The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly report - finals week 1

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At last the match we'd been waiting for had arrived, a huge Saturday night semi at our preferred away ground, with it's golden opportunity to roast the Chooks and reward ourselves with the priceless leap to week 3 off the finals. Could we pull off the victory?

by CF2

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At last the match we'd been waiting for had arrived, a huge Saturday night semi at our preferred away ground, with it's golden opportunity to roast the Chooks and reward ourselves with the priceless leap to week 3 off the finals. Could we pull off the victory?

by CF2


Player ratings:
Peter Hiku: Could easily have been excused for nerves on a massive occasion but literally exploded into the match from his first touch in a sensational MOM display. 26 runs and 297 extraordinary metres, with not a single error. Brilliantly diffused each and every bomb and ran the ball hard all night only to go unrewarded. Absolutely outstanding.
Jorge Taufua: Tried hard all night with some of his usual defence tearing runs, but just didn't get the chance to rip them open down the left wing for that oh so badly needed try.
Steve Matai: Seemingly gone in the 27th minute after being smashed in a tackle, Stevie finally rose to his feet and yet again completed 80 guts minutes. What a hero.
Jamie Lyon: Pulled out all his wonderfully experienced tricks to send Wolfie away several times in the first half, and was in everything else all night. Great game in the toughest of attacking conditions.
David Williams: Footy can be so cruel, worked that first half sizzling run beautifully, but the try scoring pass to DCE went achingly astray. Fewer opportunities in the 2nd half but never let up.
Kieran Foran: Is their a 5/8 in the game who works harder? Put his body on the line for 80 gruelling minutes, only to be so completely unrewarded with the match winning try or try assist he so deserved.
Daly Cherry-Evans: Kicked well and never stopped working with the ball in hand, but with defence that frustratingly impenetrable, just could not crack them despite trying absolutely everything.
Glenn Stewart: Defence never a question of course, but stifled with the ball all night by the suspiciously regularly off side Roosters.
Justin Horo: Worked as hard as ever, but not sure why just the 61 minutes.
Anthony Watmough: Clearly playing injured, a simply unbelievable effort for 22 runs, 160 metres and 40 tackles, but those 3 handling errors were crucial blows.
Brenton Lawrence: 9 runs for 67 metres and just 36 minutes surely nowhere near enough for our no.1 prop.
Matt Ballin: 25 consecutive season games tackling heaven and earth, including another 50 gut busting tackles tonight, is beyond hero status. What a shame the penalty error cast a late shadow.
Brent Kite: The Landcruiser looked buggered after the emotional Brookie send off, and the stats of just 7 runs for 54 metres, plus 2 errors only highlighted it.

Bench:
Richie Fa-aoso: On a night when his muscle was so badly needed, dealt a cruel knock out blow after just 13 mins on the field. Pray he's ok.
Tom Symonds: I am baffled by the lack of match play Big Red gets. 17 minutes? Why would you keep a lethal Beaver like weapon off the field? Sorry Toovs I don't get it.
George Rose: Threw the pie shop at the Roosters in his 24 minute role. Love ya Georgie.
Jamie Buhrer: I really like this kid, I really do, but I just can't for the life of me see why a small utility small player gets 44 mins in a match this big.

THE GOOD:
Our defence.
Not just good it was beyond any superlative.
The Roosters attack managed one single piece of success in just the 10th minute with a grubber kick try millimetres before the dead ball corner, but for the remaining 70 minutes their attacking machine was 100% blunted, including the complete disarming of their Sonny Bill weapon.

THE BAD:
Our attack.
The line breaks stat for the entire match was Roosters 0, Manly 4.
On most days that's a fantastic match winning stat, but this of course was no ordinary match. They had NOTHING in attack due to our superb defence blunting them, and forcing errors. By contrast we in fact showed a lot of attacking promise, but that's where the problem set in, with the promise shown with the ball unable to be converted into match winning points. Agonisingly, with just a tiny 6 of them needed to win the game.

Trailing by the bizarre score of just 4-0 for virtually the entire game, we had a mountain of possession in their 30 metre zone, particularly in the 2nd half where we totally dominated field territory, but we could not find a way to post the one single try needed to take the game. Yes we came agonisingly close several times, and yes the Roosters defence was equally as extraordinary as ours, but with so many opportunities we became frustrated to the point, as Gus Gould rightly lamented, of completely running out of ideas. Many times our attacking sets were reduced to disorganised chain passing across field with little penetration, and a couple of 5th tackle kicks lacked any planning.

