Post-Game Discussion Penrith v Manly [Round 1, 2022]

[The Wheel]

Post match interview

Post Match: Ethan Bullemor

We caught up with Club debutant Ethan Bullemor after last night’s match against Penrith.

www.seaeagles.com.au

 

[Class of 96]

There is a funny side to last night. Poor old Parra fans will be saying, hang on, we beat Penwiff 36 blot in the trial, crack open the champagne (or more likely a 4L cask of Fruity Gordo), a title is on the way

 

[Class of 96]

don’t think so champ

Oh, all good. Just asking for a mate.

 

[delz]

Same old Manly! Looks like things will never change. Might have hope against the lesser sides but when we come up against the top teams we have no idea. Same mistakes, same excuses, and yet Des does nothing about it.

Next week will be the same story, no go forward, lack of possession, dropped balls at crucial times, etc., etc. Since our last GF appearance back in 2013, they have been hard to watch, and unfortunately, besides last year's run to the semis, I find it hard to have any real confidence when playing any game.

The old DNA of being Manly (confident, tough to beat, organized attack & defense, desire to win at all costs) has well and truly disappeared.

 

[Shoe1]

Not the end of the world. Penrith were very good at getting 6 agains last night, so our forwards were gassed. They regularly had 10 tackle sets.

Then they kicked well deep to Saab's corner, and Harper was forced to take the next hit-up every time due to the forwards being gassed and still coming back onside. We had backs doing hit-ups for half of every set and getting rag-dolled, then we'd kick from only 30 metres out, giving Penrith good field position to repeat the above. After 4 or 5 rotations of this there was always going to be a try. I wonder if there is some game management tactic Des can think of to break this cycle when a team is on a roll - Manly had no plan b.

The biggest problems were dummy half (Lawton changed it up appreciably for 2 minutes until he got knocked out) and the forwards running one-out. It was noticeable how Yeo would run and there were was shape around him - other forwards on either side ready for a pass.

I was also amused to see Penrith players continually rolling the ball between their legs at the play the ball, and the ref just let it go every time (including in the lead up to Api's try I think it was) - especially after Manly was hammered 3 times for this by Atkins in the trial.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

OMG! We were beaten by a side that has lost 6 times in 2 years. We lost against the champs. We lost at their home ground. We lost the battle in the middle which gave DCE and the backs no position. Regardless of Cleary being there they are a side of champions that know how to win.

Its not DCE's fault. Its not Tom's fault and Its not Des's fault It just happened.

We will be a different side next week and probably win but even if we don't its not the end of the world. Get a grip people the sky isn't falling in.

 

[Ryan]

God I'd love Starling. Brailey and Starling are tearing it up like Koroisou did last night in the Raiders, Sharks game.

How is their 14, streets ahead of our 9?

 

[Fibro Eagle]

Not great but just couldn’t get down there end to put any pressure on them or take it off Manly , Couldn’t buy a 6 again
There a good team the Panthers at there home ground even more so
Yes Manly need to go up a level if they want to beat the Panthers again
Plenty of time to tweak a few things

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

Positivity never hurt anyone ( well i don't think it did ) and I see a lot of positives from last night match.

1. we have a benchmark to strive towards
2. We should have lost that game by 50 given the field position and possession.
3. It was 12 - 6 at the break which showed we were up for the fight.
4. Some players looked gassed but will only get better. I remember Frog last year in our 0-4 run and he looked absolutely done early season but only got better as the year went on.
5. We lost Lawman to HIA which hampered any chance we had.
6. No major injuries.
7. No Shoe does hamper our sweeping edge plays as the defense can peel off on Tom knowing the edge inside isn't doing a great deal. When Shoe is there the defense has to hold for a second longer which opens up a world of opportunity.
8. IT WAS ONLY WEEK 1 FFS.......

 

[ALinda]

No charges have come out from last night (to my knowledge) so it seems no news is good news and Haumole is free to play despite being put on report

We're going to need the beast against the Roosters...!

 

[ManEagle]

It will probably be labelled excuses, however I think alot of us are underestimating the 6 again effect not just physical fatigue but mental as well. We were absolutely canned last night, was it just our slow peel off ? I don't think so.
It was not consistent so we copped a double banger,
Penrith were let lay all over us, slowed us down yet we were pinged before they even hit the deck.

Everyone poor play from us that has rightfully been pointed out was born from fatigue, praises have been given to the riff for fast play the balls, and roll on, yet we were not in with a chance, coupled with the fatigue the players were mentally screwed they didn't want to hold on for a normal amount of time because we would cop another 6 again.

Sure we need to improve, but I'm not throwing the towel in nor bombarding the players with hyperbole crapola on the back of last night.

We were against the best team in the comp, the standard, with a poor balanced ref performance, 1st game in, work to be done in a very long season. Stay strong!

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

Further to 'the sky isn't falling in' look at souths D tonight. Nothing like the Panthers last night and they are apparently one of the top 3 sides we can't beat yes?

We just came up against a machine last night.

