Cronulla v Manly Waringah Sea Eagles

[Ian Martin tragic]

Haven't seen the game yet, but agree with cv and vidmar: win pretty, perfectly or ugly; but win at shark park and I'm happy. historically it's been a graveyard for us no matter where the sharks are on the table. to come from behind in the second half down there and hold them off was good to follow on the league unlimited text commentary.

some perspective: we were 0-4, then 2-8. it's been a tough road, but we've scraped into the 8 and are holding on. we have won games with 6 starting players out; against the sharks with 3 out and several knackered from the war that was soo 3. Every game is tough in this comp. and for us theyr'e all make or break games since round 8. and all without one of the best players in the world.

every win builds confidence. let's go get those drug cheat bastards.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I'm happy with the 2 points from an obvious danger game. Our preparation was crap with injuries suspensions and SOO, if we had played with the cohesion in attack of the 2008 GF it would have been a major miracle.

On the question of fretting about for and against and whether we are in the 8 from round to round - there is one round when our position is important and that is at the completion of round 26. Meanwhile we've survived SOO with only one loss (when drastically weakened) and have won 6 from our last 8 (the titans rip-off being the other loss) so I don't think Des will be jumping off a cliff/taking an overdose/putting his head in an oven anytime soon.

 

[Mal Cochrane]

I'd reckon Des and the players would know they didn't go well and will be looking to improve. Also most teams will have a win during the season that they were lucky to get away with. This happens in footie.

But ranting about how bad they went back and forth to prove your point? take it for what it is...an ugly win and yes, Des will know we won't win too many games playing like that. Plus, it was a very spirited Shark side on home turf

i think we all agree though that they need to re-think T-Rex's position on the wing

 

[vidmar]

Exactly.

No one is going to give back the 2 points, and of course we will take the win. But what is the point in ignoring how poorly we played ? Vidmar might be an advocate of the \"head in the sand\" method of dealing with difficult issues but I don't see the point in blind acceptance of the team performance just because we won. If you want that sort of rose coloured view of the Manly Sea Eagles then no point posting here.

We played poorly and will need to improve. Nuff said ! 

All of course are entitled to their view of the performance but my head is certainly not "in the sand" about the need for us to improve aspects of our game.

I've seen us on the end of many a defeat at Cronulla over the years including an absolute shellacking so heading down to the shire missing some key players and having several backing up from a massive game on Wednesday I was wary of how we would go.

Hence my relief at coming back with 2 points and a shiny trophy...as some have said not a pretty win and some poor performances but if we can still win under these circumstances whilst playing poorly in some quarters then I'm happy.

After the season we've had so far I guess I'm looking at a glass half full but if that makes for viewing life through rose glasses so be it...

 

[ManlyBacker]

I have to mention some of the stalwarts I spotted in the crowd on TV. Well done to Johnno, Fluffy, Duff (lovingly looking at his beer), Patrick, AJ, Wolfman, Shane, special honoury mention to Cliffy GC on the fence, and the stars who got in about a thousand shots Michelle, Kathy and Gillian. The 'Push it Up' sign only made one edge so I presume Jake and Kell got there too. And DSM5, I spotted your jacket and head turned away, but unmistakable. And I didn't see Vidma once! Super turn-out.

 

[vidmar]

Yep MB another good turn out at Shark Park and the boys and girls were very vocal (much to the chagrin of the Sharks faithful!)

Most of the above were on the supporters bus including Kevin who had driven from Dubbo, Deb and Russ who had come from the Hunter and Mave and Geoff who are regulars and travel from Forster for each game.

We had a great group on the bus and we had lots of laughs and a good old sing song as we got close to the game.

Sharkies was chockers with Manly supportahs and the number of "You're on Manly Turf" coasters that were scattered all around the club was testament to the fact that once again we "owned" Cronulla

Bones was crook so couldn't be there but I had a good chat with Groggo who was in fine form.

Misty and the girls joined us on the Hill instead of sitting in the stands and were all set up with their camp chairs, warm gear and looking very happy with life.

We got a lift home and there was a heap of cars flying Manly colours and everyone was very happy with the win.

Love winning in Cronulla!

Vid

ps I was stood just up from Cliffy so that's probably why you didn't see me lol

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

And I didn't see Vidma once! Super turn-out.

I heard them singing coming thru the telecast though

 

[Cameron]

general admin ticket $15
cans of beer $6
90 minutes of putting **** on shirescum fans
****ING PRICELESS

 

[DSM5]

Are you that fat guy Vid with the skank who wanted to beat up her kids or are you the weird South African guy who i couldn't understand?   