Our bench selection and rotation.
Souths and the Roosters are the only two teams we haven't beaten all year (in now a combined shuddering 5 matches). Both of those teams have huge packs of forwards, and the only way of getting on top of them is to naturally match them with size and strength.

Yes we lost our hit man Fa'aoso with that horrible knock out blow after he'd only been on for 13 mins, but notwithstanding that, there are several alarming questions regarding our 17:
1. Why did Brenton Lawrence, one of our most important big weapons, play just 38 minutes? (note Roosters prop O'Donnell played 63 mins)
2. Unless I missed an injury, why did 80 min workhorse Horo only play 61 minutes? (yet the injured and needled up Watmough played the full match)
3. Why would we pick TWO utility players in Symonds and Buhrer when surely there's only one bench spot for this position? (meaning we forfeit a big guy like Gower or Hasson)
4. Why would we let the smaller of the two in Buhrer play for 44 minutes, surely his role in a game like this should only be a short cameo one (note Roosters smallest bench man Mortimer played just 17 minutes)
5. Why did the bigger and far more dangerous Symonds only get a ridiculous 17 minutes? Why do we keep wasting his enormous talent?


THE UGLY:
Our errors. (and an incredible 9 lives for the Roosters, 8 of them in the 2nd half, 3 of them in the last 6 mins).
1. 36 min. Watmough drops the ball on the 2nd tackle.
2. 43 min. Watmough handling error again.
3. 48 min. Watmough knocks on. That's 3 in 12 mins.
4. 55 min. Symonds handling error.
5. 56 min. Taufua drops a bomb.
6. 64 min Kite knocks on 3 metres out from the Roosters line.
7 74 min. Ballin takes penalty touch finder from middle of field (exhausted from a 50 metre run, DCE points to Matty to take it) but he fails to find touch.
8. 79 min. Glenn Stewart attempts a miracle offload on the 4th tackle, just 1 metre out from the Roosters line, but it flings up into Roosters hands.
9. 80 min. With the siren gone we attack from right to left and back again, but with a final grubber or bomb mandatory, George gets caught with the ball and offloads to a Rooster.

The Roosters intentional off side tactic.
Robinson's clear instructions were to stand inside the 10 metres and be totally in our faces all night stifling our attack. They knew this would result in penalties, but they backed their brilliant defence and it worked. But is that great footy, or a bit of blatant cheating? The final penalty count of 12-5 goes a long way to answering that.


SUMMARY:
A strange night on the scoreboard with a beyond unbelievable physical toll of defence from both sides, the winner was clearly going to be the team who could take that one precious opportunity.
As it transpired in the 2nd half, we were the team who had ALL the opportunities to do so, with a whopping 8-2 penalty count (12-5 for the match), but unfortunately we just couldn't come up with that one agonising try to take the game.

Hiku went within a foot, Foran went within a foot, and Lyon would have been over from a 10 metre scrum had Jennings not flung a hand out to knock down the pass.

It was that close.

The winner of this match was always going to have that priceless advantage of the week off, but the incredible physical toll of this match has now TRIPLED that effect. Our path to the GF is now so much harder, given we must back up next Friday night against an inspired Sharks team and their thug captain Gallen, before then meeting the giant killers Souths the week after.

Despite Hiku's brilliant performance, we badly need the try scoring freakishness of Brett. Pray that he's back, and that the other boys can back up after such an exhausting effort.

I'm a glass half full man, and I KNOW we have the guts, the skill and the passion to do it.

A final plea.

I got out there at 4pm yesterday for the first game and the Sharks supporters were absolutely incredible with their team rising to the constant raucous support. Please ALL Manly fans, make sure you turn up in BIG numbers on Fri night. We are very lucky to be playing at Allianz in Paddington yet again instead off being out at ANZ, and your vocal maroon and white support, including the spine tingling Manly chant, will be critical in getting our courageous boys home.
 
