rd14 v Manly

[mxlegend99]

Only reason I had any glimmer of hope was the Broncos game where we fought back from 16 down.

Manly with a 20 point lead are easily more beatable than Broncos with a 16 point lead... or even 10. But having done it before doesn't mean we would again. It was just the only thing giving me hope.

I was glad we scored that last try to give us 6 points lead. Until then I was thinking goal kicking will be what costs us. 6 up though I knew Moylan or Wallace would nail a field goal.

 

[chrisD]

We made a few dumb errors but a lot of shit you can't control went against us in that first half. Don't know why but it does seem that stuff tends to turn around in the next half. I have the same feeling about the team now as I did after that first half. Our attack with Cleary and Cartwright is encouraging. Kicking isn't an issue. Our defence is f**king abysmal.

I used to keep track of who f**ked up when in defence, how line breaks and tries we let in occur. I don't anymore simply because I can't keep up with it. For their first try what RCG was doing was just comical. Blake's soft as shit attempt. Latu, Cartwright, Grevsmuhl and Matagi all came up with total air at least once. Moylan is almost a non factor as a last line defender. And they're the tackles we miss, the tackles we make are sub par too, teams roll through our middle on the back of quick play the balls as we flail about. We look a mess on defence, I'm really surprised we are not letting in more points.

 

[kyussian]

Cleary was outstanding. Defensively very solid, he kicked well for the most part and he came up with some big plays and ran for over 100m. The try was great obviously but I think the most impressive thing he did was after the Wallace try we had a nice clearing set which was finished off with a great Cleary kick and chase by cleary where he found grass and made a one on one tackle to pin Brett Stewart literally on his line. It was the type of play you would expect from someone like JT or Cronk in that period of the game.

100% - that kick chase revealed a refreshing change to the game management (lack of) we've gotten used to for so long! very Cronk-like! exciting times ahead hopefully!

Also he really needs to be goalkicking! he's obviously displaying the composure & maturity to step up to FG - if anything it's probably the one thing that he doesnt need to adjust to. If the plan is to keep him in FG then give him the kicking - we cant keep missing out on precious points in games when it's obvious we cant blow teams off the park!

Finally, someone (teammate, offical or fan!) please throw away his boots so he's forced to wear a new pair! Moses wouldnt have been very happy after getting smashed on our own line from the Manly kickoff as he waited for Cleary to pass him the ball after slipping again!

other general observations that may/may not have been raised previously:

* good to see Latimore get a few more minutes - thought he improved our ruck defence & also impressed with his efforts to try to stop Walker's 2nd try

* Latu was pivotal - he ran that tough line to score & his pass for Cleary's try was delivered perfectly - unsure of his contract status but if he's not signed up I think we should get on it quickly! having both him & Carty in the side for years to come would create opportunities

* assume Merrin starting on the edge & then moving into the middle is the only way he plays 80m

* Wallace has definitely been great at hooker - there's no doubting his service, defence & kicking option from DH but still not convinced with his decision making in attack - sometimes find it clunky or his vision isnt quite there. obviously he doesn't have the spark of Seggy but if he can improve this part of his game even slightly then can happily accept Hook's decision to move Seggy on

* my Souths mates did forewarn me about Grev's defensive lapses - happy to give him the benefit of the doubt for now - if he can reproduce that hard running edge forward form he's shown in the past then we should be able to cover this weakness. he has to rise playing against his former team next game but must admit there is a concern here based on his first 2 games with us

 

[betcats]

Grevs gas a good quick play the ball which helps I thought he was pretty solid, I was watching his defence and he was on this game.

 

[martielang]

Grevs gas a good quick play the ball which helps I thought he was pretty solid, I was watching his defence and he was on this game.

Yeh I agree. I thought he helped swing the momentum. He straightens up our edge offence, runs hard, straight, and at holes. Puts us on the front foot. Works perfectly together with Cartwright if he's playing 5/8th (and starting to crab cross field) IMO.

Interested to see if Blake ends up in the back row eventually. Also runs some terrific lines.

 

[TheFrog]

Interested to see if Blake ends up in the back row eventually. Also runs some terrific lines.

Just last evening I located a dusty VHS tape and watched a 2003 game against a depleted Newcastle at Penrith featuring your namesake. Coming off the bench in that game was a 19 year old Frank Pritchard in his third NRL appearance. Pretty slender in those days and couldn't he run. He looked not a bit unlike Waqa Blake.

 

[franklin2323]

look at how Manly scored their tries. 2 off a kick and one running it on the last. People say our defence was shit yet they had more missed tackles then us at halftime despite having all the ball.

Just needed some ball. Sign of things to come with decent halves who want to attack

 

[Fibroman]

Just last evening I located a dusty VHS tape and watched a 2003 game against a depleted Newcastle at Penrith featuring your namesake. Coming off the bench in that game was a 19 year old Frank Pritchard in his third NRL appearance. Pretty slender in those days and couldn't he run. He looked not a bit unlike Waqa Blake.

Pritchard-Blake. Apples-Oranges. Blake is an athlete and should be competing in the Decathalon, but is overrated as a footy player.

 

[betcats]

Blake is improving steadily. He hasn't dropped a carry for a while now and he is hitting the line a bit harder. His hole running the last two weeks has been great he has atleast 3 linebreaks off short balls from Cleary and Bryce the last two games. Even just the was he calmly leaned into Stewart and passed the ball to DWZ on that last try was pleasing, he probably would of found a way to make that one far more difficult then it had to be last season.

 

[franklin2323]

Blake is improving steadily. He hasn't dropped a carry for a while now and he is hitting the line a bit harder. His hole running the last two weeks has been great he has atleast 3 linebreaks off short balls from Cleary and Bryce the last two games. Even just the was he calmly leaned into Stewart and passed the ball to DWZ on that last try was pleasing, he probably would of found a way to make that one far more difficult then it had to be last season.

He would of taken the tackle and dropped it last year. It's those little things he has improved with

 

[martielang]

Just last evening I located a dusty VHS tape and watched a 2003 game against a depleted Newcastle at Penrith featuring your namesake. Coming off the bench in that game was a 19 year old Frank Pritchard in his third NRL appearance. Pretty slender in those days and couldn't he run. He looked not a bit unlike Waqa Blake.

Not a bad call actually. Blake very rarely seems to beat players with footwork, seems to rely heavily on power and line running similar to a back rower / Pritchard.

 

[Kilkenny]

Blake is still growing and developing. I still think he could be a very good player in time.

 

[betcats]

Not a bad call actually. Blake very rarely seems to beat players with footwork, seems to rely heavily on power and line running similar to a back rower / Pritchard.

He actually has better footwork than most of our outside backs besides Whare. When he was tearing NSW cup apart he was often using his footwork, he is still working out how to make it work if FG though.

 

[MrBlack]

Blake is still growing and developing. I still think he could be a very good player in time.

He is 100 times better than he was last year if you just go by his ball security.

 

[Kilkenny]

This was a must win game and while we did it the hard way, at least we did come away with the two points.

Yes the first 45 minutes were painful to watch and the Sea Eagles wanted it much more than we did, there were surely positive signs in the fact we were able to fight our way back into the contest.