Dylan Walker

[HoldenV8]

Ok, as most of you would know I have been one of those who has defended Dylan Walker as a 5/8. Yes his running game can be good, and his kicking game is coming along, but seriously, he was given a lesson tonight by Anthony Milford. What we saw from Milford is what where supposed to be seeing from Walker. A running 5/8 doesn't just run or kick the ball, they also have to pass it.

Walker's biggest problem as a #6 is that he has no passing game to speak of while his play making skills are a long way from being first grade standard for a 5/8.

That lack of passing, other than turning the ball back inside, has basically starved our left edge of quality ball all season. Before his injury just about the only time Jorge saw the ball other than when fielding a kick was when he went infield looking for it and its been the same for Skivy. And his lack of play making skill is putting more and more pressure on DCE which is only made worse by Snake's absence.

Seriously, for the good of the team I think its about time Barrett bit the bullet and swapped Killer and Walker. Again, as many of us have pointed out in these pages, Killer's experience would take a lot of pressure off DCE and it would lessen the reliance on Snake. Also, Killer has been shown up for speed a few times this season in the centres (tonight he was even turned inside out by Sam Thaiday for christ sake!!!) while Walker as a centre has good speed. Hell, he even got himself a Kangaroos test jumper in the position.

Remember that 2 weeks ago against NQ we saw more play making from Killer at 5/8 in 20 minutes than we have seen from Walker since the start of the season.

What I saw tonight from Walker really hit home to me that he really isn't going to be a first grade quality pivot and that centre is his best position (lets face it, even at Souffs they played John Sutton at 5/8 before thinking of Walker). It might be time that we actually start looking for a good, organising style of 5/8 (similar to what Foran was for us in his pre-sook days) for next year with a view to Walker taking Killer's centre spot on the right.

 

[yokahontas]

Ok, as most of you would know I have been one of those who has defended Dylan Walker as a 5/8. Yes his running game can be good, and his kicking game is coming along, but seriously, he was given a lesson tonight by Anthony Milford. What we saw from Milford is what where supposed to be seeing from Walker. A running 5/8 doesn't just run or kick the ball, they also have to pass it.

Walker's biggest problem as a #6 is that he has no passing game to speak of while his play making skills are a long way from being first grade standard for a 5/8.

That lack of passing, other than turning the ball back inside, has basically starved our left edge of quality ball all season. Before his injury just about the only time Jorge saw the ball other than when fielding a kick was when he went infield looking for it and its been the same for Skivy. And his lack of play making skill is putting more and more pressure on DCE which is only made worse by Snake's absence.

Seriously, for the good of the team I think its about time Barrett bit the bullet and swapped Killer and Walker. Again, as many of us have pointed out in these pages, Killer's experience would take a lot of pressure off DCE and it would lessen the reliance on Snake. Also, Killer has been shown up for speed a few times this season in the centres (tonight he was even turned inside out by Sam Thaiday for christ sake!!!) while Walker as a centre has good speed. Hell, he even got himself a Kangaroos test jumper in the position.

Remember that 2 weeks ago against NQ we saw more play making from Killer at 5/8 in 20 minutes than we have seen from Walker since the start of the season.

What I saw tonight from Walker really hit home to me that he really isn't going to be a first grade quality pivot and that centre is his best position (lets face it, even at Souffs they played John Sutton at 5/8 before thinking of Walker). It might be time that we actually start looking for a good, organising style of 5/8 (similar to what Foran was for us in his pre-sook days) for next year with a view to Walker taking Killer's centre spot on the right.

Agree with pretty much everything you say, and it was blatantly obvious in that last 20 mins against NQ that DCE/Lyon is a far better halves combo than DCE/Walker.

Bear in mind, Walker has also always had ball-hog tendencies as a centre; Killer, on the other hand, is always thinking three steps ahead and often sets his winger up. One clearly has the footy brain to spot gaps or opportunities for others as well as himself; one doesn't. And I'm not sure you can coach that.

 

[HoldenV8]

Part of the problem seems to be that we have next to no structure in attack. We have scored 26 tries in 10 games this year and at least half of them have been individual efforts. Between Snake not being anywhere near fit, DCE trying his best to play back into form while being the lone play maker, and Walker hogging the ball on the left, our attack has been shocking this season.

