The No-Look News (Schuster Chronicles)

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If these two can see the potential greatness of the Shoe, I am baffled how some dribblers on this site can write him off so soon.
No one has questioned his potential greatness. Andrew Johns once said Owen Cragie was the most gifted player he ever played with and we all know how that finished. It's not uncommon for talent to be wasted in this game of ours.
“I have been playing long enough to see so many people at this club not maximise their opportunity,” Cherry-Evans said.“That is rugby league mate – if you’re not willing to work hard enough, if you’re not willing to sacrifice, you just don’t last long.
“He is at a crossroads early in his career but it can be a real positive. This doesn’t have to be a negative for him – spending some time away to get his body right, this could be a defining moment where he takes off to that level we all know he can.
If DCE can see it, I am baffled why it's hard for others to fathom.

It's exhausting that we're up to 237 pages and there's still a selection of members that haven't got their head around the idea that you can be a fan of Schu, see his potential and want him to succeed, without ignoring some potential concerns. It's not black or white.
 
No one has questioned his potential greatness. Andrew Johns once said Owen Cragie was the most gifted player he ever played with and we all know how that finished. It's not uncommon for talent to be wasted in this game of ours.
“I have been playing long enough to see so many people at this club not maximise their opportunity,” Cherry-Evans said.“That is rugby league mate – if you’re not willing to work hard enough, if you’re not willing to sacrifice, you just don’t last long.
“He is at a crossroads early in his career but it can be a real positive. This doesn’t have to be a negative for him – spending some time away to get his body right, this could be a defining moment where he takes off to that level we all know he can.
If DCE can see it, I am baffled why it's hard for others to fathom.

It's exhausting that we're up to 237 pages and there's still a selection of members that haven't got their head around the idea that you can be a fan of Schu, see his potential and want him to succeed, without ignoring some potential concerns. It's not black or white.

Your last paragraph says it all .. well said.
 
Al
Not sure I agree there Frank. He's potentially far more talented than Sandow and I suspect will be better than Brookes.

We've seen a very disrupted entry into first grade through injury and what I considered the wrong position at second row, which caused a number of issues relating to weight and confidence. Not saying he didnt bring some of that on himself, just that it hasnt been the best of introductions.

Defensively I think its forgotten that while playing second row, in 2021 he had one of the highest tackling rate per game at Manly (only Jake and Croker were higher) and he was one of the few who was always on the field for the full match. He has a recorded tackle efficiency rating of 87.2%. Yet the tackling machine Parker only has a rating of 85.8%, Koula 83%. Certainly he's missed a few in his last game but he's only played 4 games this season and only two fully fit so though he missed a few in his last game, he's only just getting back into full fitness.

2022 was a bad year I know but I suspect this kid operates emotionally and relies on confidence. This recent comment about being the best in the game suggests he has the drive, but also suffers confidence loss when things go wrong (probably eats more when dealing with things not working out). He'll get better. He's still a kid.
All fair points… difference between 2nd row and 5/8 is he gets caught in a lot more 1-on-1 situations…
It is not his last game that concerns me and remember that it is not recorded as a missed tackle if you never put a hand on the guy…
Happy to be wrong but I don’t see the effort or intelligence in defence that I think is needed in that role for us to be competing for titles…
Having said that he is not Robinson Crusoe out there
 
No one has questioned his potential greatness. Andrew Johns once said Owen Cragie was the most gifted player he ever played with and we all know how that finished. It's not uncommon for talent to be wasted in this game of ours.
“I have been playing long enough to see so many people at this club not maximise their opportunity,” Cherry-Evans said.“That is rugby league mate – if you’re not willing to work hard enough, if you’re not willing to sacrifice, you just don’t last long.
“He is at a crossroads early in his career but it can be a real positive. This doesn’t have to be a negative for him – spending some time away to get his body right, this could be a defining moment where he takes off to that level we all know he can.
If DCE can see it, I am baffled why it's hard for others to fathom.

