Warriors - most frustrating team of all time?

[winnyason]

The beast is going to cost them big time this year why is it OK to make 4 to 5 errors a game put him in the pack and move fishahi to the wing.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I'm torn on Manu. I think there is too much focus on his "inconsistency". It's not inconsistency- he just has really bad hands. He struggles to hold the ball. He isn't first grade standard in that respect. Otherwise he is the best winger in the comp. It's that simple. Personally I'd ride the rollercoaster and hope he catches enough balls to do the job. Overall in his career he has, but with our current squad I could fully understand if we invested in Inu or Fisiiahi.

The REAL liability is the hopelessly overrated Maloney who is f**king useless.

 

[Chook Norris]

can't believe i tipped them for round 1. They are notoriously slow starters to the season and i've remembered them losing at home to start the season so many times

 

[winnyason]

Who is the 6 come 2013

 

[Big Pete]

They all were.

Not in my books.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Who is the 6 come 2013

Thomas Leuluai has been signed from the ESL so will likely get first crack.

Also based on today's effort, Carlos Tuimavavae looks a step above NYC level and combined with Johnson a couple of seasons ago in the NYC.

Then if that fails, Pita Godinet has been playing a consistently high standard in the NSW Cup for the Vulcans and has made his first grade debut off the bench last season so has had a taste.

 

[mene]

I'm torn on Manu. I think there is too much focus on his "inconsistency". It's not inconsistency- he just has really bad hands. He struggles to hold the ball. He isn't first grade standard in that respect.

He has bad hands and often gets caught giving his opposite number a bit more space than he should. Apart from that he is a decent winger.

 

[Perth Red]

I'm torn on Manu. I think there is too much focus on his "inconsistency". It's not inconsistency- he just has really bad hands. He struggles to hold the ball. He isn't first grade standard in that respect. Otherwise he is the best winger in the comp. It's that simple. Personally I'd ride the rollercoaster and hope he catches enough balls to do the job. Overall in his career he has, but with our current squad I could fully understand if we invested in Inu or Fisiiahi.

The REAL liability is the hopelessly overrated Maloney who is f**king useless.

Catching the ball is a useful skill to have in RL! How do you get that he is the best winger in the comp or are you being sarcastic? His defense is very avg, he is slow to turn and chase, he rarely times his inside run well to help his players get out of trouble and his dropped balls are a joke. What he is is big and can barge people out the way. Playing a 2nd rower with poor hands on the wing is hardly a great strategy imo!

 

[Doug the Morpork]

Catching the ball is a useful skill to have in RL! How do you get that he is the best winger in the comp or are you being sarcastic? His defense is very avg, he is slow to turn and chase, he rarely times his inside run well to help his players get out of trouble and his dropped balls are a joke. What he is is big and can barge people out the way. Playing a 2nd rower with poor hands on the wing is hardly a great strategy imo!

You honestly have no idea, got back to supporting a team that isn't even in the NRL. Manu is a great player 90% of the time, yes he has his terrible games, but generally he makes 130+ meters a game and scores a few tries. When he is on there is no better winger in the NRL and I wouldn't swap him for anyone bar maybe Nightingale. He has scored 92 tries in in 133 games which is a strike rate anyone would be proud of and his runs to help out the fowards are invaluable. I admit I do get very frustrated as a Warriors fan when he has off days, but the games he is on far out weigh the games he has shockers. If he could get his hands sorted and improve his consistency he would defiantly be the best winger in the NRL.

 

[firechild]

Perhaps like T-Rex, Manu needs to be trialed in the 2nd row? T-Rex was a similar style of winger, slow to turn and chase, often caught in the wrong position and made very damaging runs. The difference was that T-Rex never had bad hands, though Manu is/was overall a better winger.

 

[hitman82]

7 errors from a veteran winger who also happens to be our highest paid player, in dry conditions, is pretty ridiculous.

The thing I don't get is sometimes Manu shows great skill with the ball, which makes me think it's more mental than anything. Maybe he is too busy thinking of the tackle impact, scoring the try or trying to get the quick play, and gets ahead of himself losing concentration on the task at hand... ie holding the ball.

It really pisses me off, because when he holds the ball, Manu is invaluable. But 50% of the time he seems to cost us as many points as he scores.

When we have truckloads of talented juniors, not to mention guys like Fish in the Vulcans, I don't know how much longer it can go on.

And I am not sure that Manu's hands would be any better in the forwards.

EDIT: Manu also missed 7 tackles.

 

[firechild]

And I am not sure that Manu's hands would be any better in the forwards.

He'd be looking at simple catch and pass rather than being peppered with bombs or having to pick up low, fast grubbers. There are plenty of forwards around that have bad hands (Watmough is one that comes to mind) but it can't really be exploited by aiming kicks at them. So, while you're right, his hands would be no better, he wouldn't have the pressure on him to cause mistakes that are often in terrible field position for his team. Watmough drops more ball when he's trying to rush an attacking play deep in opposition territory, Manu drops ball 0-20m from his own line. I'm sure we can all agree that errors at the opposition's end are more preferable.

 

[attila_the_gorilla]

I think he also has a bit of a loose carry and the ball is dislodged from his hands too easily. A couple of times vs Manly when he lost the ball in the tackle it looked like there were hands on the ball and should have been a penalty for a strip, but he should have a tighter grip on the ball.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

He's lost a step of pace and some acceleration. That's the killer. The majority of his mistakes seem to happen.

A) From kicks, but that's the same for all wingers.
B) After the collision when he's fighting hard which creates a loose carry
C) Long balls where he has to stretch for the ball. Unless he's already going at pace he's not catching those ones as he doesn't have the initial acceleration anmore.

I don't think a move to the forwards would be a bad thing as he doesn't seem to lose the ball that often when he's doing a one out hit up or taking a short ball. It seems to be the long balls that catch him out.

Problem is we've got a ton of forwards so I wouldn't mind seeing Inu and Manu on the same side. Inu could take the kicks, Manu could move infield on attack to play a similar Tony Williams role (ie kill the halfback).

The other thing with Manu is that we still have that "nothing's on, lets give it to Manu" mentality at times. Some of the mistakes he's made have come off some pretty shit service.

 

[betcats]

Manus hands are consistently shithouse. For every try he scores that "no other winger could score" he drops the ball 3 times, he has gotten to be such a sideshow because of his shit hands.

 

[CliffyIsGod]

He has hands like Goliath, how do you drop balls with hands so big?

 

[God-King Dean]

:lol: I think you are basing a little bit too much on a first game against a pretty good side. Sure wasn't a great performance but the fact that as a Warriors fan I'm not concerned about that loss at all says something. W should steamroll a lot of sides this season and make the top 4(barring more injuries)

It's been happening for years.

 

[AuckMel]

Very frustrating, but exciting too.

 

[gUt]

Just a frustrating game all in all.

New Zealand were really reffed out of it. Seemed that Manly were allowed to stay in a tackle twice as long and got most of the 50/50 calls

Just another NRL season then.

 

[firechild]

Just another NRL season then.

Wouldn't be LU if there wasn't someone sooking about Manly.

NZ's discipline was attrocious and it was getting to the point where someone should probably have been binned due to repeat infringements. The commentators kept expecting it but the pissweak refs wouldn't do it.