vs storm

[shadow grinder]

how do you guys reckon you will go vs storm next week?

 

[CC_Eagle]

Depends...

#1 It's more than likely that Hoppa will not be playing this Sunday, a suitable replacement is needed. With Chris Hicks still 2 weeks away from returning from a shoulder injury, the two obvious contenders are a) Mitch Creary & b) Jarred Taylor. Mitch has played 10+ 1st grade games over the past 3-4 seasons and is easily one of our better,more consistent PL'ers. He has done the job in the past and I'd love to see Mitch in 1st grade again.

Taylor was at the Sharks before he came to Manly last year (?). He played some first grade there, I have no idea how he went.

Mitch pro's :

*Experienced
*Reliable
*Will be able to get the job done

Mitch con's :

*On the negative side of age
*Has already played 1st grade, give someone new a chance?

Jarred pro's : -

*Has experience, not as much as Mitch but he has played 1st grade before.
*Mobile & very quick
*Like Mitch, a great PL'er

Jarred con's : -

*Untried at Manly in 1st grade
*Can be inconsistent
*Not as experienced in the top grade as Mitch

IMO I'd go with Creary.


#2 There is a cloud around Hill's fitness after todays game. His thigh was strapped and he came off at half time. Reports from the post-match function say that he should be right for Sunday. Although if he isn't we are in a fair amount of trouble as there is no 1st grade tried (or standard...as far as we know) centres in PL. Ashley Alberts is still injured,Steve Matai is still a rookie and ME favourite Darren Peachey is usually solid but has been playing off the bench (maybe a sign of bad form?) in PL.

If Hill can't play on Sunday, it's either a PL rookie or one of Watmough,Beaver or Williamson to the centres. We'll need every ounce of energy and passion from Tezza if we are going to win.

Side should look something like this

1.Stewart
2.Donald
3.Hill
4.Stephenson
5.Creary/Taylor
6.Witt
7.Monaghan
8.Kite
9.Dunley (Chad was average today)
10.Heckenberg
11.Menzies
12.Watmough
13.Kennedy

14.Leuluai
15.Williamson
16.Harris
17.Randall/Cleal

Injured : Glenn Stewart,Jason King,Chris Hicks


A win is not impossible.....It will be bloody hard though. But then again last year we recorded our second win of the season after seven straight losses against the then hot side of the comp, the Dragons. Precedent has been set..

;-)

 

[Mayor_Quimby]

I think we can win……Manly and Storm are the form teams of the comp and will have a lot of confidence going into the match.

The storm….on paper….have a much stronger halves combo and backline, however, imo Manly have a far superior forward pack and bench.

I said this against the warriors and I’ll say it again now, if we can dominate them in the forwards and have them pinned in their own 40metres on the 4th and 5th tackles then I think we will be in with a big shot.

The key to the match is going to be Orford, if manly can make him rush his decisions and put some serious pressure on him then we MAY see some poor options and mistakes. But, rushing up on the pocket rocket is fraught with danger, he can weave in and out of holes better than 95% of players, the only answer to that is if we make sure that we rush him as a team and not just 1 or 2 players which will leave holes in the defensive line which Orford can exploit.

Another player to watch out for is Cameron Smith, he is an excellent dummy half and can kick a few 40/20’s. I hope our wingers are on their game as they are going to get a barrage of bombs etc.

Speaking of wingers, a replacement for Hitman Hopoate, I agree with CC’s choice of bringing Creary back into 1st grade, he is an EXCELLENT defender and quite quick. Also his positional play is great for kick returns. In saying that, he doesn’t seem to break the line to often, hopefully he has worked on that a bit.

I would love to see Taylor given a go to see what he has got against a 1st grade team, but this is a pretty important game for us and I wouldn’t want to throw him in the deep end before he is ready.

Creary will do a solid job, nothing exceptional, but at least he won’t give away penalties and he can finish a try off.

Hopefully Hill will be fighting fit for Sunday as we REALLY need his intimidation out wide.

 

[chileman]

Give Mitch a go :mrgreen:
Storm are definitely in red hot form and deserve to be favourites.....our forwards led by BK need to dominate and shut down the likes of Orford and Billy the kid...should be a cracker of a game

 

[RainMan]

Realistically, I think Storm by 20+. They are are white hot at the moment and unfortunatley I don't think Manly will be able to stop that. Hoppa gone and Hill injured will not help either but even if they were playing, I don't think it will be close.

