agree smokey

i would like to see gibson get a game on sunday. a specialist centre he is steady and good defensively.
ablett gets caught in the centres against speed and better footwork, as most 2nd rowers would. he would benefit from a move into the pack permenantly.
we do lack size, i worry a lot of the team have slimmed down too much. donald, for me, is far,far better on the left and i think he is wasted on the right.
manly were supurb, a joy to watch.big and aggresive yet most of them had great footwork and boy did they have some pace. we did supurbly to stay so close and in have nothing but praise for all 17 players in white

What were my thoughts? I thought Manly were very good. They defended with real strength and attacked with great speed and accuracy. We looked slow and ponderous by comparison but in reality our performance would still have won most SL games this year, and therein lies a problem.

There are some fundamentals which need to be addressed within our game to enable us to compete at the same level as the likes of Manly, who for me were the first Aussie team to take this match seriously for years.

We need to allow a longer wrestle at the ptb to stop dummy half running. This would mean that halfbacks would have to learn how to unlock defences once they were set, rather than just use individual pace to turn a defence around. We also need to find a way to curb the amount of average overseas players in our league and have the balls to promote youth, which was a major part of the franchise idea.

We should force each club to employ two specialist coaches, who are solely employed to teach the local amateur coaches how to teach the kids properly. This could be a pre-requisite for a franchise, and would mean that when a player comes into a professional environment he doesn't need to be taught the basics. We should also find a way to get the amateur game played in summer when the weather is better not only for matches but also for training.

We should stop flogging our players by playing so many games each season and give them more time to recover (mentally and physically) between seasons. If the season lasted from the first weekend in March to the first weekend in September, this would be more than enough and would allow the "lesser" clubs to spend more time preparing their players for a more intense season.

There are so many things that we need to consider changing to be able to reach the consistent level of performance that Manly produced yesterday, I just hope that we have the courage to recognise it rather than bury our heads in "the best season of Super League ever"....

id dispute that,

i think the points you have made should be addressed individually rather than together

i think the 'wrestle' and slowing down the ptb are spoiling tactics, it isnt good defence to spoil the ptb area and allowing more spoiling in that area will leave the ruck a mess, and stop start games like last night (where incidentally, as i have said elsewhere, i dont think the ptb was well policed, it seemed random)

i think a better way would be to change the 10m to 5 at all levels below first team and maybe reserve grade football,

i think this would organically draw out some of the dummy half running (good dummy half runners have less space to work with, so shine a bit less so pure dummy half runners arent picked up, the game at youth and academy level doesnt need/want masses of dummy half running so it is practised less at that level, good quality half play unlocking tight defences becomes what is needed to players good at that are pushed more and practise those skills more, i also think it will improve the forward play at youth level, as big lads dominating because of their size will always have to work a bit harder and add a bit more to their game) whilst also not leaving us with a mess at the ptb

As trolls go you, my deluded little friend, are poor.

In fact you’re not really trying are you?

No though, no considered response, just knee-jerk contradiction.

Please put some effort in.

Spot on. We couldnt live with the constant amount of pressure on our line from Manly refusing to take 2 points. Their power in the tackle and footwork made us look pedestrian. After watching it again on the old sky+ Clarkey highlighted the amount of points they score in the first 20 of a second half. Manly proved his point in style.

No consolation to you guys I suppose but as a neutral I thought it was a brilliant match.

Manly seemed to cut through Leeds with real precision, but the Rhinos just wouldn't give up and got close at the end.

Hell, even the fisticuffs added to the occasion.

As someone moving over from the round ball game bit by bit, it was another positive for RL.

Has anyone found Ryan Baileys arsehole yet? I believe he dropped it somewhere last night, and hasn't seen it since...

Morley might want it on his mantlepiece

Pity he's just playing in a team of has beens and never will be's.
If he does go looking for it this sunday it may liven the game up i can't wait to see if bailey puts him on his throne again!

now you have jinxed Sunday