V Eels

[ozenzud]

I don't think Mannering is the ideal captain... but calling him an "average player/toiler" is just ludicrous.

Agree.

That comment from Iron Man had me wound up. League in New Zealand is so influenced now by polyenesian power and flair, the gritty, toiler defensive player is considered an ineffectual RL player by many.

Nothing can be further from the truth. League still needs your toilers. The NRL is not won in week one. Its 26 weeks of toil not three weeks of flair. Thats been the warriors problem and reason for their inconsistencies.

Mannering does so much work its unreal. Other sides don't even run his corridor much. They head the other side.

You need a couple of toilers, and a couple of flair players and some in betweens. There is no way you could win a comp with a side full of Kevin Campions or a side full of Ali L'ies.

Last night, I think we also missed Elijah Taylor who had worked himself into that toiler spot. Palavi was probably too nervous and uncertain.

Mind you, Para was a pretty full team of polyensians/Fijians last night. Did anyone notice that?

 

[MKEB...]

I couldn't work out the logic of teaming Carlos fish and The Chad on defence, seemed to me that they were always going to be targeted.

If Hurrel is still unfit, Carlos certainly isn't a centre...Mannering needs to go into the centres short-term.

 

[Iron Lion]

Agree.

That comment from Iron Man had me wound up. League in New Zealand is so influenced now by polyenesian power and flair, the gritty, toiler defensive player is considered an ineffectual RL player by many.

Nothing can be further from the truth. League still needs your toilers. The NRL is not won in week one. Its 26 weeks of toil not three weeks of flair. Thats been the warriors problem and reason for their inconsistencies.

Mannering does so much work its unreal. Other sides don't even run his corridor much. They head the other side.

You need a couple of toilers, and a couple of flair players and some in betweens. There is no way you could win a comp with a side full of Kevin Campions or a side full of Ali L'ies.

Last night, I think we also missed Elijah Taylor who had worked himself into that toiler spot. Palavi was probably too nervous and uncertain.

Mind you, Para was a pretty full team of polyensians/Fijians last night. Did anyone notice that?

Mate, I am not saying to get rid of Mannering, He is a defensive Rock, if it wasn't for him we would of conceded tries down the middle. My thoughts are in regard to his leadership style. I also believe his attacking game has become quite weak over the last few seasons. At one stage he looked like a Ben Creagh in the making, that has really slipped back now.

Yes we do need a toiler in the team - and I am not advocating getting rid of Mannering but I do believe his skill set has some what diminished. Defensive rock that is needed though!

 

[vvvrulz]

present us stats that prove he is anything but

:lol: So you judge an NRL player based solely on numbers?
Mannering puts in more work than anyone in the team, player of the year last year and twice before that.

You're either a cheap rent-a-troll or know nothing about the sport.

 

[Iron Lion]

:lol: So you judge an NRL player based solely on numbers?
Mannering puts in more work than anyone in the team, player of the year last year and twice before that.

You're either a cheap rent-a-troll or know nothing about the sport.

oh I assure you, I know plenty about this sport - Stats don't say the full story but they still tell you a heap of info. I assume you couldn't dig up anything impressive on Mannering ?

Lets just be real about it, he is not captain fantastic and he doesn't offer anything what so ever on attack anymore. Good tackler though.

 

[Iron Lion]

:lol: So you judge an NRL player based solely on numbers?
Mannering puts in more work than anyone in the team, player of the year last year and twice before that.

You're either a cheap rent-a-troll or know nothing about the sport.

Player of the year - how many man of the match awards did he receive in each of those years - you may be surprised

Club management is not stupid when looking to create an inspirational leader who will be followed like a Steve Price or Ruben Wiki

 

[vvvrulz]

oh I assure you, I know plenty about this sport - Stats don't say the full story but they still tell you a heap of info. I assume you couldn't dig up anything impressive on Mannering ?

Lets just be real about it, he is not captain fantastic and he doesn't offer anything what so ever on attack anymore. Good tackler though.

Why the hell would I look up stats just to convince a clown like you.

Forget captaincy, even I don't agree he is the best captain. But you called him an average *player* and I've yet to see anything resembling an argument as to why you think so.

Did you even watch him play last year?
You seem to think he is just a tackle bot. Crazy.

 

[vvvrulz]

Player of the year - how many man of the match awards did he receive in each of those years - you may be surprised

Club management is not stupid when looking to create an inspirational leader who will be followed like a Steve Price or Ruben Wiki

:lol: So he won three player of the year awards (nobody else has one more than 1) because the club is trying to manufacture a leader for the team?

You're off your rocker, I'm done with you.

