Why we WILL go B2B

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Ralphie

Bencher
Premium Member
I have come to the belief that Manly will win back to back for the following reasons.
1.We genuinely have the best roster of the contenders
2.The boys are very motivated to prove it wasn’t all just Hasler
3.We are about to get our full strength side on the paddock at the right time
4.The signs are there in recent weeks that they are starting to click in both defence and attack.
5.We have plenty of gears to step up when the finals begin

Compare this to the contenders:
dishlickers: They are playing their best footy now and have no improvement left in them. Shut down Barba and they have very few points in them. Their inexperience will count against them big time.

souffs: They had a glimpse last Friday night of what they will be in for in the finals. They too don’t have any additional gears to go to and will wilt under the pressure of expectation.

purple scum: They are soft in the forwards. They are apparently back on track after beating penriff & GC (Woopy do), but I’m not buying it. We will see how they go against a weak donkeys outfit.

Nth Qld: The biggest threat in my view, but they just can’t win in Sydney.

Forget the rest. This Premiership is there for the taking.
 
4.The signs are there in recent weeks that they are starting to click in defence.

This.

Defence wins you Premierships. To keep two of the better attacking sides to one try each over the last fortnight is awesome. Warriors game was an abherration, but even against the Bulldogs we only let in 3 "lucky tries", one from a error and 2 from kicks.

I'm liking that part of our game at the moment.
 
Agreed, if the Dogs think they are a better side than us, then good. They aren't. Their win came from a mistake by us which will not be repeated, and a lucky hit on the posts. Ralphie is correct, close down BB options and they will not win.
 
Fair summary i guess. Although i reckon the bulldogs have more experience then you give them credit for. Ennis, Pritchard, Eastwood, Stagg, Graham, Inu, Perrett have all played either Origin or Test matches. Barba is playing with enough confidence that experience for him won't matter. I just can't see the wheels falling off for the Doggies.

In saying that, experience? We've got truck loads of it. And at full strength are a the best club side in the world.
 
Stevo said:
Fair summary i guess. Although i reckon the bulldogs have more experience then you give them credit for. Ennis, Pritchard, Eastwood, Stagg, Graham, Inu, Perrett have all played either Origin or Test matches. Barba is playing with enough confidence that experience for him won't matter. I just can't see the wheels falling off for the Doggies.

In saying that, experience? We've got truck loads of it. And at full strength are a the best club side in the world.

Ennis has a long history of failure in the big games. The others aren't much better.


Kiwi Eagle said:
You're scaring me Ralphie

I'm offering a considered thought out position as I always try to do. Feel free to tear my assessment apart, but I think the contenders this year are far weaker than previous years. I think it is there for the taking.
 
Yep, it's there for the taking. I agree. Just don't think its as open and shut as you do though.
 
Manly have the Trophy .

Just hide it in GG's fluoro grundies and dare the Pretenders to take it off us:p

Interesting to see how everyone is waiting for Manly to be at full strength. Seems that any Manly combination can smother the Pretenders,now that the Boys are in GF mode:idea:
 
I am sure if we lose this weekend Ralphie will be back to being a glass half empty kind of guy :)

For the record I pretty much agree with your thoughts.
 
Chip and Chase said:
4.The signs are there in recent weeks that they are starting to click in defence.

This.

Defence wins you Premierships. To keep two of the better attacking sides to one try each over the last fortnight is awesome. Warriors game was an abherration, but even against the Bulldogs we only let in 3 "lucky tries", one from a error and 2 from kicks.

I'm liking that part of our game at the moment.

Dont the bunnies have the best defensive record this year too? To put 5 tries on them and not one of them from kicks is brilliant!!
 
The premiership is definitely there for the taking. The defence has picked up big time in recent weeks. Brett Stewart back to full fitness gives us more variation and options in attack. Needless to say his defence is first class. Brent Kite is back to Clive Churchill Medal form. Foran is back to his best. Choc is Choc. Gift is Gift. The player to really put us over the line is one T. Williams. He's getting better and fitter every week. It was probably his best game of the season against Souffs. This is the thing, Manly have so many options all over the park. Who have the other contenders got??