It's exhausting that we're up to 237 pages and there's still a selection of members that haven't got their head around the idea that you can be a fan of Schu, see his potential and want him to succeed, without ignoring some potential concerns. It's not black or white.
i
No one has questioned his potential greatness. Andrew Johns once said Owen Cragie was the most gifted player he ever played with and we all know how that finished. It's not uncommon for talent to be wasted in this game of ours.
“I have been playing long enough to see so many people at this club not maximise their opportunity,” Cherry-Evans said.“That is rugby league mate – if you’re not willing to work hard enough, if you’re not willing to sacrifice, you just don’t last long.
“He is at a crossroads early in his career but it can be a real positive. This doesn’t have to be a negative for him – spending some time away to get his body right, this could be a defining moment where he takes off to that level we all know he can.
If DCE can see it, I am baffled why it's hard for others to fathom.

It's exhausting that we're up to 237 pages and there's still a selection of members that haven't got their head around the idea that you can be a fan of Schu, see his potential and want him to succeed, without ignoring some potential concerns. It's not black or white.
I agree with you 100%. It's all about realising your deficiencies and improving on them. Injuries can also derail your career trajectory. If you recall from a different football code young talented socceroo Daniel Arzani. He was a wonder kid, next big thing with raw talent. Successive injuries to knees have stopped in his tracks. I hope like everyone young Shoe looks after his body and takes a leaf out of DCE'S training regime.
 
Schu is the Manly version of Brookes or Chris Sandow for that matter… we will never navigate deep into finals whilst we base our side on him…
Sure, every now and then he’ll remind you of how much skill he has but there are plenty of park footballers with natural skill…
Josh is not a leader and his defensive reads and effort remind me of Suli…
How do you know that? Let’s give the kid a chance at 5/8 and see. He was the difference last week and look how he opened up the game for Turbo.
 
No one has questioned his potential greatness. Andrew Johns once said Owen Cragie was the most gifted player he ever played with and we all know how that finished. It's not uncommon for talent to be wasted in this game of ours.
“I have been playing long enough to see so many people at this club not maximise their opportunity,” Cherry-Evans said.“That is rugby league mate – if you’re not willing to work hard enough, if you’re not willing to sacrifice, you just don’t last long.
“He is at a crossroads early in his career but it can be a real positive. This doesn’t have to be a negative for him – spending some time away to get his body right, this could be a defining moment where he takes off to that level we all know he can.
If DCE can see it, I am baffled why it's hard for others to fathom.

It's exhausting that we're up to 237 pages and there's still a selection of members that haven't got their head around the idea that you can be a fan of Schu, see his potential and want him to succeed, without ignoring some potential concerns. It's not black or white.


All players have concerns early on. Ponga has had scratchy times. Best has struggled but its probably, like Schuster in some respects, that he has been injured more often than available. Takes time for the body to harden up. Maybe Schuster wont be the superstar we hope for. But its far too early to even suggest he wont. DCE is a very fit and committed player, but he was held back himself because Manly had Hodkinson and didnt play his first game until he was 22. Schuster just turned 22 and has been playing since he was 19 in first grade, but like DCE was held back from his natural spot because Foran was at Manly. And I recall many saying we should have kept Foran rather than DCE. Sorry. Disagreed then and disagree now.

No question that Schuster's got a lot of work to do and the question of commitment has been asked many times (though his effort over the off season suggests he wants to succeed). We forget too easily about how old these players are. I remember 21 and it took another four years before I realised my niche. Some move into it straight away, others need time. Difference with Craigie was that he burst onto the scene with instant success over his first season a little like Phil Blake. All too easy and was found out. Still a top player but sometimes getting it all straight away creates complacency. Blake finally learned that and succeeded at Souths. I think Schuster, having had to tough it out, has made him less complacent...at least I hope so.
 
Maybe Schuster wont be the superstar we hope for. But its far too early to even suggest he wont.
I don't recall anyone claiming to have seen enough to suggest he won't...and that's kinda my point...as soon as someone even hints at having a concern, there's this barrage of criticism over what I consider to be a legitimate discussion. My money is on him succeeding and being fantastic, but I am not about to condemn ('dribblers' being one example of which there are many) other posters for raising concerns.

