Rd 25 storm vs manly brookvale sat 31/8 7.30pm

[storming]

would putting chambers on the left side with fonua be a good move? he was great there in both defense and attack weeks ago. he seems to have good communication and positioning to help out the winger

[yourhero]

would putting chambers on the left side with fonua be a good move? he was great there in both defense and attack weeks ago. he seems to have good communication and positioning to help out the winger

Maybe but I really doubt that they will do that.

Centres are side-specialists these days. Whilst I have no doubt that Chambers would do a solid job, when he has spent the past two seasons building one of the best edge defence combinations in the comp with Waqa, it would be silly to disrupt that permanently.

There is no easy answer to the defensive issues on the left. Best option IMO is to put a rocket up Blair and keep him there with Fonua outside until O'Neill is fit (speaking of which, do we know the extent of the injury as yet? I know he has had serious back problems)

Chambers and Waqa work well together because Chambers makes good decisions most of the time and when Waqa does jam in, 99% of the time, he wraps the ball carrier up and doesn't let the play get outside of him.

When Fonua was playing outside O'Neill earlier in the year, O'Neill made poor decisions regularly and left Mahe in no mans land. Juz would rush in field and miss the centre/other player hitting the edge leaving Mahe with two bad choices... Jam in on a player with time and space (usually resulting in said player simply passing to their winger for an open passge to the try line) or sit back and try and stay with the winger (usually resulting in the centre/other attacking player slicing through our line between O'Neill and Fonua.

You can't jam in when the opposition has a ton of space to shift the ball.

[tugga]

Manly played well. It's one thing to put 64 on parra but it's another thing to back it up the next week against a good side.
I can't see us progressing past prelim final weekend. But I have been wrong before.

[absentee]

It was a hard game to watch because of how poor we were - but I don't think this one performance determines how we're going to play over the next month. We all know what we're capable of and Saturday night was well below it. Take Cameron for example - he had a shocker. Think he'll play that poorly again this year? I doubt it.

[Go Storm]

Fonua was awesome for us this time last year, and he played great for us against the Knights a few weeks ago and the Raiders (where he scored a hat-trick).
He's very safe under a high ball, despite his height. He has tremendous strength and athleticism on the try line, and runs with so much energy and enthusiasm.
He will be a great addition to our backline.

[KingHoweofIsrael]

Could play Will on the wing - though i'd say the best bet is slot Mahe in. I don't think he's anywhere near the worst player going......but, he does make me cringe an awful lot - far too many mistakes (even in the best game he's played, he had a bunch of stupid mistakes, it was just lucky the opposition sucked that day) I'm a fan of his intensity - and that's about where it ends for me - I really want him to succeed, but he makes it very hard for me to like him as a first grade storm player.

[Inglis#3]

Why are we discussion a replacement for Juzzy? He's fine, just mild bruising on his back.

[yourhero]

Yourhero's interesting stats for the week...

Storm Completed Sets - 21/33 (64%)
Abysmal. No matter how good a team is, completions at 64% are not going to win you games. Particularly the quality teams like Manly.

Storm Errors - 14
As above, far too many and a big reason we were on the backfoot most of the night.

Storm Forward Run Metres
Jesse Bromwich - 14 Runs - 104m
Bryan Norrie - 9 Runs - 72m
Ryan Hoffman - 10 Runs 72m
Jordan McLean - 6 Runs - 61m
Tohu Harris - 6 Runs - 58m
Ryan Hinchcliffe - 6 Runs - 43m
Jason Ryles - 7 Runs - 43m
Kevin Proctor - 5 Runs - 36m
Kenny Bromwich - 4 Runs - 31m
Cameron Smith - 4 Runs - 8m

Embarrassing doesn't really cover it...

[yourhero]

Why are we discussion a replacement for Juzzy? He's fine, just mild bruising on his back.

If that is so, that's good news.

O'Neill really needs to lift though. The ultra-slow motion speed at which he plays the ball infuriates me.

He also tried to beat Manly too many times by running around them. Twice he should have cut back away from the sideline and burrowed for the tryline.

[Cherry_Poppins]

It will likely be seen as such but I'm not here to rub it in because I would prefer not play you guys again such is my respect for your team

However

Error and completion rates don't tell the biggest story

Look at metres made by each team,the disparity is almost 700 metres

Also Cameron Smith's stats there are repulsive for the only true living immortal

[yourhero]

Error and completion rates don't tell the biggest story

Look at metres made by each team,the disparity is almost 700 metres

The second is significantly affected by the first.

You control your errors and complete your sets, you are going to have more runs with the ball and make more metres.

Still, Manly made a stupid amount of metres down our left edge and our forwards were pushed back on almost every tackle. Manly still made metres far too easy compared to the Storm but the errors and completions are, and should always be a heavy focus in an attempt to eat metres.

[KingHoweofIsrael]

I wish I hadn't of read those stats.......confession time, that was literally the first storm game I walked away from - I think about 15 to go I decided I couldn't watch anymore (glad I didn't, walked past the game at what seemed a long time after...and it was still going, I couldn't believe it) The funny part of that, was at 20-0 I still felt the game was well and truly winnable - that mindset quickly changed.

One thing that just came to mind, one manly try - where the manly ball carrier juggled the ball just before they scored; I had a particularly bad view, but was that not a knock on? Did it touch a storm player? I thought it would have gone to the video, but it was given instantly with seemingly no protest. Again, I had an awful view, was it the right call?

[TC]

It will likely be seen as such but I'm not here to rub it in because I would prefer not play you guys again such is my respect for your team

However

Error and completion rates don't tell the biggest story

Look at metres made by each team,the disparity is almost 700 metres

Also Cameron Smith's stats there are repulsive for the only true living immortal

No excuses, it was an abysmal performance by our guys, and Cam had the worst game I can ever remember him playing.
On the upside; I don't think we will play that badly again, and while Cam wasn't good I've seen Wally, Joey and Changa play worse - in Langland's case much worse .

[Cherry_Poppins]

It will likely be seen as such but I'm not here to rub it in because I would prefer not play you guys again such is my respect for your team

However

Error and completion rates don't tell the biggest story

Look at metres made by each team,the disparity is almost 700 metres

Also Cameron Smith's stats there are repulsive for the only true living immortal

No excuses, it was an abysmal performance by our guys, and Cam had the worst game I can ever remember him playing.
On the upside; I don't think we will play that badly again, and while Cam wasn't good I've seen Wally, Joey and Changa play worse - in Langland's case much worse .

I remember a game a few years ago (2010?) where he had 3 knock ons against Manly,IF 2010 the game meant
absolutely nothing to Smith because that would have been at Brookvale,but not totally sure

I already feel sorry for myself and whoever Melbourne plays next week,we'll lose 3rd and the poor team playing against
Smith will cop the hiding of the year and an absolute masterclass,all done by his accountant's corpse physique

Hopefully we'll be his bogey side,i never want to see him at his best against us,he is the absolute linchpin
and could bring any team roaring into the finals,yes even Parramatta would sneak in with Smith,if any
current player should be an immortal Smith will be,after Smith would probably be Foran just to shut the kiwis
up even though in my view his halves partner is the more skilled player

[stormy]

It would annoy the living crap out of the Sydney media if the GF was played between the REIGNING PREMIERS MELBOURNE STORM and manly. The media want chooks vs south Sydney STORM to be in the last game of the year. They have a lovefest for squirrel and the rest of the bargearse brothers and money bill Williams. Last year STORM supporters hardly knew our team were in the decider as the commentators were all over the dogs and anyone else who played us.