OK, you win, I am officially Confused

[maxta]

Some solid points Woodsie, but personally seen the first positive signs in Round 1 with an improvement in attitude which is where it ALL starts.

I think we found a 5/8 in Elgey who tackled well and will only improve and a step up from any 5/8 performance in 2018. Kicking game needs work, but again the energy on tackle 5 prior to the kick had himself and DCE under pressure all night.
Also Garrick showed enough in his first game to suggest will be a welcome long term addition as an outside back.

No Tom ( X factor attacking player), no Fainu (who will be very good 2019), no Walker (his own stupidity), no Waddell ( I think will add something - though unproven), no Paseka (who adds impact)

Also have Young Hoppa again unproven, but blessed with talent who will be a great addition imo....don't want to set a date for his inclusion as Des will know the time and want him fully prepared for the moment.

I feel a player like Sam Burgess would be like when Manly signed BK, which got the team lifting on the back of his grit, leadership and fight for every inch on the field and Des has his eyes on a Pommie forward who could well add plenty to the pack and looks a likely chance to be here 2020.
Need that KEY style signing to really compete with the best teams.

The backline will sort itself out with Suli looking better than I seen the entire 2018 and that was a wet track....the other centre position is open depending on the Walker situation.
Taufua an old favourite of mine, will have the odd good carry, but looks tired and will have more of those nights....another quality wing option is underestimated as a Rapana, Cotric type would add much potency and help start sets with the best of them.

Lacked punch on the edges, need to win more competition in the ruck and improve kicking game....with an improved attitude as shown game 1....the wins Will come.

 

[Captain Moondog]

We need more outdoor chairs and a shrubbery.

 

[madmax]

Kinda wish Hastings was still here under the coaching staff we have now!!!

 

[globaleagle]

Meh, I stopped reading at "You win". That's all I needed.

 

[Loobs]

J Taufua (hopefully will improve)

No, everyone needs to stop hoping this will happen because it won't.

He's off contract, they need to let him go and move on and look at the Warriors wingers and aim for that.

 

[Tomay]

We will storm home at the end of the year when our combinations develop, fitness improves and defensive systems become entrenched. Our roster is fine, we only need one or two guys to emerge this year and we will be a threat to even the top teams. We have the best spine in the comp.

 

[robbiea]

We do suck !!,how we didnt get at least 7 multiple passing ,length of field tries in those atrocious conditions really baffles me !!
Must be the coaching..

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

We've effectively lost Dylan Walker, too, and I'm not sure we'll see him in a Manly jersey again. And nobody would call any of the new recruits "marquee signings".
Look, I'm still not quite ready to forgive and forget as far as Des is concerned. And whether he's the coach he once was remains to be seen. But Des at his worst is better than Barrett at his best, and a good coach will always get more out of a limited roster than a **** coach. I don't expect us to win every game (remember those days?), but I do expect us to be competitive and show a lot more commitment and heart than we did last year. Losing sucks, but it sucks less if you believe there are plans and structures in place to make things better. I never had any faith that Barrett had a plan. We looked lost for most of last season, and no one looked more lost than our head coach.

 

[Fluffy]

Everyone also said that although we have a pretty good 1st 17 but we have no depth and therefore injuries will kill us.

Before Rd 1 even started. They Have.

last year that was Ferris' fault

 

[Fluffy]

I certainly haven't given up hope of a run at the 8, it will be hard work and we will need some luck and a couple of youngsters to break through.....but the ingredients are there.

The Tigers game has done little to change my thoughts on this season.

We have a number of highly emotional types on this forum, which is not a bad thing, you just need to let them run through their highs and lows

Barrett got the team into the 6th in 17 which has not changed a lot since. It is achievable.

 

[Fluffy]

With the release of players and the lack of re-enforcements in an obviously way under strength backline I got the feeling that because this was Des first year back this year was just going to be a year of stopping the bleeding a bit, trying to become somewhat competitive again and not winning the spoon. Then look to recruit and rebuild for 2020 towards happier times.

To be honest now I have downgraded my hopes even from that......it's now just "don't win the spoon" this year. Anything above that is a bonus. I personally think we are miles off the pace and have about half a very good squad...… and a ton of blokes who aren't up to it. Not a good mix.

Hope to be wrong and all that......but...….

I am with you - no parra to save us this year though.

we made a lot of the same dumb mistakes as last year, played the same dumb lack of bench use, took the same dumb kick for 2 first up and had the same unfit second half of footy.

Whilst many to think that was all Barrett last year (so logically Des this year) I can't fathom either coaches telling the team to do a lot of that.

