Post-Game Discussion Manly v Roosters [Round 18, 2023]

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.
Game Information

Sea Eagles
Vs
Roosters
18 4 Pines Park
02 Jul 2023 16:05
80:00 minute
16

Match Stats

So happy I got my birthday wish today...a Manly win! A real heart stopper at the end but a win's a win & it certainly made my day!

Hope JWH pays for Sips' eye gouging. I thought Haumole was taken out twice at crucial times but Cummins was play on & nothing from the bunker. Thankful we have DCE, had several good players today & Jake, Ben & Tuilagi all had great comeback games.

Awesome crowd & it was so good at Brookie. Go Manly!
Happy birthday Alinda!!!!!
 
A tenacious victory for the Mighty Sea Eagles - one small gripe and I know it has been said before - when it is a full Hill as it was yesterday why do people insist on sitting literally under the advertising hoardings (around the 10 metre line) - I get it if you want to sit but surely anywhere within 2 to 3 metres of the top of the Hill should be standing room only...
 
Tuipolotu's wing is a real weakness in defence for us and we bleed a lot of tries down that side because he is often out of position in field in no man's land. The coaching staff must be aware of it as blind Freddy couldn't miss it and obviously our opposing coaches are well aware of it.
Make him watch the Rorters 1st try replay every day, and twice on match day......
 
Everyone raves about Gordon, and sure he impressed in the trials. But if you've seen Blacktown playing this year you'll know that while he's good at dummy half ... his defence up the middle needs a LOT of work and really is not up to first grade standard.

Froggy is a pass first, run second type of dummy half ... but right now I'd trust his defence a whole lot more than I would trust GCKT's.
It's not so much about putting Gordon in for the sake of putting Gordon in. I only suggest Gordon because hes a cheap low risk option and he offers something different to Croker , even if its for 10 minutes or so. Croker could play 70 minutes and GKCT could play 10.
I think we could do with just about any pure natural 9 from any other club. Even someone quoted the reserve hooker for Souths who seems to be a natural 9. Im seeing Croker getting outplayed by 9s who are in their first season.
Croker is a pass first 99 percent of the time 1% run out of dummy half player, which is why defences rush up Schu and DCE. Not to mention he takes an age to pass the ball and sometimes when he does pass it, it catches a guy who is flat footed.
His defence is great, but that alone shouldn't just be the yardstick for being good hooker.
Reece Robson, Cook, Mahoney , Harry Grant, Brandon Smith, Api, Mitch Kenny, Brailey Bros, Marshall King, Hodgson, Zac Woolford, Billy Walters, Wade Egan all are better hookers than Croker and they are all heads up players that can run the ball and pass well.
I know there are a few Croker loyalists on here, but they can't seem to see the forest for the trees in that the 9 position is something we need a change in direction and its been going on for far too long.
 
Last edited:
It's not so much about putting Gordon in for the sake of putting Gordon in. I only suggest Gordon because hes a cheap low risk option and he offers something different to Croker , even if its for 10 minutes or so. Croker could play 70 minutes and GKCT could play 10.
I think we could do with just about any pure natural 9 from any other club. Even someone quoted the reserve hooker for Souths who seems to be a natural 9. Im seeing Croker getting outplayed by 9s who are in their first season.
Croker is a pass first 99 percent of the time 1% run out of dummy half player, which is why defences rush up Schu and DCE. Not to mention he takes an age to pass the ball and sometimes when he does pass it, it catches a guy who is flat footed.
His defence is great, but that alone shouldn't just be the yardstick for being good hooker.
Reece Robson, Cook, Mahoney , Harry Grant, Brandon Smith, Api, Mitch Kenny, Brailey Bros, Marshall King, Hodgson, Zac Woolford, Billy Walters, Wade Egan all are better hookers than Croker and they are all heads up players that can run the ball and pass well.
I know there are a few Croker loyalists on here, but they can't seem to see the forest for the trees in that the 9 position is something we need a change in direction and its been going on for far too long.
I love Froggy ,as you say his D is 1st class ,but I watched closely yesterday he throws some very slow balls from dummy 1/2 which gives the defense time to close in and shut down our attack. So yes I agree we need something extra at 9 ,if its GT then fine but his D appears to need a bit of work, and as I have mentioned a few times the Souffs res 9 Peter M, imo is the man we need. I think he would make our forwards a lot more effective with better service and running them onto ball which has a whole domino effect regards metres gained fatigue and space for the likes of Schu and DCE.
Anyways great win yesterday ,all be it nail biting .
 
