Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 3690494, member: 1899"] Let's look at their Round 1 opponents, the Manly Sea Eagles. Manly Sea Eagles 2025 1. Tom Trbojevic 2. Jason Saab 3. Tolutau Koula 4. Reuben Garrick 5. Tommy Talau 6. Luke Brooks 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Taniela Paseka 9. Lachlan Croker 10. Josh Aloiai 11. Haumole Olakau'atu 12. Ben Trbojevic 13. Jake Trbojevic 14. Jazz Tevaga/Jake Simpkin 15. Corey Waddell 16. Ethan Bullemor 17. Nathan Brown It's shaping up to be a very settled line-up on the northern beaches of course led out by their captain, the mercurial, Daly Cherry-Evans. DCE just seems to be getting better with age. He's one of the best at getting his team around the park and he still has the ability to manipulate the defence with his running game. DCE has plenty of support as well in the form of Tommy Turbo and Haumole Olakau'atu. Even when he's not at his best, Tommy is a real handful for the opposition and no matter where Manly are on the field he always looms as a threat. Meanwhile Olakau'atu is one of the most destructive runners in the game and always has the defence at high alert. When those three are on-song they can match it with the best teams in the competition and they have some really solid contributors in Jake Trbojevic and Reuben Garrick. It's just a matter of whether they can find another gear. You'd have to say Luke Brooks earned a pass mark last year as DCE's under-study without really blowing the competition away. When Brooks keeps it simple and plays direct he's an effective offsider. However when the team is chasing points he tends to rush, plays early and becomes ineffective. It's his second year at Manly, so maybe he'll be more comfortable with his combinations and take more confidence heading into the new year. Consistensy is going to be their biggest issue and even consistensy in games. There were two key examples this year where they had all but won the game in the first 25 minutes only to let the game slip away. Factor in a couple of other close losses and they would have felt like they let a Top 4 spot slip. We've definitely seen flashes of their class and this was a team that held victories against Penrith and Melbourne respectively. Factor in DCE coming off contract, a largely unchanged line-up and if this was ever the season to get the whips cracking it would be this year. Unfortunately I couldn't back them with Wolfie's money. I just think they'll lack the discipline to beat the top teams on their day. On top of that, you have to question whether Turbo will be able to stay at 100% through out and it just seems like they'll be a 5th-8th type of team. A top four finish would require a few of their supporting cast playing as well if not better than the usual suspects. Players like Luke Brooks, Taniela Paseka, Tolutau Koula would have to be playing career best footy (among others) with Ben Trbojevic really finding his feet in first grade. I thought we saw some positive signs from Ben last year but he hasn't quite established himself yet. If he can build on the form he showed, that will have a bearing on the Sea Eagles. [/QUOTE]

Verification

Active Now

No members online now.

Total: 71 (members: 0, guests: 71)

Reply to thread

Log in

Active Now