Season 2019 was one of surprise and satisfaction for Sea Eagles fans. Ripped up and written off, few gave the team a chance of making a dent in September.
Undoubtedly, Manly’s remarkable resurgence from the doldrums of seasons past was primarily down to the mercurial Des Hasler – a man so deeply engrained in the club’s history, there should be a statue of him erected outside Brookvale Oval when he steps away from the game.
As part of the Hasler effect, players that were barely known in 2018 become household – think Reuben Garrick, Moses Suli and Manase Fainu.
Fainu, in particular, announced himself as one of the game’s premier up-and-coming dummy halves, alongside Parramatta’s Reed Mahoney and the Roosters’ Sam Verrills (who so happens to be a Sea Eagles junior from the Avalon Bulldogs).
The rise of the Tongan rake was so impressive, Hasler saw it fit to move on Apisai Koroisau to clear up salary cap space. Said space was rightly allocated to the brilliant Trbojevic brothers – two players at the top echelon of NRL superstars.
By moving Korisau on however, Hasler unknowingly led the Sea Eagles into the great unknown.
Indeed, as we near toward the doorstep of season 2020, Manly are without a recognised number 9 – at least for the short term.
So should they go to market and pick up Jake Granville or Danny Levi? Should they look to their NSW cup rake, Zach Dockar-Clay? Or is the answer to craft and mould another member of the existing top 30 into a dummy half?
Danny Levi of the Newcastle Knights (Ashley Feder/Getty Images)
Option one is probably the safest, but it is also limited. Granville and Levi are fantastic dummy halves – one has a premiership ring (and was integral to that side) and the other has several caps for both New Zealand and Samoa.
They’d be serviceable options but both players have probably shown us their best football however (Levi, at 24, may defy this assumption). Another sticking point is that they’d represent a further cost to a salary cap that is apparently full to the brim.
Option two, promoting Dockar-Clay, is being championed by and former Blues five-eighth Jamie Soward, who believes the youngster has the necessary attributes to thrive in the NRL.
Option three however – specifically the re-crafting of another Avalon Bulldogs junior in Cade Cust – is the option Hasler should and most likely will take.
Cust is a tough, crafty and diminutive half who won the last ever Under 20s competition with Sea Eagles in 2017.
After making his NRL debut last season, many fans and commentators were taken aback by his willingness to throw himself into battle. He announced himself as the sort of player who isn’t afraid to roll his sleeves up and do the tough stuff – an attribute not normally associated with halves.
It is certainly an attribute fundamental to surviving and thriving as an NRL dummy half however, and this is why Hasler should turn to the kid from Scone-via-Avalon when deciding who starts at hooker against Melbourne come Round 1.
Along with the aforementioned toughness, Cust has a neat kicking and passing game that would not only ensure adequate service but also give the side another playmaking option alongside Jake Trbojevic (arguably the game’s first halfback-lock) and the halves.
There is no doubt Cust is an NRL player and had this vacancy not arisen, Hasler would have done his best to squeeze Cust into the top 17 every week – likely as an auxiliary 9 off the interchange bench, or a classic No.14 if you will.
But a greater opportunity has now presented itself.
A hallmark of great leaders is the ability to find opportunity within disorder. This is certainly the situation facing Des Hasler – so in Cust he should trust.
Dave
Roar Rookie
I don’t believe you can go into a season without a tried and tested recognised hooker. With that in mind, I’d go for Danny Levi.
Dave
Roar Rookie
Shuster reminds me a bit of Nik Kosef. Hopefully he has better knees than poor Nik.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
I can recall some one pointing out that AJ scores heaps of tries but they're all against teams at the wrong end of the table. He's a good player but if he was great he would have played SOO by now.
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
Completely correct mate. Disco will be all over it. I must say that the young lad impressed me every time I saw him play. Happy New Year To you 40/20 and Go Manly !
