Slow starts need immediate attention

[maxta]

EVERY game....4 out of 5, the opposition has blown Manly off the park early & in the game we scored first, against Roosters, they also jumped out to an 8 point lead till we ran them down.
The early collisions & impact seem a bit off the pace & once a team grabs early momentum in the ruck, it generally leads to points.
This also leads to poor field position, fatigue & errors, one dimensional attack to get back into the arm wrestle & extra pressure on the kicking game.
It's a great effort to have been a chance of winning 4 out of 5 - (not Dogs game) considering these starts.
But let's be real - if it's Cows or Brisbane- we are down by 30 & lucky to finish within 40 as they choke us into submission, with a relentless ability far above the 5 games so far, including Dogs.
Early days & Manly has more improvement than ANY other team to call on later in the season, but the head starts need to stop soon.
It's a bad habit & potentially very draining playing catch ups every week.
Blame Barrett, DCE, players too old ect....but the truth is it's a collective team effort that every player needs to buy into individually - recognise it - address it & play a more controlled game that will improve dramatically after getting into the contest from the whistle....not the 15 minute mark.

 

[Loobs]

Would Myles be better suited to coming off the bench? Put Jake in at prop to start then shift him to lock when the rotations start? Put our strongest defensive pack out there for the early exchange but then do you lose metres when we have the ball?

We are also compounding the bad starts with multiple penalties. We are usually like 0-3/4 in the penalty count by the time it levels and they come back.

Look, a team can't address all issues at once. They have come a long way in attack, partly by picking the best squad each week and partly by getting to a simpler game plan. Next you had to address issues out wide on defence. Done. Now they need to focus on the defence up the middle. Which I'm sure they could do.

OR - HOT TAKE ALERT - JUST SACK EVERYONE!!!

 

[maxta]

Pretty much all the above on your last paragraph Loobs.
Unfortunately, what last night showed in a big way....is players expectations.
They rely so much on Jakes defence in tight & it stood out even more without him.
Thing is....certain players are told...they are to be used as attacking weapons, conserve energy...certain players learning new roles are concentrating on getting their individual positioning, playmaking right....but in reality, forget these areas & prepare to ALL get dirty early.
Forget what's coming up when the ball comes back.
Simply concentrate on that NEXT tackle, belt the runner...add numbers & control a slow play with controlled aggression.
It's not attitude or we would not have fought back every game....it's not Barrett, the senior players rate him...I really believe it's collectively- forget looking pretty or saving juice for that impact run...early on let's win that ruck defensively & the rest will fall into place.

 

[sheridanstand78]

The slow starts are a massive concern and all about attitude. The game was lost pretty much after 20 minutes last night and you didnt have to be Einstein to understand that the vermin were going to be fired up after their smashing last week. Manly have to be more aggressive to start a match and be on the front foot rather than waiting for 20 minutes to start playing. There were a lot of positives from last night but the start was a disaster, 3 soft tries from dummy half, very disappointing!!

 

[maxta]

I have a weird, but hopefully good theory on this....
Say we are on a quiz show.
Its Loobs, Isz & myself.
I specialize in answering Music questions
Loobs...........Sport
Isz ..........cars
A question comes up on netball & Loobs has NO idea, but we look at him like its his job to answer & yet we both new it...the opposition gets the points.
This happens to all of us until the game is....gone!!
Its almost like this imo, with players not so much only trying to do their individual roles, but looking at each other early when all should be committed to the same cause....& on another thread touched on this with the importance of Jake - now his mates who appreciated him already, will do even more so!
I always believe early in a game, everyone needs to set the bar early - get involved early - make that tough contact of intent....physical sport is about winning the fight early & not waiting for your mate to set the tone....its ALL In imo.
Hope you like the theory - they get worse after some Wild turkeys!!

 

[Rodo]

Looks like they need to be given some smelling salts or a pep talk from Tommy Raudonikis before running on! This would help fire the guys up so that they are raring to go when the game starts.

 

[robbiea]

We are a new team ,we need time .We are coming together nicely.Give us until round 10 & we will be a force..

 

[HoldenV8]

I'll go on record for this (is there a record to go on?), but if Jake was playing last night then we wouldn't have fallen behind 16-0 after 8 bloody minutes.

The Vermin had nothing last night. They scored 3 early and extremely soft tries, but once our defence woke up, they barely came close to scoring again.

No way McInnes or Walker score those tries if Jake was out there. No offence to Darcy Lussick, but he was a bit of a poor substitute last night.

 

[HK_Eagle]

I'll go on record for this (is there a record to go on?), but if Jake was playing last night then we wouldn't have fallen behind 16-0 after 8 bloody minutes.

The Vermin had nothing last night. They scored 3 early and extremely soft tries, but once our defence woke up, they barely came close to scoring again.

No way McInnes or Walker score those tries if Jake was out there. No offence to Darcy Lussick, but he was a bit of a poor substitute last night.

While looking at the overall team balance and performance, I agree that losing Jake for Darcy was a step down. However, Darcy has copped a bit of a pasting for last night's poor start, which I think is grossly off the mark. The team was poor overall in that first 20 mins. In fact, Darcy pulled off 2 big hits in that opening period while others were falling off tackles or falling behind/to the side of the ruck and allowing quick play the balls (Darcy was also guilty of this along with the others).

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

If I was the coach I'd be going for the simple, safety first, hold the ball , complete the sets approach for the first 20.

Yep a boring game plan BUT a safe plan.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Slow starts need immediate attention

I think we shouldn't try to fix this problem until about Round 12 or 13.

 

[ricardo]

Start with our best props instead of having them come off the bench?

 

[Ryan]

Said my theory, but apparently that's just plain wrong, so....

 

[Loobs]

I have a weird, but hopefully good theory on this....
Say we are on a quiz show.
Its Loobs, Isz & myself.
I specialize in answering Music questions
Loobs...........Sport
Isz ..........cars
A question comes up on netball & Loobs has NO idea, but we look at him like its his job to answer & yet we both new it...the opposition gets the points.
This happens to all of us until the game is....gone!!
Its almost like this imo, with players not so much only trying to do their individual roles, but looking at each other early when all should be committed to the same cause....& on another thread touched on this with the importance of Jake - now his mates who appreciated him already, will do even more so!
I always believe early in a game, everyone needs to set the bar early - get involved early - make that tough contact of intent....physical sport is about winning the fight early & not waiting for your mate to set the tone....its ALL In imo.
Hope you like the theory - they get worse after some Wild turkeys!!

ANN SERGEANT!

 

[Loobs]

...physical sport is about winning the fight early & not waiting for your mate to set the tone....its ALL In imo.

What about physical sports where you sit back and pick your moment to pounce? Maybe THAT is our strategy and the moment we pounce is when down 16-0

 

[Shnorky]

My thoughts are a bit more technical
I'd say they have trained harder over off season and are working well under the aerobic system ( later in the game)
Their anaerobic (early pace) will improve as they rest more
This was the same as the 2013 semi where they were stuffed from hard games previous, however they were so match fit the steamed home. I predicted such that night - 20 minutes before it kicked in and last night it took a bit longer
So expect us to be better all round fitnes later in season