Technical Coach said:. Could be a case of managing our troops to last the season then lift the intensity back to the normal Manly approach come finals time.
To be honest we really don't have the ball and all aggressive tackling depth of previous seasons and the current players renowned for such aggression are cutting back the amount of this style of play to preserve themselves and also due to age.
It stands to reason that at this stage with a 4 point gap we would go to a more conservative approach. It was really pointless us expending enormous energy and effort to try and outplay,outmuscle and outrun Souffs the other night. You hold back your troops and only committ all when there is no 2nd chance. We wil unleash it all in the finals just like 2008 and 2011 BUT we must take a top 2 position to do it and avoid losing in week 1. We put everything into that first semi last year vs the rorters as did they and the winner of that game won the premiership that night. It'll bode well for us if we hold 1st and Souffs and rorters come 2nd and 3rd. They will have played each other twice within a week and will bash themselves to a standstill. The loser will be gone and the winner will be severley battle fatigued.