arrrrrghhhhhhhh

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I definitely agree with Jef about Foran. I know Kieran pretty well from the Norths Rep sides, and by gosh he's got a future - and... he's only 17!
 
Orford is rubbish. Ballin looks the good but seemed like he was trying to hard at times last night.

I personally wonder how we would have gone with Monas at 7, Orford in England. It would have been good to see Monas at 7 with a decent hooker.

Orford is rubbish.
 
Jezuz guys....a few things here:-

1. It's only round one.
2. We actually SHOULD have taken the game to golden point. If that tackle by G Stewart on Bird was high, then I'm 6 foot 2 inches !!
3. I thought Perry, Vaeliki, KING !!, Kite, both Stewies, Choc etc had pretty damned good games.

The one concern as has been raised, is the 1/2 pairing, but think about it like this. For 2 years the 1/2's have been fed the ball in a certain way (Monnas). That has now drastically changed. Give them 4-5 games to gel lads.

I'm still calling minor premiers believe it or not (I hope that's not the kiss of death - hehehehe).

Ballin was very crisp and fast out of dummy 1/2 IMO.

Additionally, I thought our aggression looks to have taken a step up.

Also, I think we should have players that KNOW their positions playing those positions. I know Perry played well in the trials, but Lock?

Back row should be Choc, Beaver, Stewy with Glenn Hall off the bench.
 
Kiwi Eagle link said:
Interesting to see Ballin getting a lot of praise in here, if Monaghan, Matai or King had have given away those penalties he did they would be getting slammed on here

He only gave away two penalties, one of which I can't remember and the other was for a "second effort" in the tackle in one of those 50/50 situations where the tackled player tries to bounce straight back to their feet before the tackle is complete and the ref is too gutless to penalise the attacking team for playing on after being held. Hardly a brain explosion from Ballin.

And Ryan I don't think you can excuse Orford's performance based on a "drastic" change in dummy half service. It's not rocket surgery  ;), you pick up the ball and pass it to the first receiver. What part of that does Orford struggle with ? If anything he's getting it quicker. I did notice that Ballin went to Orfords side just about every time we were in attacking 20 though, not much variation, but am assuming that Orford was calling the shots.....unfortunately for him he was firing blanks last night.
 
Mate, I think Orford plays better when he doesn't have time to think about the play. Monaghan would get the ball out of dummy 1/2, run a few steps, and then pass, meaning Orford had to make off the cuff type decisions, which worked out for us if you ask me.

Now that he's getting the ball quicker, he's got more time to set up the play...and maybe that's not his style....yet.

Everyone knows how much I rate Orford (one of the best 3 1/2 backs in the world IMO). I think he will kick into form around round 3-4. Remember, he was saying this to the fans as well (that it will take time, and he may start a little slower).

Also, think of it like this guys. If we don't have Orford, who DO we have. Our hopes rest entirely on his shoulders.
 
It seems almost like they are trying too hard to score of every chance that the backs get with the ball. As soon as the ball reaches the centers or 'sometimes' the wingers and we realise there's no chance of scoring we go into under 7's mode and everyone stands on the spot passing the ball to one another, trying to make things happen. It looks ugly and causes mistakes and disorganisation. Instead, if theres nothing on, take it forward, even if its 2 meters. Take the tackle, get up quick and try again with some structure.
 
I thought Balin had a great game. Orford on the other hand.... That penalty he gave for abusing the ref after he passed the ball forward from a restart,  how can he do that when he must have known it was forward? And can he kick the ball more than forty metres???? It's killing us in field position and with Lyon at 5/8 we don't really have another kicking option.
Apart from that I wasn't too dissapointed. It's only the first game and everbody looked rusty on a warm and humid night. 
 
Chip & Chase link said:
[quote author=Kiwi Eagle link=topic=177092.msg179469#msg179469 date=1205613425]
Interesting to see Ballin getting a lot of praise in here, if Monaghan, Matai or King had have given away those penalties he did they would be getting slammed on here

He only gave away two penalties, one of which I can't remember and the other was for a "second effort" in the tackle in one of those 50/50 situations where the tackled player tries to bounce straight back to their feet before the tackle is complete and the ref is too gutless to penalise the attacking team for playing on after being held. Hardly a brain explosion from Ballin.

