Not sure this team has the discipline or patience to win a premiership

[BondiBob]

What the hell was Keary thinking out there tonight?

I still think Keary is a shot duck and trying to avoid another head knock

[SupermanSupportsEasts4Eva]

Agreed, but I do like a dummy half-kicking and think it is especially useful in this team. Cheese generally does a pretty competent job in this area but the timing and execution were off last night.

Agreed, after defending for so long, ball in hand for a few more tackles was the way to go. He didn't strike them sweet either, which was undoubtedly due to his own fatigue.

Anyway, I would like to see him continue with it. It adds a bit of unpredictability, takes pressure off Sammy and Keary and when he hits them right, he tends to deliver a lower boring flight gaining some extra yards, and a chance at a 40/20. He just has to think a little more about when to use it and execute better.

I'm with you. The Cheese is generally pretty good with his kicks out of dummy half. Last night was just an off night for him.

[Ron Burgundy]

The two that really killed us and our forwards were after long chunks of defending.

58th minute - kick on 2nd tackle in a 7 tackle set after defending for over 3 minutes straight. Kicks from 40m line, goes 45 metres. Manly side all back on side by 2nd tackle play the ball around 25metres out.

65th minute - kick before last after defenidng for 4 minutes, from 35m goes 35metres in distance. Manly side all back on side by 2nd tackle play the ball just before the 40m line.

In both cases playing out the sets would've been more advantageous and put Manly under more pressure.

58th minute- 2nd tackle on your own 40m line means you're getting your last tackle kick from the oppostion 30m line which is an attacking kick. A catch on the full 15m out is not an advantageous play.

65th minute - play the extra carry, kick from the 45m, you should be landing that on the opposition 10m line and boxing them in. 2nd carry 15m out as they try to centralise play... not 40m out on 2nd tackle centre of field.

The kick in the 65th minute didn’t kill us at all. It led to the winning try. Watch again and you will see the Manly forwards struggling to get back onside following the kick, a great kick chase, a great defensive set where they get smashed on every tackle, then they kick to Tedesco who gives it to Dom Young who makes the break down the sideline which ends in the Jennings try. All of that happened because Manly were buggered because the cheese kick turned them around. He backed his teams’ superior fitness by kicking early and it worked.

[GrubBER]

3rd on the ladder
best attack
3rd best defense

Everyone relax we’ll be ok when it matters especially the way Robbo likes to prime us just before the semis.

[A Country Member]

I like Brandon kicking from dummy half, he just needs to pick his times right. Cam Smith was the best at it and he would’ve taught Brandon the intricacies of executing it.

By kicking from the ruck, he instantly gains roughly 10m and puts everyone onside allowing for a trapping kick chase. It solves the problem of our halves weak long kicking game and is likely an acknowledgment of said deficiency.

Like Keary, he probably won’t make the same mistakes again.

As for OP queries, I think they’ve seen enough Roosters games to know that it isn’t true. Get on!

[bondi.boy]

Tonight didn't give me any boost in confidence that this team can play the patient and disciplined football it will take to get past the Panthers and Storm in the finals.

Agree.
But, it's not finals time yet.
There's time, coaches need to work on this.

[BondiBob]

This game looked like the Roosters of the last few years to me. I think this year, we've mostly been a lot better in this regard and have been relatively ruthless.

The, almost, lack of respect for Manly was borderline nauseating. We earn the right to play well, pile on the points, and then instead of earning it again we just try to score off every play. Astrociously poor game management on multiple occassions, and good lord Young gives me heart palpitations. Jennings was giving him an absolute serve after the game.

Watching Young reminds me of SKD when crowd would yell Just hold the bloody ball

[BondiBob]

Agree.
But, it's not finals time yet.
There's time, coaches need to work on this.

The lack of discipline etc in clearly on the coaches if another intercept is thrown this year they should cut their arms off . Unless I am mistaken Walker seems to have cut out those telegraphed long loopy passes

[BondiBob]

There's a lack of leadership from players like Keary and Teddy.

Cronk had half the talent but twice as many brains.

Is a football brain part of talent

[Tennessee Tornado]

What happened last sat will be a massive reality check for the team (probably a good thing leading into the finals)

The focus will be on icing a game once you have a good lead rather than chasing more points with risky plays

Despite what robbo said publicly, behind closed doors they would have been read the riot act

Zero chance something like that happens again

[BraveTheWorld]

I like Brandon kicking from dummy half, he just needs to pick his times right. Cam Smith was the best at it and he would’ve taught Brandon the intricacies of executing it.

By kicking from the ruck, he instantly gains roughly 10m and puts everyone onside allowing for a trapping kick chase. It solves the problem of our halves weak long kicking game and is likely an acknowledgment of said deficiency.

Like Keary, he probably won’t make the same mistakes again.

As for OP queries, I think they’ve seen enough Roosters games to know that it isn’t true. Get on!

I agree with this big time. I've thought for many years that any starting Hooker in the comp should be able to punt and grubber, and it should be a mainstay in their skillset.
The amount of times Cameron Smith turned a game or salvaged a set with a kick from dummy-half, or even Hunt in origin, was wild. It's a massively important skill and I think Brandon has done them generally quite well this year.

The problem was that he mishit a few, and just had the game-sense wrong. When we had defended something like 5 sets on our try-line, you don't kick the ball away on the 2nd during a 7-tackle set. That's just a complete lack of understanding/

[zac]

Watching Young reminds me of SKD when crowd would yell Just hold the bloody ball

young has some errors in him - like all big men he's not nimble in d - and he's surprisingly not good under the high ball but he's got some big pluses. his carries off the line are of good quality and his finishing is normally very good. and he's fast

[Billy Gunn]

This time last year we had scored 324 points, and we were in 14th place. A year later we have scored another 240 points more at the same time, which works out 12 points a game!! That is a ridiculous increase and might partly explain why we make errors pushing passes that aren't quite there.

I too believe that we really need Sam Walker to take control of the team long term, but for the rest of the season the intercept king needs to ensure we don't give teams a chance to get a second chance.

[Vasco]

There's definitely some SKD in Dom Young.

[fletch]

lol at anyone who thinks this team has the grit discipline or patience to get past the Storm or Panthers in the finals.