We've scored 178 points this year. Only the Dogs (173 - still to play), St Merge (105), Tits (170 - still to play), Chooks (167 - still to play) and the Knights (102 - still to play) have scored less than we have this season

 

[Disco]

If I searched my posts youd see I said he needs around ten rounds to settle..........I think it's now time to end the experiment

 

[Simonmyers11]

Ok, as most of you would know I have been one of those who has defended Dylan Walker as a 5/8. Yes his running game can be good, and his kicking game is coming along, but seriously, he was given a lesson tonight by Anthony Milford. What we saw from Milford is what where supposed to be seeing from Walker. A running 5/8 doesn't just run or kick the ball, they also have to pass it.

Walker's biggest problem as a #6 is that he has no passing game to speak of while his play making skills are a long way from being first grade standard for a 5/8.

That lack of passing, other than turning the ball back inside, has basically starved our left edge of quality ball all season. Before his injury just about the only time Jorge saw the ball other than when fielding a kick was when he went infield looking for it and its been the same for Skivy. And his lack of play making skill is putting more and more pressure on DCE which is only made worse by Snake's absence.

Seriously, for the good of the team I think its about time Barrett bit the bullet and swapped Killer and Walker. Again, as many of us have pointed out in these pages, Killer's experience would take a lot of pressure off DCE and it would lessen the reliance on Snake. Also, Killer has been shown up for speed a few times this season in the centres (tonight he was even turned inside out by Sam Thaiday for christ sake!!!) while Walker as a centre has good speed. Hell, he even got himself a Kangaroos test jumper in the position.

Remember that 2 weeks ago against NQ we saw more play making from Killer at 5/8 in 20 minutes than we have seen from Walker since the start of the season.

What I saw tonight from Walker really hit home to me that he really isn't going to be a first grade quality pivot and that centre is his best position (lets face it, even at Souffs they played John Sutton at 5/8 before thinking of Walker). It might be time that we actually start looking for a good, organising style of 5/8 (similar to what Foran was for us in his pre-sook days) for next year with a view to Walker taking Killer's centre spot on the right.

Has to happen. And surely walker will move to centre next year. If i were manly would be chasing norman or keary and like turbo said oneil for the other centre. We need more grunt and aggressive forwards so i hope we get meehan and Sims and go after that young monster from the storm who would not break the bank. Move on starling lawrence lussick burgees mateo leary

 

[Turbo]

Time to do the maths how much money do we get from all these retirements and players leaving.

Lyon 750k
Stewart 600k
Matai 600k
Mateo 550k
Burgess 250k
Plus all the other dead wood leaving...
Symonds 150k
Starling 150k
Ect.

We will have 3 million to spend on new players Surley we can sign a high quality 5/8 to partner DCE for a number of years and sign a good centre also.

 

[HoldenV8]

Burgess, Mateo and Leary should not have been here this year. Leary isn't a first grader IMO and thanks (in no small part) to Burgess and Mateo not taking the hint when tapped on the shoulder, we actually had to let go the likes of Hiku and Gutherson which has made us weaker than originally planned.

I hear that Burgess has an offer or two to move back to the ESL. I say take the money and run Pommy. Run far, fun fast.

I'd go for Norman before I would even consider Keary (at least Norman can tackle), but even that would leave us with two ad-lib style halves which I don't think would work. DCE works better when he has a halves partner who can organise the attack and he only has to worry about his own game.

 

[Turbo]

Burgess, Mateo and Leary should not have been here this year. Leary isn't a first grader IMO and thanks (in no small part) to Burgess and Mateo not taking the hint when tapped on the shoulder, we actually had to let go the likes of Hiku and Gutherson which has made us weaker than originally planned.

I hear that Burgess has an offer or two to move back to the ESL. I say take the money and run Pommy. Run far, fun fast.

I'd go for Norman before I would even consider Keary (at least Norman can tackle), but even that would leave us with two ad-lib style halves which I don't think would work. DCE works better when he has a halves partner who can organise the attack and he only has to worry about his own game.

The thing is their is no quality halves that can organise left on the market,

 

[Andrew..]

Almost every 5th tackle kick is taken by DCE which means he's under enormous pressure. The result is often poor kick placement and then immediately we find ourselves back under pressure and the cycle begins again.
In no way am I blaming DCE but we need more options.

 

[smithy]

Blake green would be a decent option for next year. Has done well with Storm and isn't the flash player but steady and organises and can leave DCE to his game. He also wouldn't come with the premium price tag that Norman or Keary do. Would then give Wright/Hynes time to develop without needing to be rushed in.