Dogs: Barba is brilliant. Morris. THAT'S ABOUT IT.
Storm: Big 3. THAT'S ABOUT IT.
Souffs: Inglis THAT'S ABOUT IT.
Cowboys: Thurston and Bowen THAT's ABOUT IT.

The others are there to make up the numbers.
 
Koudini said:
The premiership is definitely there for the taking. The defence has picked up big time in recent weeks. Brett Stewart back to full fitness gives us more variation and options in attack. Needless to say his defence is first class. Brent Kite is back to Clive Churchill Medal form. Foran is back to his best. Choc is Choc. Gift is Gift. The player to really put us over the line is one T. Williams. He's getting better and fitter every week. It was probably his best game of the season against Souffs. This is the thing, Manly have so many options all over the park. Who have the other contenders got??

Dogs: Barba is brilliant. Morris. THAT'S ABOUT IT.
Storm: Big 3. THAT'S ABOUT IT.
Souffs: Inglis THAT'S ABOUT IT.
Cowboys: Thurston and Bowen THAT's ABOUT IT.

The others are there to make up the numbers.

I've been saying the same thing to mates since the Cowboys match- the only difference is that I give Souffs Burgess and Fat Dave as possible game breakers in addition to Inglis.

We really were awesome on Friday- in terms of games between "contenders", it was probably the most dominant performance for a while.
 
It was a strange game the souths one, since Souths have been so dominant in games I've seen recently and they usually outmuscle teams. But they were just like pale shadows on friday and thats because we made them that way. The nine commentary as usually completely understated the dominance of Manly and i heard Sterling say on Sunday that '5 tries to 1 wasnt a true reflection and he'd like to see the two teams play in the dry'. Coming from one of the smarter commentators thats just laughable. But such is the Souths bandwagon hype. If Manly had taken half of their chances and kicked the goals it would have been a cricket score. That game more than any I can think of in recent times, completely turned the comp on its head.
 
We are definitely contenders, but we do need to remember that they didn't have Inglis before we get too carried away.

I think the winner will be one of us, Dogs and Storm. The Storm have plenty of time to get back into form before the finals. I would not be writing them off.

Then again I didn't write the Storm off in the 08 grand final until it was about 30 nil...
 
I'm not daring to dream just yet. Lots of work to do but we are improving and the win against the bunnies has given us a glimpse of possibility.
The team's had heaps of disruption over the past year including Dessie's bombshell, a predicted mass exodus, not playing at Brookie until week 6, constant injuries, a few vital suspensions and never-ending contract negotiations.
To be sitting where they are in the comp is an awesome achievement for the team and coaching staff.
 
The dogs are going to get very nervous if they dont lose 1 before the finals the media speculation will begin to play with their heads. I actually think the Tigers may take them this weekend may even put a few dollars on the Tigers. We still have improvement to come in us which is good. Next 2 games at Brookie need to take advantage of our situation and win both.


niccipops said:
I'm not daring to dream just yet. Lots of work to do but we are improving and the win against the bunnies has given us a glimpse of possibility.
The team's had heaps of disruption over the past year including Dessie's bombshell, a predicted mass exodus, not playing at Brookie until week 6, constant injuries, a few vital suspensions and never-ending contract negotiations.
To be sitting where they are in the comp is an awesome achievement for the team and coaching staff.

Very true. It would have to be even harder to back up and win another title considering what salary caps and representative games do to premiership winning teams. Throw in an early season trip to England and back plus every other team gunning for a win over the premiers not to mention we have the extra burden of everyone hates us so they are always gunning to beat us anyway.
 
If we finish in 4th and are playing well going into the finals with Stewart at Fullback, i think the dogs will get beaten. Melbourne are the main title threat they have a good coach and probably the best spine.
 
Don't forget we flew to Perth, then back to Sydney, and then to Townsville, then to Sydney, and then travelled to Gosford, all wins. Remarkable really. On Souffs, they won their last six, but as others have noted, all six teams were below us on the table. When they played the big boys, they failed. The big three will be there and we'll win. We have a more complete team, have the big game experience and the skill to win through. All good.
 

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