 

[jbb/james]

12-6 at halftime but our only chance was mathematically, were just chasing and holding on for the last 20

credit to the riff, better, faster ,smarter

our first half errors were mostly nothing errors, a strip, a strip gone wrong, jakes attempted catch of a cross kick 10 m out, and an unders ball pushed across the line with no need and a saab drop

we had 5 penalties and a 6 again in the first 15. this probably kept us in the game longer than is should. they crossed twice but disallowed in this time and were often on the attack

poor possession rate and commentator claim 75% of game played in manly territory in first half

6 again stat hurt but came later and maybe we should have built better stats when we had the chance too early and try to wear them down. once they did , they were ruthless, we were less than and before long we were fatigued.

a few good kicks but nothing you could call a kicking game compared to a polished plan from o sullivan
shoulders instead of defence seemed to be in vogue. i love a big hit but less focus on smashing and more on stopping

croker and jake were outstanding in D but there legs tackles often hurt us due to play the ball speed as no one else joined the tackle due to his clean, execution

foran went good and looking forward to see him control more

Des went to great lengths to use the word clinical in the presser, its not in this teams DNA.
they have talent but clinical,

 

[40 nil]

Another factor to consider is our not coping with the three teams ahead of us (in 2021) is that they have all had the wood us in recent times. This engenders confidence in them & a lack of confidence in us.

I am sure the Panthers love thumping the Sea Eagles at every opportunity. We are their bunnies! Since 2012, they have beaten us in 13 of 16 games.

Since 2017, the Panthers have beaten us in 7 of 9 games, Souths have beaten us in 7 of 9 games & Melbourne have beaten us in 8 of 10 games.

 

[Deleted member 26876]

12-6 at halftime but our only chance was mathematically, were just chasing and holding on for the last 20

credit to the riff, better, faster ,smarter

our first half errors were mostly nothing errors, a strip, a strip gone wrong, jakes attempted catch of a cross kick 10 m out, and an unders ball pushed across the line with no need and a saab drop

we had 5 penalties and a 6 again in the first 15. this probably kept us in the game longer than is should. they crossed twice but disallowed in this time and were often on the attack

poor possession rate and commentator claim 75% of game played in manly territory in first half

6 again stat hurt but came later and maybe we should have built better stats when we had the chance too early and try to wear them down. once they did , they were ruthless, we were less than and before long we were fatigued.

a few good kicks but nothing you could call a kicking game compared to a polished plan from o sullivan
shoulders instead of defence seemed to be in vogue. i love a big hit but less focus on smashing and more on stopping

croker and jake were outstanding in D but there legs tackles often hurt us due to play the ball speed as no one else joined the tackle due to his clean, execution

foran went good and looking forward to see him control more

Des went to great lengths to use the word clinical in the presser, its not in this teams DNA.
they have talent but clinical,

Yeah this 100% I liked Desmond's presser but like you said it doesn't seem to be in this teams DNA... yet. Expecting us to get better but next week isn't going to be easy

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Another factor to consider is our not coping with the three teams ahead of us (in 2021) is that they have all had the wood us in recent times. This engenders confidence in them & a lack of confidence in us.

I am sure the Panthers love thumping the Sea Eagles at every opportunity. We are their bunnies! Since 2012, they have beaten us in 13 of 16 games.

Since 2017, the Panthers have beaten us in 7 of 9 games, Souths have beaten us in 7 of 9 games & Melbourne have beaten us in 8 of 10 games.

Yeah you can tell we lack some confidence against them. Would've been great to beat the riff early to get some faith, but not to be. Onto the roosters

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Des went to great lengths to use the word clinical in the presser, its not in this teams DNA.
they have talent but clinical,

Early in the game, Manly very competitive and on attack...suddenly Marty's impromptu catch and pass to Jake, which he couldn't hold, Jake looked furious!! I suspect that is exactly the kind of thing Des has been trying to drum into them, build pressure, stay focussed, do not throw it away with a sudden silly impulse.

I think Jake knew at that moment exactly how significant the pressure release was. A learning process for our guys, but may take time.

 

[40 nil]

Yeah you can tell we lack some confidence against them. Would've been great to beat the riff early to get some faith, but not to be.

We may not play them again this year - unless in the finals.

We play Souths 29 April (away) and the Storm 26 May (away) & 30 June (home).

We have just four games against top 4 sides this year, but three of those are away.

 

[R3]

Mate, its about time this team started identifying itself as the Seaeagles again, we are NOT the Trbojevic Tribe.

That’s my point, it can’t be excusable that we ended up 4th despite losing the first few rounds.

Mate, its about time this team started identifying itself as the Seaeagles again, we are NOT the Trbojevic Tribe.

That’s my point, we need to play as a team again because even with Tommy playing round one this time, we couldn’t ge the win playing Tommy ball. That was why I I’m saying the ‘she’ll be right’ attitude doesn’t fit this year
They can’t topple the good teams without all chipping in

 

[40 nil]

That’s my point, we need to play as a team again because even with Tommy playing round one this time, we couldn’t ge the win playing Tommy ball.

Maybe in the occasional big game, there could be an unannounced switcherooni to defuse other teams' shut down Turbo plans, e.g. play Turbo at five eighth for part of the game & someone else at the back (Koula, Weekes)?