.
[/quote]

The 1st tackle he gave away he got to his feet and pushed over his opposing hooker, was silly stuff

I am not syaing he was ****, but if any of those 3 guys mentioned had given them away, plenty would be said about it on here getting stuck into them
 
Ballin had a decent game.. but he just doesnt have that creative spark consistently to help Orford. Nevertheless, Ballin or Monaghan last year shouldnt have to have that burden of playing as a half back to help Orford.

Orford is rubbish. Monas and Ballin would have been a better half/hooker combination. We saw them together for what was it.. 5-6 games last year? and we were undefeated.

Anyway.. we have Orford for the rest of the season.. and were going to struggle big time.
 
I thought Ballin was quite good actually. My biggest criticism of his game was that one more than one occasion when the Sharks kicked deep and Manly had to get out of their red zone, he was nowhere to be seen, and was one of the last back to the play. Didn't get his hands on the ball until the third tackle, and often Manly were still on the 10m line.

Overall Manly's attacking options were appalling. No direction, no structure, no leadership. Nobody stepping up wanting to take control of the game. Perhaps Ballin is a better hooker than Monas (though he's going to have to play better than he did last night to convince most people of that), but he doesn't have the game in him to take pressure off Monas. In the pre-season we've heard Lyon and Ox saying how Monas had sticky fingers and hogged the ball too much last year - it's because you f*ckers don't do anything with it when he passes it to you!

Positives: Perry was excellent in the first half. A very impressive performance from him and it showed that he is taking the right attitude at Manly, and when you combine that with his undoubted potential....well, we're onto a winner. Kite was also very good and you've got to respect the man's workload. Choc had a mixed night. Made metres, scored a try, came up with a few strong tackles but also had poor hands once or twice, gave away some penalties, one or two missed tackles...Also, I felt that Glenn Stewart had a good night as well. He wasn't charging into the line at 1,000 miles an hour but we looked like we had something going on everytime he took the line on.

Everyone else had a night to forget. Noone in the backline deserves a mention (even Bani, despite scoring a try and having a legit one disallowed, didn't stand out).

Our attacking structure needs massive improvements if we're going to make an impact this year. Orford needs to stand up and take some responsibility for our hopeless attack on the weekend, Ballin might need to add another dimension to his game - "crisp service" clearly didn't cut it last night and maybe Monas's slow passing, running around in circles game was one of the few things that was holding this team together for the past two years....
 
Matabele link said:
The good news is that Joe Williams only signed a one year contract with Penrif.  ;)

Don't suppose you watched the Penrith v Broncos game?

I think I'd rather stick with Orford.  :D
 
I have to say this guys, and ask if it was only me that was entirely frustrated with Orford when taking penalty kicks to the sideline. He was only make 10-15 metres a pop. You look at Melbourne who make 40-50 on average, and it already puts us behind the eight ball.
 
Ballin has a decent boot.

I don't think Orford likes handing the control over for some reason.
 
Ryan link said:
I have to say this guys, and ask if it was only me that was entirely frustrated with Orford when taking penalty kicks to the sideline. He was only make 10-15 metres a pop. You look at Melbourne who make 40-50 on average, and it already puts us behind the eight ball.

Watching the game Clon and I agreed whole heartedly with this....at least I think that was what we were saying in between expletives. 
 
Des has always coached the side to attack what is front of them rather than to any attacking pattern. I didn't see the game but it sounds like we lacked any attacking spark. Hopefully that will come.
 
Flip link said:
[quote author=Matabele link=topic=177092.msg179498#msg179498 date=1205641120]
The good news is that Joe Williams only signed a one year contract with Penrif.  ;)

Don't suppose you watched the Penrith v Broncos game?

I think I'd rather stick with Orford.  :D
[/quote]  What do you think the wink means?
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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