Matai offloading to Taufua in no win situation where he was dragged into touch then a bloody lucky bounce not going dead, would Brett have been there to clean that up
we will never know such a cruel game
 
You have summed it accurately again, great report cf2.

cf2 is back said:
Our bench selection and rotation.
Souths and the Roosters are the only two teams we haven’t beaten all year (in now a combined shuddering 5 matches). Both of those teams have huge packs of forwards, and the only way of getting on top of them is to naturally match them with size and strength.
Not sure about this part. I think Storm tried that by naming a monster bench against Souths, but still got done. But I didn't see that match where the Sharks gave it to the Roosters, so maybe you make a good point.

You are right about one thing though, we need something different if we are to change that result.
 
Good write up as always.

If we play the Roosters again I would like to see us be more creative with our kicking game. The Roosters tactics were obvious, defend offside and put pressure on our playmakers. A few more bombs or kick in behind their defense early in the count could have delivered points.
 
Berkeley_Eagle said:
Matai offloading to Taufua in no win situation where he was dragged into touch then a bloody lucky bounce not going dead, would Brett have been there to clean that up
we will never know such a cruel game

Also Matai a few times, elected to dummy and then head infield, when he should have passed to Taufua, the opposition are awake to this move.
 
SeaEagleRock8 said:
You have summed it accurately again, great report cf2.

cf2 is back said:
Our bench selection and rotation.
Souths and the Roosters are the only two teams we haven’t beaten all year (in now a combined shuddering 5 matches). Both of those teams have huge packs of forwards, and the only way of getting on top of them is to naturally match them with size and strength.
Not sure about this part. I think Storm tried that by naming a monster bench against Souths, but still got done. But I didn't see that match where the Sharks gave it to the Roosters, so maybe you make a good point.

You are right about one thing though, we need something different if we are to change that result.

Storm look slow and lethargic for quite a while now they are a step off the pace. Melb's attack against Souths was poor and their forwards look slow lacking explosiveness combined with not enough line speed in defence.

Their attack reminded me of Manly last year and overly trying to finesse themselves around, when they do play straight their slow forwards and small size lack penetration at crucial times.

Would never write Melb off though with the class and brains the big three have but they need an injection of spark/enthusiasm big time. They are not winning the tackle as often due to their size and maybe a little more policing of their tackle and ruck tactics but even the effort in the tackles is lacking any dominating aggressive feel.(mind you this has never been their trait but it is starting to show it's limitations)
 
Gr8 report as always but to answer your question about why jamie buhrer gwts so much time off the bench . well look at his stats in the time he is out there he makes more metres and tackles than most front rowers and back rowers in the game even with 3 torn rib cartlidge he was as freddy fittler said tough as nails out there. he reminds me of a young owen cunningham
 
Jorge does not contribute enough for such a strong and fast Player:mad:

Matai was knocked senseless, Jorge should have stepped up and taken a more active defensive roll.
He really irritates me, almost T-ex like in not following up on a mistake to make sure that he does not compound it further.:dodgy:

The first try had him at a stand still once the Roosters Player ran past him, and it was only Hiku who ran in anticipatimg that the ball would not go dead :mad:

When he knocked on, for no reason , as the Rossters Players had both went past the bomb - Jorge had a go at the Linesman:huh:

Scoring tries is only half the Job Spec, Jorge:exclamation:
--
The timeline of Choc's mishandling also highlights a substitution error from 2v. Choc, coming back from an injury, but still without much fitness due to lack of training time, should have come off after 30 minutes.
--

The Roosters offside play out wide should have had DCE chipping behind them - don't know why we don't do this bleeding obvious tactic:huh:

I think DCE overplayed his had last night and should have just straightened the attack up the center.
Even Killer had a go at him for trying to put on a move that has a low percentage success rate:-/
--

But all the errors were of our own making, so in total control of our destiny.
The loss should make Manly even more hungry!:angel:
 
Surely our brains trust saw early on that the Roosters were playing the offside card to stiffle us. Surely we could see this was going to be a tight affair. Surely we backed our defense to hold them which it did. So WHY DIDN'T WE KICK THE DAMN PENALTY GOALS ?
 
When we needed to fire on all cylinders, make a statement, and beat the Roosters with a few good tries or more, our engine failed badly last night.

- Missing a crucial spark plug in the form of Snake.
- One of the piston rods badly bent in the form of Choc.
- One of our gaskets leaking in the form of Jorge.
- Too much oil on our hands in the form of passes to the opposition and knock-ons.

Whilst both teams' defense was quite amazing much of that match, Manly's end result was very disappointing, from a field of players with much more potential.

