Parra pack won't be intimidated in 2011

[Gronk]

Parra pack won't be intimidated in 2011




Joe Barton AAP Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:45:24

Parramatta won't be intimidated by any NRL forwards in 2011, with Eels prop Tim Mannah saying the club's new signings will bring a mongrel edge to the monster pack.
Parramatta's forwards failed to aim up in 2010, arguably the club's most disappointing season in the past decade, but Mannah is adamant the Eels pack will not be a concern as they look to rebound next year.
Even without evergreen prop Nathan Cayless, who retired after 14 decorated seasons in first grade, Mannah is confident the club has recruited the type of characters that can give Parramatta an edge.
Firebrand prop Carl Webb has been lured from North Queensland, while former Australian representative Reni Maitua will look to rebuild his career after serving a two-year drug ban.
"Obliviously it's going to be good to have Carl and Reni at the club," Mannah told AAP.
"They've both got good reputations in the league as tough players.
"I'm a bit younger and growing up I loved watching them play so it's going to be a good addition to our side.
"They'll add a bit of mongrel to the forward pack as well which is something which will be handy in our squad.
"We're definitely looking forward to that."
With Cayless's retirement, Mannah is aware of a starting front-row spot opening up - but the talented 22-year-old, who made his NSW Origin debut this season, isn't claiming it just yet.
Despite having a bumper season, Mannah is well aware he has a fight on his hands to work his way off the bench with Webb joining representative front-rowers Fuifui Moimoi and Justin Poore in a four-way battle for the two starting spots.
"Obviously any player strives to be a starting player, but I'm at an age where I'm happy to do what is best for the team," he said.
"If putting the team first means coming off the bench, then so be it. But it's good to have a bit of healthy competition.
"At the moment there's me, Fui, Justin Poore and Webby fighting as well.
"We've got a few players striving for starting spots and it will bring out the best in us (in pre-season training) from now until Christmas.
"Personally, looking ahead there's so many more goals I want to achieve, and now that I've got a bit of a taste of rep footy, it'd be nice to get your foot in the door.
"You want to do what's best for your team and at the moment that means getting Parramatta back on track."

http://www.nrl.com/news/news/newsar...pack-wont-be-intimidated-in-2011/default.aspx

 

[Glenn]

Oh god no, here we go again with all the talk about how things will be better etc
Same as last season all talk no action.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

In my opinion the fowards were one of our shining lights in 2010. We didn't loose to many forward battles

 

[ParraAds]

In my opinion the fowards were one of our shining lights in 2010. We didn't loose to many forward battles

We lost a few, but only to the top teams like the Dragons.

The halves are the obvious weakness.

 

[Gronk]

I recall when Brian Smith recruited "size" one year with Aaron Cannings his prize enforcer.

We talked it up just like the above article. What a train wreck of a year that was. :crazy:

 

[sarahk]

lol we sound like souths last year. SIGH.

 

[eElz1]

hwo much were the bunnies talked up this year with their forwards.. Not too special also. Hope ours can do better this year.

 

[JoeyJoJo83]

In my opinion the fowards were one of our shining lights in 2010. We didn't loose to many forward battles

I was thinking the same thing, we struggled a bit at the start of the season with Poore adjusting at Parra and losing Shack at the start but by mid season our forwards where strong.

 

[hineyrulz]

FMD our forwards weren't the problem last year it was our halves and our sh*thouse attack :crazy:

 

[Joshuatheeel]

I recall when Brian Smith recruited "size" one year with Aaron Cannings his prize enforcer.

We talked it up just like the above article. What a train wreck of a year that was. :crazy:

Yeah but that year our forward pack was sh*t to start with. Our forward pack is very good as it is now and we are adding to it. Look at what we have;

Mannah, Fui, Poore - three of the best props in the game
Hindmarsh - the workhorse every side needs
Smith - very good. Works hard in defence and once we have a ball playing halfback will look very dangerous running out wide. Has the potential to be a rep player.
Horo - shows great potential. Works hard in defence, good running game. What gets me excited is with some experience and confidence I think he will be a very good ball player as will.
Shackleton - very good player.

The only player we are really missing is a very good wide running backrower, but smith could fill this gap if we have the talent in the halves.

Back when we recruited Cannings we never had the quality of players mentioned above. I would say alot of these players woulds be starters in most other NRL sides

 

[mickdo]

Oh god no, here we go again with all the talk about how things will be better etc
Same as last season all talk no action.

Yeah, they should be saying how absolutely crap they are going to be instead :roll:

 

[The Engineers Room]

I recall when Brian Smith recruited "size" one year with Aaron Cannings his prize enforcer.


We talked it up just like the above article. What a train wreck of a year that was. :crazy:

And we got Fui, so not a total loss.

In my opinion the fowards were one of our shining lights in 2010. We didn't loose to many forward battles

But we had little to no second phase which forwards should give you.

FMD our forwards weren't the problem last year it was our halves and our sh*thouse attack :crazy:

If the forwards passed the ball more and got us a retreating defence then the halves and backs would have been more dangerous.

 

[Eels Dude]

I recall when Brian Smith recruited "size" one year with Aaron Cannings his prize enforcer.

We talked it up just like the above article. What a train wreck of a year that was. :crazy:

C'mon he did sign world beaters in Chris Muckert and Shane Musprett too. Not to mention makeshift halfback Corey Pearson.

 

[mickdo]

But we had little to no second phase which forwards should give you.

If the forwards passed the ball more and got us a retreating defence then the halves and backs would have been more dangerous.

I reckon a lot of that was down to DA. He forever seemed to be trying to get rid of the ad-lib stuff that seemed to work for us.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

And we got Fui, so not a total loss.




But we had little to no second phase which forwards should give you.



If the forwards passed the ball more and got us a retreating defence then the halves and backs would have been more dangerous.

Do you need second phrase from the forwards ? The storm and dragons both won comps recently without it (accepted storms was taken off them)

 

[Stagger eel]

our forwards will be a major strength of this unit, especuially when Reni comes into the picture in May.

the simple fact of the matter is that we need a general and that's where our downfall is.

 

[PB]

"Obliviously it's going to be good to have Carl and Reni at the club," Mannah told AAP.

"obviously"......!
any chance he was being sarcastic...?

God bless your positive outlook on life Tim

 

[The Engineers Room]

Do you need second phrase from the forwards ? The storm and dragons both won comps recently without it (accepted storms was taken off them)

No they didn't. The Dragons offer as much second phase as others and the Storm have many good offloaders.

The problem is they also kick the ball long and strangle in defence and other teams are too cautious.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

No they didn't. The Dragons offer as much second phase as others and the Storm have many good offloaders.

The problem is they also kick the ball long and strangle in defence and other teams are too cautious.

Really, I watched many dragons games this year and very rarely did they off-load.

Over the last four years, you knew exact what the strom were going to do in forwards, which was not off-loading the ball. Their forwards off-loaded the ball about 4 times more then the last four years after they lost their points this year.

 

[boxhead]

Shane Shackleton has not missed a beat this whole year, constantly training and working hard even when injured.

Hope he fires for us next year, IMO if he wasn't injured the whole year the Season could have been extremely different......
A brilliant player, and he has really impressed the coaching staff at training for next season.