The Eagles are shot ducks
Roar Pro
By Gruffalo, 20 Aug 2008 The Crowd is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Brookvale Oval, Manly, Matt Orford, Melbourne Storm, NRL, Rugby League, Storm
It’s all about momentum. To win the rugby league premiership, you want to go into the finals full of running. Not stuttering, limping and praying for a turnaround.
The Melbourne Storm seem to be building to another premiership. They took everything Manly threw at them at Brookvale, and prevailed.
Manly have been living in a fool’s paradise: witness the towelling Souths handed out on the weekend.
Melbourne have shown them how far behind they really are.
Matt Orford’s ordinary kicking game and suspect decision-making under pressure are huge deficiencies. You just cannot succeed with strategic incompetence.
In the wide open spaces of the finals – away from the confines (and generous refereeing) of Brookvale Oval – I can see Manly making the Grand Final, perhaps, but being utterly and comprehensively wiped off the park.
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- Explore:
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The Link said | August 20th 2008 @ 9:11am | Report comment
Can be hard to see it any other way Gruff I agree, but Manly were only a lucky bounce away from the Storm the other week. They will be in the preliminary final, I suspect it will depend on who they face whether the big one awaits for a 2nd year in a row. This has a bit of an 82/83 feel for me unfortunatley
Skull said | August 20th 2008 @ 9:17am | Report comment
As I was settling in to watch Melb v Manly the other week a mate sent me a text asking if Manly had any chance. My reply was not until the refs start referring Melb square. As far as I’m concerned Melb get away with murder around the rucks lying on the tackled player, flops etc and dont get penalised. Their markesrs are never square and they dont get penalised.
Having said that even if refs saw what every other league fan who is not a Melb supporter sees they still have Slater, Inglis Folau, and the very much underrated Cronk (can NSW borrow him for SOO). so stopping them from winning the comp again by a large margin seems a pretty forlorn hope. The only chance would be a season ending injury to Cronk who I believe is crucial to the Melb successes, ever since he took over from Orford who continues to dissapoint from a Manly point of view. They should be desparately trying to figure out a way to get Tood Carney to Brookie for next year.
Skull said | August 20th 2008 @ 9:26am | Report comment
Oh and by the way my mate who is a reasonable judge who in earlier times coached the likes of Goldthorpe in juniors agred with me. Further more he agreed that the first Melb they scored at Brookie came from not one but 2 forward passes in the lead up and also the bad video ref decision to disallow the Stewart “try” contributed somewhat to Manly’s loss that night, so I guess they are not too far away, but far enough away to be considered a good bet to run 2nd again.
The Link said | August 20th 2008 @ 10:12am | Report comment
Dunno bout Carney as the saviour, he would be the worst buy for Manly at halfback since Craig Field…
Skull said | August 20th 2008 @ 10:37am | Report comment
As Arko once said, it was Field who actually got Manly into a Grand Final (not disagreeing with you by the way about Field), but Manly seem to have a squad of mature people who don’t get into off field strife. May be what Carney needs is a place where he would have been pulled into line by someone like say Kite so as he can realise his undoubted potential
The Link said | August 20th 2008 @ 10:56am | Report comment
Bozo’s don’t cross the bridge after midnight theory always suprised me with its success. Anyone’s been to the Steyne on a Sat night could hardly praise the standard of patronage
If Field had got Manly over the line in the big one in 97, history may have been kinder…
Justin said | August 20th 2008 @ 11:12am | Report comment
So skull are you saying that refs are biased towards Melbourne? I am not a storm supporter by the way but I do think that if you look for something hard enough you will find it. Those in Union say that Ritchie McCaw cheats all day. I say good luck to him, if you dont get pinged its legal. Part of a players makeup is to push the boundaries, physically and mentally, not mention ethically! Manly lost to the storm due to poor execution in the final 20m and some great defence from the Storm.
Skull said | August 20th 2008 @ 11:44am | Report comment
In a way yes the refs are biased but more in the way they are instructed to control games by the NRL. Remember in 2005 the way the tigers and cowboys were able to play. It had a lot to do with the way games were controlled, none of this dominant tackle rubbish that goes on now, where a guy coming in 3rd or 4th man turns a tackle into a dominant then the tacklers can take all day to get off. Now I’m not saying that Melb ar the only ones guilty, just that they are the best at it. Witness the effect of changing the way games are refd in State of Origin this year. Apart from QLD picking their playes a little better in games 2 & 3 the games were refd differently with quicker play the balls nullifying the NSW defence. If this was carried on it still probably wouldnt change the end result, ie Melb winning the comp again, but it may give the other teams a better shot.
Gruffalo said | August 20th 2008 @ 11:51am | Report comment
Skull
You’ve got to be kidding. Referees, especially at Brookvale, have always helped Manly out. No club spends more time lying on tackled players and slowing the play-the-ball than Manly – yet they are rarely penalised.
Melbourne are tougher, faster and more efficient in all aspects than any other team. Manly realised this 2 weeks ago when beaten at home. I think they’re shot because, on a neutral venue with wider spaces, the likes of Inglis, Slater etc will absolutely run riot.
Justin said | August 20th 2008 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
Guys whats the score with references to “wider spaces”. I presume that Brookie is a thinner ground than others, particularly where they will be playing the finals? Is this correct?