The refs should have penalized the Rooster who blatantly pushed Wolfman off the ball out over touch in the 1st half as he was heading up the sideline chasing a kick.

The sin bin wouldn't have been out of place for a Rooster infringement later in the game to halt our momentum up the field toward the goal line.

Still, the Roosters scored the only (good) try, and sadly deserved the win.

Was great to go, great Manly chants and atmosphere, gutted at full time being held to 0.

We will play better next week, and hopefully even better thereafter to the grand final for victory there too!
 
during the second half why didn't dce try for a 40-20?
he almost got one in the first half kicking into the wind.
unless the wind died down after the sharks game he should have had a strong breeze behind him during the 2nd half.
 
You guys played terrific!!!The mistakes on both sides were a lot from pressure and intensity. It was one of those games where I don't know how you lost or how we won it was so intense. Our crack attack couldn't penetrate your brick wall except for a kick. You guys are much better than the Storm and Souths. You should have beaten them last time but so many piggybacks went to Souths. Toovey was absolutely right in blasting the refs. Just about every side that plays Souths cops it sweet. They want a Souths win this year looks bad the way they give them all the help. Your side is GF quality nothing less. I thought wed have the cleaners put through us and didn't even watch the 1st half. It was a classic match won mentally. I think frustration crept in but your side has everything it only needed composure. I think that's where we won. We were able to keep our composure just a tiny bit better. Congratulations on a heroic effort. I haven't seen two sides thrash it out like that in 30 years.
 
DNA said:
You guys played terrific!!!The mistakes on both sides were a lot from pressure and intensity. It was one of those games where I don't know how you lost or how we won it was so intense. Our crack attack couldn't penetrate your brick wall except for a kick. You guys are much better than the Storm and Souths. You should have beaten them last time but so many piggybacks went to Souths. Toovey was absolutely right in blasting the refs. Just about every side that plays Souths cops it sweet. They want a Souths win this year looks bad the way they give them all the help. Your side is GF quality nothing less. I thought wed have the cleaners put through us and didn't even watch the 1st half. It was a classic match won mentally. I think frustration crept in but your side has everything it only needed composure. I think that's where we won. We were able to keep our composure just a tiny bit better. Congratulations on a heroic effort. I haven't seen two sides thrash it out like that in 30 years.

Thanks DNA, gutted we lost but Roosters deserved it. Hopefully we get a rematch on GF day. It would be a rippa if we do and we will beat you next time.
 
For the record, the Roosters player who illegally pushed the Wolfman out of bounds and wasn't penalised for it was.....surprise surprise James Maloney.

The amount of times this guy continued to hang on to a tackled players legs long after the ref called held and he never once got picked up on it was astonishing.
 
excellent report even though I can't stand reading about a loss, not ever.
I fear we will beat the pretender sharks and in my heart I can't see us getting past a souths side who are playing with the look of premiership winners this year imo
hope I'm wrong
 
bazeagle said:
excellent report even though I can't stand reading about a loss, not ever.
I fear we will beat the pretender sharks and in my heart I can't see us getting past a souths side who are playing with the look of premiership winners this year imo
hope I'm wrong
We're still there baz, and I can't see souths beating easts tbh.
 
g'day all,Certainly can't knock anyones effort,unfortunatly a couple of errors at times and unkind bounces of the ball didn't help but we really have no excuses.I would of liked to have seen a change of tactics though particularly targeting maloney with a big hard runner like Tom Symonds at least for part of the game and instead of the trying to get outside on the second man plays which without bretts finesse(and no disrespect to young hiku who i have a big wrap on)don't seem to rattle either of souths or chooks have foz and dce turn guys like horo, tom etc under and have say hiku matai even jorge sniffing around with them and maybe catching out a tired or lazy defender.I'd also like to see jorge utilised far more when were in the opposition 22 as his power pace and strength is a great asset that seems wasted waiting for an opportunity rather than looking for one.
cheers mike
 
Team P W L PD Pts
6 5 1 20 12
6 4 2 53 10
5 4 1 23 10
6 4 2 48 8
6 4 2 28 8
5 3 2 14 8
7 4 3 -18 8
6 3 2 21 7
7 3 3 20 7
7 3 4 31 6
6 3 3 16 6
5 2 3 -15 6
7 3 4 -41 6
6 2 4 -5 4
6 2 4 -7 4
6 1 5 -102 4
5 0 5 -86 2
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