How did nu brown? It's just a trial and about giving the boys game time and combinations can't read too much into it I guess
That is one way to look at a trial. The other is that they have had all off season to train, form the basis of combinations and implement plans. Some of the players looked like they didn't know each other out there.
That reserve grade Manly side would have taken alot more confidence out of that hit out than our Sharks team would have, although a draw does sound like the kind of result Flanno creams over in his dreams
I think if we had Ennis Gal Barba Graham and the fajita brothers we would have smoked them.
Those are some big shoes to fill when you think about it.
While all of that is true Willy, I feel we would have seen the same structures and style of play out there regardless of our big name first graders. Graham, Gal, Fifita, Ennis and the rest add immensely to our squad and increase our changes of winning from their individual strengths accordingly but I still take issue with the way we play which is flat with an emphasis on playing around the ruck and going one wide to a second rower. On those occasions we do cut it out wide to a centre, the execution, timing and/or decision making can be quite messy. Along with the out the back play to the FB we only seem to have 2 attacking plays, other than the ol outside in which rarely nets a result anymore.
It's an archaic style of play which struggles to put teams away even when you are well on top with momentum, it just cuts things too fine and puts too much pressure on our shakey defense which seems destined to always leak a try when we are around 4 points ahead
We also need to accept that at various points throughout the season we are going to need to rely on our depth (some of who were on display today). Because our attacking form relies more on individual power plays than team cohesion I feel it is harder for a depth player to slot in and do his job and that could hurt us. Good news is that their are promising signs from some of our new depth signings and younger players
Manly are a contrast of a team (First grade). They work slick, smooth plays together as a team consistently where everyone knows their role and executes well more often than not
We really need Chad & Maloney to be using their vision and playing what's in front of them to decrease our predictability but the team mates around them need to be equally as aware
We could change nothing and remain a highly competitive first grade team for the majority of the season and make the finals. But to go to that next level required to win against the best oppositions in the big Sep games we need a change up. We need to mature into a professional side