 

[Fluffy]

We've effectively lost Dylan Walker, too, and I'm not sure we'll see him in a Manly jersey again. And nobody would call any of the new recruits "marquee signings".
Look, I'm still not quite ready to forgive and forget as far as Des is concerned. And whether he's the coach he once was remains to be seen. But Des at his worst is better than Barrett at his best, and a good coach will always get more out of a limited roster than a **** coach. I don't expect us to win every game (remember those days?), but I do expect us to be competitive and show a lot more commitment and heart than we did last year. Losing sucks, but it sucks less if you believe there are plans and structures in place to make things better. I never had any faith that Barrett had a plan. We looked lost for most of last season, and no one looked more lost than our head coach.

problem is on Saturday it was Deja moo

 

[Fluffy]

No, everyone needs to stop hoping this will happen because it won't.

He's off contract, they need to let him go and move on and look at the Warriors wingers and aim for that.

but but supercoach

 

[midsteyne]

We haven't liked playing with wet feathers since forever, things will get better.

 

[Kevinward777]

Please help me ... I am nothing if not a team player .... and I want to get on board .... so educate me ...

For the past 12 months, the approved narrative was that we were a good side only short I/2 players from being contenders .... but alas we came 15th .... why .. because we had a ****house coach ... it was all the coach ... no excuses ....

But, halleluyah .... we have re-signed a legend ... and it became compulsory to add the words with a "good coach" to every post regarding any player or situation ..

Now, and here is where I start to get confused ... we have basically the same team (minus, Frankie, Akila and Kelly) , we have added a "good coach" in Dessie, plus Donny (the worlds best trainer who will get everybody fit), plus Monners, Snake, Matty Ballin a sprint coach, a sports phycologist, and Crusher ... Manly is back ...

... and yet .... we now have a strong core of Silvertails parroting the new approved narrative of .... we are a **** team, without the cattle to compete, and it will take Dessie and his talented band of men 3 years to get rid of everybody and get a good team .....

Maybe I have a little bit too much faith in Dessie and his band of merry men ..... I happen to think he has a talented and exciting group of young footballers ... and I happen to think he and his team have the ability to get the best out of them ... and if we can get a break from our injury curse (sorry, I forgot that is not an excuse, wasn't last year anyway) ... we have the team to threaten the top 8 ....

Don’t worry yourself too much @Woodsie, one thing’s for certain... we’ll go MUCH better over the next three years than we did under plastic face. We already appear to have discovered the lost art of tackling, and Des is a five time grand finalist as a coach. Has Trent been offered another position anywhere yet or are we still paying him?

 

[Tragic Eagle]

Too soon to start the "I told you so mantra". I"ll be all ears towards the end of the season not after Round 1.

 

[Bearfax]

Look guys. Its all a matter of opinion and as long as you agree with mine we'll get on fine😛

 

[wombatgc]

last year that was Ferris' fault

I see he’s back at the Titans weaving his strength and conditioning magic ways. Ash Taylor gone in the warm-up, Roberts five minutes into the game. It was lucky it pissed down all game for the Tits.....could’ve been 50.

 

[wombatgc]

Look guys. Its all a matter of opinion and as long as you agree with mine we'll get on fine😛

F@ck that was funny (and true).

 

[HoldenV8]

All I have ever expected from 2019 with Manly is improvement over the crap we saw in 2018.

We simply don't have the roster to go from bottom to top so I'm not expecting a miracle premiership win, or even a Grand Final appearance. Either would be a massive bonus on expectations. The fact is that outside of our top 17, hell, even our top 13, we are very thin on both experience and quality right now. Personally, I'm expecting us to finish anywhere from 6th to 10th, and probably much closer to 10th.

Have to admit, I found it amusing just how much doom and gloom there was after the loss on Saturday, both here and on social media in general. I think some were expecting with Des back at the helm that we'd be the Manly of 2007-2013 right from Round 1. It was never going to happen, especially with our two best backline players on the sidelines, a new halves pairing and our hooker playing his first game for what, 8 months?. Yes a win would have been good.....but patience is a virtue people. We're not going to be world beaters overnight, not with the squad we currently have no matter who is coaching us or training us or doing the recruiting for us.

I think we found a 5/8 in Elgey who tackled well and will only improve and a step up from any 5/8 performance in 2018. Kicking game needs work, but again the energy on tackle 5 prior to the kick had himself and DCE under pressure all night.

That was my only major complaint about LG on Saturday. He needs to be taking at least 1/3 to /12 of the downfield kicks and taking the pressure off of DCE. If Cherry is going to be our sole long kicker then its going to be a case of same old, same old because it won't take opposition coaches long to work it out and have their teams shutting him down on the 4th or 5th tackle because they know he's going to get the ball. We have 2 good kickers in DCE and LG, but both need to be kicking, not just DCE.