 

[jamaman]

Tomkins in for Townsend..Locke or Fish Fullback
Hurrell centre

 

[JJ]

Mannering's not the problem - consistency is, particularly in the 6 and 7 jumpers, but across the park

Not seeing other captaincy options anyway, only Nathan Friend?

 

[WellsNZ]

Friend I think would be a great captain but he's old and not going to be around much longer so it doesn't work.

They've given it to Manu and Rapira. Nice gesture to give both of them the title at times, but not exactly the type of guys you want speaking on behalf of the team.

Mannering is the best they've got in terms of captain material. He's been around a long time, he puts in every week, he's reasonably respected around the competition. I'm not saying he's a great captain (and I think it's pretty bloody hard to comment too much on that without being in the changing room and out on the field with them) but the team isn't exactly loaded with viable captaincy options.

 

[captainwarrior]

In all honesty, (behind Mannering) I think Leuluai would be the best choice for captaincy. I know he's injured at the moment but for a little bloke he does play like a leader, and unlike Johnson actually puts in effort for 80 minutes every week. I actually think we missed him last night.

On the performance itself, and I know it was only round one, but it was borderline abysmal. It was just lethargic, we didn't look interested at all. Congrats to Parra though because they did play very well and came out and wanted it much more. I hope they can have a fairly good season though, and this game isn't just the same false hope they gave their supporters last year.

We better play much better next week, because though they only played the Tigers, the Dragons attack was actually pretty good, and has the potential to carve us up if we are as lethargic as we were last night.

 

[Eelementary]

You guys have way too much class to see this sort of performance too often.

And we were really, really pumped - first game of a new season, at home, with a brand new coach, and a team full of new faces trying to stay in First Grade...It would have been a tough ask for anyone IMO.

And the scoreline flattered us a bit. You guys gave us a very tough, physical match.

Good luck for the rest of the year.

 

[JJ]

You guys have way too much class to see this sort of performance too often.

And we were really, really pumped - first game of a new season, at home, with a brand new coach, and a team full of new faces trying to stay in First Grade...It would have been a tough ask for anyone IMO.

And the scoreline flattered us a bit. You guys gave us a very tough, physical match.

Good luck for the rest of the year.

Nice thought, but that performance was typical Warriors IMO.

But, that's kind of how I expected the game to go - always thought Parra would be red hot, I was actually stoked it was close at half time and wondered if we could roll over you.

Both teams have big question marks - I would not be surprised to see the Warriors to put 40 on the Dragons next week, and the Eels to be very flat.

If the Warriors get to the 8 on a late season roll (not convinced that will happen, but it should) they'll be very dangerous... but more generally, big issues at 6 and 7, and perhaps the worst coach in the NRL :crazy:

 

[Warrior@Heart]

A Leuleuai/Mannering co-captaincy would be my preference. Mannering is a good leader but is too nice, some players need to be yelled at instead of cuddled every time they drop the ball.

 

[hitro]

I know he's only played a few games, and he's a pommy, but Tomkins would have a lot more to say as a captain than anyone else in the squad

 

[playdaball]

Tommy is the official vice captain

 

[ozbash]

A few observations -

* Tomkins struggled defensively & looked shaky under the high ball. He's going to be targeted every week so he needs to sort that out. I'm sure he will.

* Carlos is way way way out of his depth. He actually has no idea in defense. This has been the case since he came into first grade & we have seen zero improvement. He's not up to it.

* Forwards weren't hungry enough. Why arent Matulino & Rapira running at full speed. If they ran like Matagi then the whole side would get a lift & all of a sudden we'd have momentum & go-forward. How is Johnson & Townsend meant to operate with no go-forward. They can't & the won't.

* Feleti Mateo looks very very unfit. If Hurrell wasn't picked, then i'd argue Mateo probably shouldn't have been.

* Lousi probably tried too hard. I think he may be a middle forward rather than a edge player.

* Palavi did his job well. No nonsense, hard working.

* It's only Round 1, plenty to work on - mostly concentration on defense & aggression with the ball!

Re your forwards comment.. there was one set midway through the second half , on our line, when the whole 5 plays were taken up by props !! we ended up on their 22. usually its manu ("we're not going to use him as a battering ram"-ME) hitting it up followed by either his centre or the other wing... so predictable.

Palavi will captain that side in a year or 2.

We missed JRo.

 

[vvvrulz]

We missed JRo.

He would have patched up that fringe defence no problem.

 

[Iron Lion]

A Leuleuai/Mannering co-captaincy would be my preference. Mannering is a good leader but is too nice, some players need to be yelled at instead of cuddled every time they drop the ball.

Yeah I got sick of Mannering patting the guys on the head when they kept dropping ball, I am not saying to blast them but maybe a stern word and expectancy of excellence is needed rather than its ok mate, it happens bullshit.