I love Froggy ,as you say his D is 1st class ,but I watched closely yesterday he throws some very slow balls from dummy 1/2 which gives the defense time to close in and shut down our attack. So yes I agree we need something extra at 9 ,if its GT then fine but his D appears to need a bit of work, and as I have mentioned a few times the Souffs res 9 Peter M, imo is the man we need. I think he would make our forwards a lot more effective with better service and running them onto ball which has a whole domino effect regards metres gained fatigue and space for the likes of Schu and DCE.
Anyways great win yesterday ,all be it nail biting .
100 percent. I haven't seen much of the Souths Reserve hooker, ill have to check out some of his highlights and upcoming games....and he would find it hard to get any game time playing behind Cook, as would most hookers. But surely he would offer something and learn a lot from backing up the NSW hooker.
 
100 percent. I haven't seen much of the Souths Reserve hooker, ill have to check out some of his highlights and upcoming games....and he would find it hard to get any game time playing behind Cook, as would most hookers. But surely he would offer something and learn a lot from backing up the NSW hooker.
Should get a run in 1st Grade this weekend l'd say.
 
It's not so much about putting Gordon in for the sake of putting Gordon in. I only suggest Gordon because hes a cheap low risk option and he offers something different to Croker , even if its for 10 minutes or so. Croker could play 70 minutes and GKCT could play 10.
I think we could do with just about any pure natural 9 from any other club. Even someone quoted the reserve hooker for Souths who seems to be a natural 9. Im seeing Croker getting outplayed by 9s who are in their first season.
Croker is a pass first 99 percent of the time 1% run out of dummy half player, which is why defences rush up Schu and DCE. Not to mention he takes an age to pass the ball and sometimes when he does pass it, it catches a guy who is flat footed.
His defence is great, but that alone shouldn't just be the yardstick for being good hooker.
Reece Robson, Cook, Mahoney , Harry Grant, Brandon Smith, Api, Mitch Kenny, Brailey Bros, Marshall King, Hodgson, Zac Woolford, Billy Walters, Wade Egan all are better hookers than Croker and they are all heads up players that can run the ball and pass well.
I know there are a few Croker loyalists on here, but they can't seem to see the forest for the trees in that the 9 position is something we need a change in direction and its been going on for far too long.

Don't get me wrong, I fully agree that we need a better dummy half than Croker. He's adequate from there, but that's about it. Even with a fully fit side I think we'd only be real contenders if we did have a better dummy half. Players like Cherry and Turbo (when fit) thrive of being on the front foot and that is what a good dummy half who can run and pass, can do. As you noted, passing most of the time makes it easier for the defence because they know they don't have to worry about a runner from dummy half. A team with a good line speed like the Chooks showed yesterday can easily rush the intended receiver which they did a lot yesterday.

But ... we do need a hooker who can also defend.

So yes I do believe that we need a better dummy half than Croker. But for now he's what we've got. In a perfect world we'd have either kept Api or Fainu would have stayed home that day.....
 
I noticed at times the touch judge, Kasey couldn't keep up with the players running down the field.

I thought that slow-ish touch judges would impede their ability to call forward passes.

I then realised that the rorters don't get forward passes called against them so it's not a problem to them or the nrl at large.
 
A tenacious victory for the Mighty Sea Eagles - one small gripe and I know it has been said before - when it is a full Hill as it was yesterday why do people insist on sitting literally under the advertising hoardings (around the 10 metre line) - I get it if you want to sit but surely anywhere within 2 to 3 metres of the top of the Hill should be standing room only...
The ‘done thing’* in years gone by was for only the people leaning against the railing atop the hill to be standing. Everybody else sits down.

Sadly that went out the window years ago.

*Like MCC members displaying the appropriate level of decorum in the Long Room at Lords. That seems to have gone out the window too.;)
 
Don't get me wrong, I fully agree that we need a better dummy half than Croker. He's adequate from there, but that's about it. Even with a fully fit side I think we'd only be real contenders if we did have a better dummy half. Players like Cherry and Turbo (when fit) thrive of being on the front foot and that is what a good dummy half who can run and pass, can do. As you noted, passing most of the time makes it easier for the defence because they know they don't have to worry about a runner from dummy half. A team with a good line speed like the Chooks showed yesterday can easily rush the intended receiver which they did a lot yesterday.

But ... we do need a hooker who can also defend.

So yes I do believe that we need a better dummy half than Croker. But for now he's what we've got. In a perfect world we'd have either kept Api or Fainu would have stayed home that day.....
He's a good defender. A rotation of two hookers would be the way to go, with an attacking one on the bench. That way our attack doesn't become all too predictable.

Jaemon Salmon is off contract, he could probably play any position (including hooker) except prop...although his history off the field would be a question mark.
 
Last edited:
Team P W L PD Pts
7 6 1 99 14
8 6 2 66 14
7 6 1 54 14
8 5 2 39 11
8 5 3 64 10
7 4 3 49 10
8 4 4 73 8
7 3 4 17 8
8 4 4 -14 8
8 4 4 -16 8
8 3 5 -55 8
8 4 4 -60 8
8 3 4 17 7
8 3 5 -25 6
7 2 5 -55 6
7 1 6 -87 4
8 1 7 -166 4
Back
Top Bottom