 

[mightybears]

GO THE MIGHTY AND UNDEFEATED NORTH SYDNEY BEARS IN PREMIER LEAGUE!

 

[shadow grinder]

i think it will be close..the storm have poor form away from home, even tho we smashed dragons away..im still not convinced of our away form....will be a very good game !

 

[RainMan]

GO THE MIGHTY AND UNDEFEATED NORTH SYDNEY BEARS IN PREMIER LEAGUE!

Can you stop entering other peoples threads and ranting your shit about a PL side. There is a NSWRL Forum for it, I'm sure the 3 other North Sydney supporters would be delighted to discuss your PL teams performances there.

 

[RainMan]

i think it will be close..the storm have poor form away from home, even tho we smashed dragons away..im still not convinced of our away form....will be a very good game !

The forwards should cancel each other out, Manly slightly ahead (I'm biased ) but its the backs where the Storm will win it. Orford is on fire and Slater is also chiming in peferctly.

 

[MONY]

we all know that the storm cant perform at brookvale. i seem to recall a game where ferris popped it to donald i think and won it in the last few minutes. having said that the games have been very close.

2001 - eagles 20 storm 12 north power
2002 - eagles 36 storm 22 north power
2003 - eagles 20 storm 14 brookvale
2004 - eagles 30 storm 28 brookvale

doesnt look to good but we are in white hot form.....

2000 was the last time we beat manly at brooky......

monaghan is the weapon.... shut him down and manly are shut down.

 

[chileman]

monaghan is the weapon.... shut him down and manly are shut down.

That can go both ways though....turn all you attention on Monas and Witt might tear you apart...much the same as if we concentrate soley on Orford, Hill can tear us apart!

 

[shadow grinder]

hey what about Shayne Dunley he was put on report in the last few seconds for a dangerous tackle...you think he will miss this game?

 

[chileman]

hey what about Shayne Dunley he was put on report in the last few seconds for a dangerous tackle...you think he will miss this game?

It was nothing....did you see it amigo, he has no case to answer I don't think!

 

[CC_Eagle]

hey what about Shayne Dunley he was put on report in the last few seconds for a dangerous tackle...you think he will miss this game?

Naw, he should get off. Has a fairly clean record too I think

CREARY FOR NO.5!!

 

[Zaphod]

I think Dunley will get off ok. There wasnt much in it. The fight afterwards was gold. Randall can back up for dunley without problem. We are very strong in the number 9 and both the competiors for the spot are more than capable.

The storm are in good form but against 2 very averag looking teams.

The Eels have proved that they have no co-hesion and all the money in the world can not change the fact that you have brian smith as coach.

The dragons are missing all their stars and are going to underperform until they have them back.

For mine Manly cam up against the warriors who are going to be a force this year and beat them in a hard fouight battle.
The sharks were excellent in round one and Manly took them apart and made them look like a PL team yesterday.

Its going to be close, but honestly I think manlys defense is better than the Storms at the moment based on the opposition each team has faced.

 

[chileman]

Zaphod, that was the Dragons and the Knights that Storm have beaten so far this season....not Parra although your statement about Smith is absolutely correct :lol:

 

[Zaphod]

oopss sorry it was carry over from a conversation i was just having about the eels with a bloke at work.

That shows them up as even less. The knights are woeful this year and will come close to the spoon. Thye have nothing and the storm did what we all expected they would do.
The knights have now been beaten by the Raiders who are looking equally as shakey.

The storm have played well but Manly have played better and against bette competition

 

[Fluffy]

Both teams are in a purple patch and it should be a good contest.

It will certainly tell us more about the year ahead.

 

[eagleangel]

yay for mitch!!

if manly are any hope we need to improve our defence around the rucks x100. Both games melbourne played, they made so many breaks by quick dummy half runs, billy slater coming out of nowhere onto a little hill pass or things like that.

Our forwards will dominate.. no question about that, and we shouldnt have too many probs scoring points, but if players are tired and get lazy in marking players and slack off in defense we are screwed

 

[CC_Eagle]

I think Dunley will get off ok. There wasnt much in it. The fight afterwards was gold.

Agreed!

Thats one of the things I can't wait to see again, Peachey is about ten feet taller than Dunley, yet Dunley managed to land one right on the guys cheek.

My admiration and love for Dunners grows each week He is like what Tooves would have been like if he was a bit bigger and constantly had ants in his pants. Dunners doesn't take shit from anyone, last week he tried to go Awen Guttenbeil