Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans has revealed how Sea Eagles players wiped their horror opening before gaining a chance to enter the top eight at Magic Round.
Cherry-Evans admits his team had to laugh off their horror opening month before turning into legitimate finals contenders.
And not at all because the Sea Eagles didn’t care, but realistically because if they didn’t laugh, they’d cry.
The Sea Eagles sat last on the table after four rounds, conceding the most points in the club’s history and scoring a record-low amount.
A win against Brisbane on Friday night will now see them climb into the top eight, something that would have seemed inconceivable a month ago.
“All you can do is look back and learn from it and laugh at it,” Cherry-Evans admitted.
“You can’t laugh too loudly in the public eye because everyone will tell you you don’t care and it doesn’t mean enough to you.
“But behind closed doors when you’re losing footy games you’re working so hard to get out of it.
“But you do have to take a step back sometimes and go ‘what the hell were we thinking or doing here? It’s a game of footy’.
“We’ve just got to get back to what works for you and play to your strengths in your team.
“And off the back of that we’ve been able to salvage our season.”
Cherry-Evans admitted Manly had also taken the approach they were entirely different side over the first four weeks.
And it shows.
Manly scored just 34 points in the first four rounds, but have toppled that amount in three separate games since.
Likewise, they averaged 39 points against them in defence, another mark not reached in any of the five games since.
It’s no secret the return of Tom Trbojevic has aided that form, with almost every player better off with the fullback on the park.
“We sort of classify it as a different team to be honest,” Cherry-Evans said.
“We were a different side back then, we’ve worked really hard to change things.”
The Sea Eagles insist they are wary of Brisbane on Friday night.
While the Broncos sit 14th on the ladder, they believe the fact they beat Gold Coast and pushed Penrith and Parramatta at Suncorp shows they are a different team at home.
“We spoke about it, we know they are going to come hard,” Cherry-Evans said.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Manly have narrowly beaten the Warriors twice this season and Turbo played in only one of those games. Turbo has been dynamite but he hasn't been responsible entirely for the turnaround , it had already begun . He is responsible for the extent of some of the wins however. The big thing now is to greatly reduce the silly errors. ABC radio grandstand were talking just before we beat the Warriors last week and said The Warriors would compete their sets and Manly would make plenty of mistakes. Manly was behind at half time and it was due to silly errors. Luckily the Warriors stuffed up a few times in the second half because they would have won without a couple of those errors. Manly have had a roller coaster 4 years or so with Turbo and even when he played , we have had some very poor losses. Maybe the turnover of players we have had recently has changed the attitude. Some players have been spectators at time in defence for several seasons when it suits them and it throws the whole team out of whack.
Joey
Guest
Amazing that no teams are interested that Penrith did a great job nullifying Turbo’s influence for much of the game.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
Unfortunately, no jimmmy. I’m not in Brisbane this w/end. You getting out there?
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
Sure looks like it.
up in the north
Roar Rookie
Not since the days of Joey's Newcastle, have I seen one player make such an impact in a team. Amazing.
Paul
Roar Guru
agreed that Stevie can but it sounds like DCE can't. Maybe he's borrowed a pair of the great man's glasses
Bearfax
Roar Guru
The most important factor I feel in Manly's recovering is their self belief. Having Turbo back was a major factor in this. Secondly, regrettably as it had to happen through injuries, Des had to bring in several players to add flair to the teams attack, those being Schuster, Harper and Saab. Schuster brings a different dimension to the attack and the Harper-Saab combination has been lethal. Its also obvious that Jake T. is a far better player when his brother is on the field. They needed the addition of Turbo, Schuster, Harper and Saab to make half chances, tries. Up until then though DCE was trying his heart out, they were going no where. Finally the DCE-Foran combination has clicked. Des is a top coach, but he does have a blind spot in his selection strategies. Lets just hope he learns that bringing fresh blood through must not be stifled when its obvious what you've got isnt working
Rob
Guest
Even Stevie Wonder could see that Turbo is clearly the key to that Manly side.
kk
Roar Pro
Emil Zatopek. 1952 Olympic 5,000/ 10,000 a marathon gold medalist. Apologies for using 'c' and not 'k'. Young athletes all over the world started to train in army boots.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Perhaps try Emile Zatopek ?
Paul
Roar Guru
can an old fella ask what Zatopecian means? Everything else made sense but this word stopped me. Couldn't even find it on Google.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Yep ! Coin toss for mine ! Turbo still the key for Manly. The Pack the key for the Broncos.
kk
Roar Pro
Manly v Broncos will be the game of the tournament. The way I see it. Forwards: Broncos. Backline: Manly. Bench: Even. Control: Gerard and Henry. Decider: TT + DCE. Manly by <8. The Metres Run will be Zatopecian.
Paul
Roar Guru
"It’s no secret the return of Tom Trbojevic has aided that form,". That has to be the understatement of the year. If Tommy's not there, Manly's still last.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Should be a cracker of a game EJ. You going.?
eagleJack
Roar Guru
The most frustrating part for fans was that we’ve known for years how influential Turbo is, and how his involvement is second to none. But it looked like the rest of the squad had bought into that too, and his injury on the eve of the comp had knocked them for six. And it simply wasn’t good enough. Anyway fingers crossed he stays on the field for the rest of the year. A real danger game tonight. The Broncos will be pumped.