Halves crap - Wonder why?

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maxta

First Grader
Premium Member
The pure & simple truth behing the form of Foran & DCE looking like park footballers against Sandow & Norman who looked the best halves on earth, is the platform they got from the respective foward packs.
Though looking a little confused at times, noted Foran take the line on at full throttle on a few occasions & if it was at a retreating defence(like Manly's) would have split them open each time. I will confess he was not at his best as far as mindset - but his efforts were evident against a rugged & pumped team who had the luxury of coming up quickly in defence after winning the ruck area by dominating EVERY contest.
DCE - tries his guts out imo, seen some 1 on 1 tackles when their massive fowards targetted him which cements his commitment & apart from B Stewart looked the most threatening in attack.
Lets not confuse the fact he is leaving to this performance - throw Johns, Thurston & Lockyer behind that pack last night & they would have looked just as ordinary.
The platform in the middle dictated the story & though the tries were scored by outside backs the true damage was done up the guts.
The only half I have ever seen that can still create behind a beaten pack was Cliffy Lyons but he was more freak than player....
Anyway - the point is, like most here I'm far from happy with the BS & uncertainty off the field - fact is - this game was NOT the halves fault - but the fowards.
 
I disagree. We lost that game in the halves and out wide. Especially on our right side. Plenty of times we had good field position and no clue what to do with it.
 
I thought our backline were ordinary in the first half when our forwards did hold their own. The second half our pack resembled the ambush from the tigers last year, just no impact.
 
The forwards never held there own - the good field position came from Parra's handling errors & the Eels central defence hit hard enough to allow the backs to be up in our face, creating loose passes & poor decisions in attack where only a Foran Cutout pass was unfairly called forward, we certainly didn't play through them as again - their forwards overpowered ours all day with only field position from their poor handling keeping us in the game that 1st half.
 
Foran did great till he got hurt. Our pack was pedestrian, Sandow was magnificent.
In my opinion, Sandow is their X-factor (Luke Burt was their previous X-factor who always seemed to pull something out of his butt against us) and his efforts last night is what worked against us last night.
 
I think you are being unfair Cherry. Foz really put in, have a look at his chasing of kicks before he got hurt. We were busted last night and unfocussed because our gun half back decided to stuff the week by announcing his departure.
 
In my opinion, Sandow is their X-factor (Luke Burt was their previous X-factor who always seemed to pull something out of his butt against us) and his efforts last night is what worked against us last night.

Agree 100%. Anyone that doesn't rate Sandow as a number 7 is still thinking of him from 2/3 years ago. He looks fit and settled. He is a tough little prick, but he is as cunning as a sh1thouse rat. Always thinking ahead. I reckon he'll have a huge year this year, as will the eels. Always give credit where credit is due, right?
 
Agree 100%. Anyone that doesn't rate Sandow as a number 7 is still thinking of him from 2/3 years ago. He looks fit and settled. He is a tough little prick, but he is as cunning as a sh1thouse rat. Always thinking ahead. I reckon he'll have a huge year this year, as will the eels. Always give credit where credit is due, right?

And playing for a new contract also. Amazing how they step up.
 
We got dominated in the forwards. Could be a long year if the forwards don't step up. Good news is next year we will have money to buy some grunt up front. T Burgess will be on our hit list.
 
I disagree. We lost that game in the halves and out wide. Especially on our right side. Plenty of times we had good field position and no clue what to do with it.

We had "circumstantial" field position from infringements and Parramatta's poor handling. The reason we didn't know what to do with "it" was because we were not winning the battle in the forwards/ruck. Winning the forward battle is not simply about carving out metres, it about bending the line and attracting defenders and getting a roll on around the ruck so the space opens up out wide for the backs; that didn't happen all night because Parramatta won the collision in both our red zone and our attacking zones.
 
Is it just me, or was the Manly / Parra game more brutal and fast paced than all the other games so far this round? Maybe I'm biased, but Parra played like this was their GF. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a very flat game next week.
 
Is it just me, or was the Manly / Parra game more brutal and fast paced than all the other games so far this round? Maybe I'm biased, but Parra played like this was their GF. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a very flat game next week.

They were very fired up and played with enormous intensity.

The script was written long before kick off though.

Parramatta would be hungry; check.
Watmough will have their pack fired up; check
DCE mind will not be on the job; check
Hiku's wing will be exposed by Semi; check
Foran finishes wishing he was playing for the opposition; check
Mateo flops; check
Mason flops; check
Sandow scores a try and carries on like a knob; check

It really couldn't have gone any worse than even the most pessimistic Manly supporter could have imagined. It was a horror night.

I will cheer the boys on again next week!!!
 

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