The fact that you've used low modality language 'maybe' suggests that there's a chance he won't and that's probably why the forum is being used to discuss such hypotheticals; kinda the point of having a forum in the first place.
 
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I don't recall anyone claiming to have seen enough to suggest he won't...and that's kinda my point...as soon as someone even hints at having a concern, there's this barrage of criticism over what I consider to be a legitimate discussion. My money is on him succeeding and being fantastic, but I am not about to condemn ('dribblers' being one example of which there are many) other posters for raising concerns.

The fact that you've used low modality language 'maybe' suggests that there's a chance he won't and that's probably why the forum is being used to discuss such hypotheticals; kinda the point of having a forum in the first place).
I agree that it fine to discuss weaknesses etc...but the issue I have is when people want to talk about character issues etc....when they have no idea what they are talking about and have never met the guy and react to the first thing posted.
To suggest he is lazy or uncommitted are the sorts of things that should be criticized as they have no basis in anything substantial.( apart from people feeling a vibe)
An example is the pile on when it was reported that he was taking time off to recondition blah,blah
As it turns out it wasn't the club forcing him out and looking to offload etc..and it was the player himself knowing he needed to do it and took it on himself.
Talk freely about footy related issues but speculating about his personality and character is dribble of the highest order.
 
I agree that it fine to discuss weaknesses etc...but the issue I have is when people want to talk about character issues etc....when they have no idea what they are talking about and have never met the guy and react to the first thing posted.
To suggest he is lazy or uncommitted are the sorts of things that should be criticized as they have no basis in anything substantial.( apart from people feeling a vibe)
An example is the pile on when it was reported that he was taking time off to recondition blah,blah
As it turns out it wasn't the club forcing him out and looking to offload etc..and it was the player himself knowing he needed to do it and took it on himself.
Talk freely about footy related issues but speculating about his personality and character is dribble of the highest order.
I think it’s fine to discuss character in a respectful way…like I don’t have to know Mitch Moses to discuss my contempt for the way he conducts himself on the field. I believe there’s been enough smoke to suggest that something was/has been up with Schu’s fitness…I don’t need to resort to name calling but i am entitled to discuss a perception around his diet/fitness. It’s a big part of professional sport. So, no, I’m not buying this implied censorship you propose.
 
I think it’s fine to discuss character in a respectful way…like I don’t have to know Mitch Moses to discuss my contempt for the way he conducts himself on the field. I believe there’s been enough smoke to suggest that something was/has been up with Schu’s fitness…I don’t need to resort to name calling but i am entitled to discuss a perception around his diet/fitness. It’s a big part of professional sport. So, no, I’m not buying this implied censorship you propose.

If people react to your view that is what forums are for,I believe that is what you said.
I did not say people could not say it,just don't expect to not receive blowback lol.
People are entitled to respond whether you like it or not.
You can discuss if you think he has an issue with his diet,if you choose to do it in a derogative way then expect people to react.
If I started a thread about an individual poster on silvertails attitude etc..... I would expect to cop it.
You yourself called it smoke,nothing substantial
 
If people react to your view that is what forums are for,I believe that is what you said.
I did not say people could not say it,just don't expect to not receive blowback lol.
People are entitled to respond whether you like it or not.
You can discuss if you think he has an issue with his diet,if you choose to do it in a derogative way then expect people to react.
If I started a thread about an individual poster on silvertails attitude etc..... I would expect to cop it.
I don’t have a problem with anyone reacting, if anything it’s more entertaining that way. For what it’s worth, I reckon there are a few precious fan boys here that won’t stand for a single negative comment made about Schu, even when it’s a respectful and measured one from people that genuinely want to see him succeed.
 
I don’t have a problem with anyone reacting, if anything it’s more entertaining that way. For what it’s worth, I reckon there are a few precious fan boys here that won’t stand for a single negative comment made about Schu, even when it’s a respectful and measured one from people that genuinely want to see him succeed.
Yes there are,there are fanboys for more than just Schuster however and apply double standards as well,that tends to make some opinions are little funny to read .
 

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