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
As Forty Twenty says, some players are ready. Paul Mellor and Adam Riston were only 16 and 300 plus days old. Greg Inglis, Andrew Ettingshausen, Brad Fittler, Israel Folau and Kayln Ponga were all only 17 years old on debut. Fittler played for NSW when he was just 18. Bob Fulton, Benji Marshall, Tom Trbojevic and more recently David Fafita and Payne Haas all debuted at 18 yrs. So give the kid a crack but have your backrower and centre protect him as best they can until he finds his confidence. :thumbup:
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
You’re a good judge of players Papi. I’m with you on the “too soon” problem. There are still a lot of players running around who see injuring other players as part of the job. First grade is a huge step up. I’d be surprised if we saw him in the first half of the season. I go to games at Brookie fairly religiously- he is a bag of talent, but I think he still has some hard yards to put in before the big boys play.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Not my call on Schuster HY, but in fact Hasler's "reportedly". The Mole: Manly considers rookie gamble Manly coach Des Hasler is considering taking a daring gamble on boom teenager Josh Schuster in the opening round of the 2020 season. https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.nine.com.au/article/9a6b55a1-2a53-4a4f-8398-6f216b18ac57 I took the liberty of checking the kids highlights and he is a gun! He stands out just like early footage of Kalyn Ponga, Latrell Mitchell and Turbo made them look several classes above their opposition when they were coming through the lower grades. The problem is knowing when to bring them in. Too soon and you could cause more harm than good. If he gets a crack and is up to it he looks an exciting prospect. Turbo, like Sam Burgess, is great for the game. It would be a shame if injury impacted on his career like Big Sam and GI.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
How dare Manly destroy the career of a South Sydney junior and Australian rep incumbent Dylan Walker! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Agreed. :thumbup:
Joseph Minji
Guest
How about a virtually unknown Edwin Ipape into the mix ... .
mickey of mo$man
Guest
lol alex johnston is a nobody. how dare you compare him to turbo!
eels47
Roar Rookie
That's my point though. Johnston is a great finisher when playing on the end of a good backline. Turbo is becoming a complete footballer, as you say, near the top of the pile of fullbacks when fully fit. So different leagues my friend :silly:
Insider
Roar Rookie
Croaker ?
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Some players are ready at 18 Yardsy and he could be one of them. Disco Des will know the answer.
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
I agree that Custie should be playing in the halves with DCE. He has gone exceptionally well there last season - probably to everyone’s surprise. He’s really good. Geez I worry about Turbo. I have the horrible feeling welling up that he is “ injury prone”. Manly aside, I hope for the sake of all fans of the game that it isn’t the case. Full marks to you for raising Schuster. Now he is , is he 18 ?, a young gun. He won the young bloke of the year award at the club at the end of the season. Playing at 5/8. But he has played second row at Rep level and can tackle, and direct play. You never know. He has the build of a hooker. We’d probably see some big yards from dummy half. But he’s still a young lad, might need some blooding against some of the non top 8 sides first, very big call to put him in the starting squad at the moment.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
eels47, AJ has suffered from significantly shortened seasons due to recurring injuries. When fully fit and playing in his best position on the left wing he is another player altogether. Put him outside Latrell Mitchell next season and if he gets through the whole season without doing his hamstring, let's talk again at the end of the season. All that said Turbo is a special talent and way above most other FBs but some way behind James Tedesco.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
AJ has either been the leading try scorer or in the top 3 leading try scorers in the NRL in the last 5 years WHEN he has BOTH been fully fit for the season AND has played on the left wing for most of the season.
Adam Bagnall
Roar Guru
Alex Johnson isn't in the same class as Turbo. Not even close. His absence probably helped Souths
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Elliot surprised me at times during the season and I'd started warming to him but he played like the player I thought he was in the finals game and I'm hoping we don't see too much of him. I thought this Manly team looked a bit like the 2011 outfit before the season which was pretty optimistic but if we had the same luck with injuries we had in 2011 we were a great chance of winning the comp last year. In 11 Hopoate starred and we had another Hopoate ready to star who didn't play a single game.
eels47
Roar Rookie
Come on, Alex Johnston isn't close to being in the same league as Turbo.