Hard to pick but I'll go with -
3. Mateo
2. Trbojevic
1. Burgess
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Player post game comments:
1. Snake - Good Captain's game. Tried hard, led well, but no tries at Brookie for the Prince.
2. Blair - Not bad at kick returns, but Defensively INEPT. Cost us the game.
20. Wiliame - Exciting player. Only young and will get better.
4. Matai - Never stops trying. Only knows one way, hard and fast.
5. Hiku - Solid display. Good assistance for Brett.
6. Mateo - Wow, what a game. Only real spark for the team. Who needs Foz!
7. DCE - His mind was at the Titans, his heart was in his wallet. Silly errors.
8. Burgess - Very good buy after all. Great hard runs.
9. Ballin - Smart plays from an experienced player. Hard worker.
10. Mason - Tried hard. Willie gave his all.
11. Buhrer - Busy in plays, but not a game changer so far.
12. Symonds - Extremely busy and gave his money's worth.
13. Lui - Same for Lui. Worked very hard against a big pack.
14. JSL - Loves playing for Manly. Always run until empty.
15. Trbojevic - This kid is something. One dropsy, but Tremendous effort.
16. Sao - What a cracker of a game! What a future.
17. Horo - Horo show indeed. Two giant mistakes. May have murdered his chances for 1st grade this year or ever again.
Referees - thinks the NRL players should be treated like Under 6. What's with all the stop-start bullcr@p??
Chn 9 Commentary - Warren and Sterlo can't help but ridicule Manly. If Warren is the best there is, there's no hope for League commentary. Tired clichés, Mind-numbing remarks, Incorrect calls, Boring, dull and biased opinions. Warren must have been a proctologist before TV and Sterlo was his regular customer.
===
WHAT A PAINFUL GAME TO WATCH, despite the effort of some players and without many of our regular first graders.
What did we learn from this game?
1. Hodkinson is not the answer for us. He was ordinary at best.
What the hell did he do to his hair?
2. Trbojevic and Sao are going to be great forwards for Manly.
3. Goal kicking is imperative. We could have won even playing this ordinary. I know Gutho kick goals but he's been injured a few times (not regular on field). Daryl Halligan is for hire. He trained Thurston and Masri. Hire him to train a couple of our young guns. The carrot is a regular first grade spot for the kids.
4. If the Dogs have trouble defeating us with the amount of opportunities we gave them, they have bigger problems than ours.
5. Should we go hard on Elgey? He's a superstar of the future.
6. For future buys, I'd say no to Albert Kelly and have doubts about the Human Bubbler. We need young, mentally stable nobodies who are due to break into first grade.
7. Johns blamed Blair for being lazy in defence. He's absolutely correct.
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