Yea mate I've loved the signings but more importantly the departures this year especially Tuilagi and keepie. I know where you coming from with Jake but that's not his fault it's the coaches and players around him fault because he can't be expected to play 80 mins week in week out he needs a 15 min stint on the sideline because then fatigue kicks in and his standards drop. But it's his team mates fault as well because they aren't good enough and 70 percent jake is better then 100% aloiai. In my eyes with those individual player errors at the top of that list is the 2 Josh's from Samoa. If Manly want to be competitive so much comes down to them.
Schuster has the potential to put on points, turn a game, change momentum the best of anyone in a comp and on big games or when you are behind in a low scoring wet day you need something special to get you over the line and he can be that difference between top 8 and top 4 team. But once again individual errors a plenty for Schuster.
For Aloiai, i believe he is very over rated and fits in to the keepie and tuilangi section of making errors at costly times. But once again has a high ceiling of an athletic middle forward who has proven the balance between a power and touch game a couple years back for Samoa as a starting lock and what Manly's been heavily critised for Lately is not having a great lock option as Jake is now more of a front rower.
Manly need to understand we probably have a 2 year premiership window or whenever DCE retires. You also got to have a year when you get close or loose a grand final to learn from the experience. So if we want to win we are going to need to have a big season and make top 4 then next year 2025 will be our best chance to win it.
If Aloiai and Schuster both don't fire we are without a lock and then 800k down the salary with Schuster which is a star player that an opposition would have over us already as an advantage on the team list. If any of these players don't give in to the team system and continue to make mistakes they should be granted a release.
If Manly are seriously not seeing any potential in Schuster playing second row by him not hitting tight lines whilst the outside backs wrap around him not the other way round and take the occasion tough carry out of his own end they should take a good hard look at getting him to dragons either now or when the mid season transfer is available. Even when he got dropped from first grade if you watch him play he's a ball player he's a five eight, he's just an unfit five eight and that's the sad truth. Dragon's need a 6, they need creativity in attack, Flanno knows him well as he was just at Manly and Tom and Jake were filthy at Schuster when he got the contract because that's Burbo's spot for the future as well as Cherry gave him a spray and he didn't respond.
Aloiai is just very similar to Keepie like some people will say how great he is because he runs hard tackles hard and puts on the odd good shot. But he makes too many handling errors, lazy high tackles and defence brainsnaps. I feel there is a lot of clubs that could go for a player like him, at dogs, titans and dolphins he would be starting lock for example and maybe pay like 400 - 500k. Also the storm could want a player like him but currently he is on like 600k for us and they will take him at huge unders around 350-400k.
Thoughts?
Non-system errors killed us in 2023. That is, individual player errors rather than errors in defensive structure or tactics.
Think Tuilagi's missed tackles, Keppie's clumsy hands, Harper rushing out of the line, Weekes dropping high balls, Jake's never-ending six agains and penalties.
I don't buy the excuse of players being gassed or losing the ruck. Tuilagi lacked tackling technique and desire. Keppie lacked coordination. Harper lacked speed. These were individual one-on-one errors that, in aggregate, cost us games.
I'm pleased that our recruitment is addressing this problem. We have let go of high-error players (Tuilagi, Keppie etc) and replaced them with low-error players (Lodge, Woods, Brookes etc).
Stripping 3-4 errors from our game each week will go a long way to winning more games.
We have as much strike as any team in the comp (except Broncos). If we can maintain more possession due to fewer errors, we will can give the comp a huge shake next year. Yes, that's easier said than done, but ridding ourselves of high-error players is a big step in the right direction.