 

[Utility Player]

Tony Williams was horrible tonight. What's the go with him? He's got a bit of Dane Carlaw about him.... I mean looks like Tarzan plays like Jane??

Great minds think alike Nutz I posted the same thing on MSE this morning.

 

[Nutzcraw]

We are both exceptional human beings UP

 

[Jatz Crackers]

^^ 2 of my favourites. 

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

Look the win was ugly to much sideways running in attack it was never going to be easy to win at shark park,we got the 2 points we know on our day we can turn it on look at the bulldogs game.

 

[Cameron]

funniest part of the night
3 metro looking sharks fans were giving me some **** over the fence
during the first half, at one stage they actually threw half a donut towards me gesturing i should eat a few more.
Well at half time i went over and started talking to the homos, all very nicely, i was commenting about i wouldnt want to see the shark lose and i didnt want to see one of them have their mascarer run and the obvious fat **** joke came out i paused and pointed to jakes Gf kelly, "see how thin she is?? I used to be as thin as her until i meet his mum (pointing to one of the sharks homos) now everytime i **** her she gives me half a dozen donuts.

It was game set and match me

 

[Ian Martin tragic]

just finished watching the game on diwana.
yes, scrappy and some rough and clumsy plays from the playmakers.  bit like we've been playing all year.
tony williams, definitely a 'wtf are you doing out there man?' still, anybody better to put in?

obvious gameplan to score from hard running pigs close to the line; and it worked effectively often enough.

for the record; orford; two lousy missed goalkicks, some average efforts and creating attacks out wider, but.... 1 kick for a try, 2 repeat sets, 1 forced error for a penalty (ie. the offside play on the sharks tryline), one crucial cover tackle on the inside on the sharks full back in full flight.

pluses: foran another good game. looking more and more comfortable in firsts. huge efforts from stewart, watmough. farrar is stabilising the centres on his side.

lyon looks like he's still recovering. hopefully he's back in better shape for next week. and maybe rodney will be back.

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

Jamie really had a quiet game

Gets  10
Tackles  11 
kicks 1
runs 5
metres 23

 

[nita]

Agree re poor play but (fingers crossed) we are building up to playing better...peaking at the right time

Also re T Rex....Stewie= Robbo on the wing and T Rex into the forwards.....not sure it is fair to judge him on wing play when his training etc has been geared to being in the forwards

I don't see how putting t-rex into the forwards is going to solve this problem.

IMO he has serious attitude issues. He hardly ever runs the ball up hard from a kick return (and for a guy that big, you would think that would be one of his strengths) and he has no urgency in defence whatsoever.

I think it all comes down to an attitude problem. He's big and strong enough, so he should be running those kick returns hard - and he could be chasing better in defence as he does have enough agility. He just doesn't - and i think if he were to play in the forwards this lack of attitude would be even more prevalent - you need to have attitude and grunt if you want to have an impact in the forwards!

 

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[quote author=lsz link=topic=181059.msg232639#msg232639 date=1247957979]
Agree re poor play but (fingers crossed) we are building up to playing better...peaking at the right time

Also re T Rex....Stewie= Robbo on the wing and T Rex into the forwards.....not sure it is fair to judge him on wing play when his training etc has been geared to being in the forwards

I don't see how putting t-rex into the forwards is going to solve this problem.

IMO he has serious attitude issues. He hardly ever runs the ball up hard from a kick return (and for a guy that big, you would think that would be one of his strengths) and he has no urgency in defence whatsoever.

I think it all comes down to an attitude problem. He's big and strong enough, so he should be running those kick returns hard - and he could be chasing better in defence as he does have enough agility. He just doesn't - and i think if he were to play in the forwards this lack of attitude would be even more prevalent - you need to have attitude and grunt if you want to have an impact in the forwards!
[/quote]

Yeah I agree. How does putting someone who seems lazy in the forwards - it'd just be worse! Also can he tackle and what's his lateral movement like?

 

[Dan]

He had the same attitude at Parramatta when we signed him. I wish we would stop thinking all our signings are coups, this one is a dud

 

[Jethro]

He had the same attitude at Parramatta when we signed him. I wish we would stop thinking all our signings are coups, this one is a dud

I wonder what it would take to put some fire in his belly so he would stop doing his best Eeyore impersonation. If he showed some urgency and ran hard he would be very hard to stop once he had some momentum going. Ahhhh we can only dream ! !