there are essentially 6/7 easy beat teams. And then there’s a few fairly good teams that can beat each other. Melb are falling into that category now and that’s where we are.