Some useful insights came out of today.

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susan

Bencher
we returned for the second half after the momentum turning 39th minute try with Choc,King and Kite off the field(I certianly hope they were forced into this as none had recovered from knocks).That left rose,cross,bailey and buhrer out there for some time together.The roosters killed us off the first set and in a few minutes the game was gone.That Carney try where Cross and Buehrer didnt lay a glove on him summed it up.Our bench is simply not up to it at the moment.Firstly I will admit I love George Rose and he has as much potential as any prop in NRL.Get rid of him to Sunshine Coast until he is fit enough this year and next.His mid season injury has totally deflated his fitness level and he is a liability and to be honest to non eagle fans he is like a walking talking joke at the moment..At his fitness level a QRL plodder will be better as at least they may fill a defensive hole.

My second comment re the bench is that Joe Gnulavou does not have any goat pictures.If he was not our best second half forward yesterday I was watching a different game.Almost every week he provides some much needed go forward as we flag near the end of games yet he is often the last forward used and usually  it is too late.I would hate to know how many minutes he has played this year.It seems to be forgotten he was a starting number 12 in a GF side last year for a reason.Cross and Bailey are dead set ordinary,not totally hopeless as some suggest,but they are ordinary for sure.If Joe does not take Glens  sopt for the next few games I will give it away.Not that it matters now.It is too late.

Lastly our points woes in the second halves stem totally from the sideways running that seems to infect us every week.This totally messes up one of our only 2 real attacking options where Farrar chimes in.It works great when the ball runner plays square but otherwise it inevitably ends up with Matai and co being run close to the touchline.This is where the bbreakdowns that lead to long range tries stem from.Unfortunately it starts in the halves with TH getting the ball on an angled run or Foran trying to beat a man on th outside which he has a propensity to do_Once he doesnt get get past the outside shoulder and  passes the result is a foregone conclusion.Both players lack great pace which doesnt help.What they also mainly lack is experience and as such they will learn and get better in future.I still believe Foran is a 13 and a real good one but our list wont allow him to get a run there it seems.Watch pearce when he plays well.He is always square to the line and the ball runner is outside in.

I noticed DCE had a tendency to also crab last week which I think was due to the weak opposition and I hope is not a normal feature of his game,which looked very good in most other respects.

Lastly getting rid of Ben Farrer is a major mistake.Have a look at yesterdays game and tell me he does not warrant a spot in our best 17.

The season is done now so lets look forward to a better run with injuries and Stewy returning in full health.and hope glen doesnt get 5 weeks and miss the start of next year.Overll an reasonable effort after multiple injuries.Probably 7 out of 10.
 
Joe G is one of our best. He gets the ball and runs straight (dead straight, no sideways rubbish) hits the line hard and makes some metres. Exactly what you want in a prop - we need a couple more.

Choc is going sideways too at the moment, which is fine when he makes the line breaks but at the moment he isn't. I think Des needs to tell him to stop trying to break the line every play and just run hard and straight more often. That will then make his sideways movement more effective when he does it.
 
Fair assessment except that I was pretty sure it was Cross (mainly) and Rose (not coming across) rather than Burher for the Carney try. Agree whole heartedly about Joe G and Farrar.
 
An accurate report there Susan.  With Kite, King and Choc off the field our defence wasn't up to the task.

Finishing and direction at times are also issues that need to be addressed.  We need someone strong, talking, barking orders and guiding us around the park.  Hope DCE will be that guy next year.  Our 5th tackle options are getting better but still need a lot of work.  We should have been pinning them in their in goal for repeat sets instead of throwing speculative passes close to their line.

I was actually thinking that maybe it would have been good to try Lyon in the 5/8 spot.  He did well in 08 and maybe moving Foran out wider might be good for him.

And I've got to ask the question,  how many long range tries have we had scored against us this season?  It must be a heap.  That's a massive area we need to work on.
 
Susan, you know your RL. Your posts are insightful and fair - the antithesis of the ramblings of Mr Seaeagles.
Please keep them up.
 
I'll second that Barry, in comparison to Mr Seaeagles....well in fact there IS no comparison.
 
Bradza link said:
Fair assessment except that I was pretty sure it was Cross (mainly) and Rose (not coming across) rather than Burher for the Carney try. Agree whole heartedly about Joe G and Farrar.

It was Cross that made the error. He over-read the play and slid too far. He almost ended up in front of the defender next to him...
 
I just want to back up your Galuvao comments

Every time he has been on the park this year, I have felt a bit safer about Manly, Experienced, runs hard and straight and makes his tackles

Have been calling for more game time for him all year

At the start of the year I felt Cross was having a similar impact off the bench but he is well off the boil now
 
Kiwi Eagle link said:
I just want to back up your Galuvao comments

Every time he has been on the park this year, I have felt a bit safer about Manly, Experienced, runs hard and straight and makes his tackles

Have been calling for more game time for him all year

At the start of the year I felt Cross was having a similar impact off the bench but he is well off the boil now
Agreed. I was one who thought at the start of the season he was a terrible purchase, but I'm pleased to say he has proved me wrong. He is very reliable, and I don;t think I've seen him make a mistake.
And apparently he is a great bloke.
Go Go Joe!
 
I would also point out that although Perry's lack of intent when hitting the ball up was frustrating he had a very high effective tackle rate. He would rarely miss the sorts of tackles that Cross and especially Rose, miss on a weekly basis.
Perry, King and Kite are all pretty good at coming across and plugging gaps in the middle of the ruck. This is a less obvious but none the less crucial aspect of prop play. Our second tier forwards are not great at this and as pointed out elsewhere, we don't have a Beaver or Willo doing the mopping up anymore.
 
susan link said:
Lastly getting rid of Ben Farrer is a major mistake.Have a look at yesterdays game and tell me he does not warrant a spot in our best 17.

Applaud. One of our best all year and virtually the only one offering any spark in attack. Can't believe there were people wanting Hopoate picked in front of him. I'd really like to see us hang on to him somehow, and utilise him in the first 17, even with Bullet back. He's a little small to have full utility value off the bench but maybe he could be used to sub with Ballin coming off and Foran going to dummy half and give him a crack at the 6 spot. He's got to be better than Bailey or a 5 minute effort from someone like Buhrer. I don't know, but I'd like to see him there next year, even for depth.
 
Smokin Joe has been one of our best. It's good to see that we have a forward that knows how to run it straight and hard.
 
I think yesterday also showed how much work Rodney does, that is often unnoticed.

Pity for us to fade to obscurity in this comp as I don't really think there are any really gun teams out there. A fully fit Manly would be a big chance.
 
agree CW.a fully fit manly makes the gf IMO.penrith will probably run second if titans beat a depleted tigers and they were awful tonight.

also means our boys will probably play penrith at CUA which is a graveyard.would much rather the tigers.even depleted you would be some hope of a win aginst them and at least get one semi win to salvage something from season.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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