 

[double hoops]

I would continue with Walker at 6 if he was wanting the ball and getting the ball in his hands, and having a go. DCE is doing everything and Walker just dosent want the ball in his hands as a half. He looks like he has no idea, i think he is good running at a hole, when its set up fir him, thinking and seeing that gap. Not so much. He has to be moved.

 

[HoldenV8]

You know what though? For all of the talk on this forum and on social media, I can't see Barrett swapping Killer and Walker. Both he and Bozo have talked up Walker as a 5/8 so much that it moving him to centre would be admitting that they were wrong. And as we all know, Bozo has never been the type to admit that he's wrong about anything.

 

[maxta]

Feeling the same way actually...it's fair to try this shift to 5/8 but patiently waiting for it to work is frustrating, as that left side attack looks uncoordinated & clunky with not enough real evidence of improvement.
I do get what Barrett was trying to achieve as in the running half options like Milford & Morgan.
Thing is also, those 2 players have the privilege of playing behind teams offering far better 2nd phase & offloads required to get the best out of this style of player...
Not prepared to DCE bash, but feel he has not been as dominant as that organising half as expected.
The sad part is watching Manly playing with such predictability...from the whistle last night trying to out Brisbane the Broncos with a simplistic game plan of error free footy then kick??
Not sure why there is so much 1 out safety first footy, but opposition defences seem to have little trouble containing it.
Many good players rate Barrett as a good coach, but would like to see Manly take the shackles off in attack & get some of that killer instinct back defensively, missing in both these areas.
Still time to make a play in 2016, but really need to bring something new - that works - to compete for finals footy.

 

[HoldenV8]

@maxta I think it was on NRL360 just before the season started that Geoff Toovey said that DCE would struggle without a halves partner like Foran who can organise the attack.

Tooves was right wasn't he because DCE couldn't organise a piss up in a pub. He's an ad-lib style of halfback who is much better when someone else is organising the team. He's trying his best and last night was an improvement from him, but playing a lone hand in the play making is more than I think he can handle long term.

Its why he and JT never gelled as halves for Qld. Both are similar players who need someone to marshal the troops out there. Its just that with JT being the elder statesman and superstar, DCE copped all of the blame. He was expected to go in and play like Cronk and it didn't work.

Unfortunately Dylan Walker is not the type of halves partner DCE needs to be at his best which is when he's concentrating on his own game and not having to worry about everything else.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Pity we don't have an Ian Martin or Alan Thompson clone waiting in the wings.

 

[XV-1]

You know what though? For all of the talk on this forum and on social media, I can't see Barrett swapping Killer and Walker. Both he and Bozo have talked up Walker as a 5/8 so much that it moving him to centre would be admitting that they were wrong. And as we all know, Bozo has never been the type to admit that he's wrong about anything.

The ironic thing is Hiku has good hands and imo he would have made an excellent fist at playing 5/8th this season. He would have been fitter for the experience as well.

Oh, I forgot. We sold him to make way to sign M Wright.

 

[Woodsie]

You know what though? For all of the talk on this forum and on social media, I can't see Barrett swapping Killer and Walker. Both he and Bozo have talked up Walker as a 5/8 so much that it moving him to centre would be admitting that they were wrong. And as we all know, Bozo has never been the type to admit that he's wrong about anything.

I'm over the Walker conversion to 5/8. As Disco says, 10 weeks is enough.

I'm not yet over TB, he has shown he will change things (eg. 1st 2 weeks selections) I think he is getting close to making the call.

 

[HoldenV8]

Killer is retiring at the end of this year and if asked he really should do what's best for the team right now. Other than his goal kicking, he's out of form and too slow in the centres. When a centre gets turned inside out by Sam Thaiday.....there is a problem.

Walker's speed would boost the centres while Killer's experience and proven play making would boost the halves. Its a no brainer.

But its Barrett's call isn't it. I hope you are right @Woodsie and that he is close to making the call on this.

 

[Woodsie]

Killer is retiring at the end of this year and if asked he really should do what's best for the team right now. Other than his goal kicking, he's out of form and too slow in the centres. Walker's speed would boost the centres while Killer's experience and proven play making would boost the halves

But its Barrett's call isn't it. I hope you are right @Woodsie and that he is close to making the call on this.

I am not sure that he would be too quick to "force" killer to switch. I think it would need to be a mutual decision.

 

[HoldenV8]

That's the problem though isn't it. Barrett is the coach, it should be his call. Yes Jamie is the team captain and a dead set legend, but he is only a player after all.