Hi everyone,
There’s been a lot of criticism of Tim Mannah this season, especially after the loss to the Broncos. People say he’s the nicest bloke in the world, with a big heart and a stack of loyalty etc. But at the same time, people say he’s not tough enough, inspiring and the kind of man who can lift the whole team & get us over the finish line. How about we put things in context and compare Timmy to every other captain in the NRL? Lets take a look at the qualifications of all the others - how many c;ub games, rep honours and the average age? You’ll see Timmy is quite young compared to many of the other captains (27). Most are around 30 or so and have far more club representative games under their belt. Timmy has played 4 Origin games for NSW, but that’s when Ricky Stuart was the coach so yeah…
I'll arrange these in order of the current ladder - Round 8 standings.
1 - Broncos: Justin Hodges
2 - Dragons: Ben Creagh
3 - Storm: Cameron Smith
4 - Cowboys: Jonathan Thurston
Matt Scott (Cowboys Co-Captain)
5 - Tigers: Robbie Farrah
6 - South Sydney: Greg Inglis
7 - Titans: Nate Myles
8 - Panthers: Peter Wallace
9 - Knights: Kurt Gidley
10 - Raiders: Jarrod Croker
11 - Bulldogs: James Graham
12 - Roosters: Mitchel Pearce
Jake Friend (Co-Captain)
13 - Warriors: Simon Mannering
14 - Sharks: Paul Gallen
15 - Eels: Tim Mannah
16 - Manly: Jamie Lyon
Well there you have it folks. I often think about the captains of other teams and wish we had them. Imagine Crocker, Gallen, Pearce or even Gidley playing for us? I feel as though you can look at Timmy's stats and it's a reflection of the Eels in general, in comparison to other captains. Perhaps we should have Choc leading us out, based off his experience? I know that's another topic though... I suppose one good thing about Timmy is we wont be losing him to any rep duties any time soon.
You'll notice that Jarrod Croker for the Raiders is the youngest at 24. Having said that, he's a great centre, passionate about his club and shows aggression and leadership. He's also a great, consistent goal kicker (something we lack). Raiders recently signed a big extension on his contract. I see him as a future great of the Raiders, leading them for years to come.
Timmy is the second youngest at 27... from there it jumps to Greg Inglis at 28 and then the rest are around 30/ early 30's.
Replies
im certain Tim would be more inspiring playing more minutes, against the broncos he only played 30 mins, 7 hit ups for 63m and 23 tackles.not like he was just hiding in the back ground.
lol - I meant to say Dugan..... it was 4am when I wrote this :p
This is not simply about sport this happens in everybody's day to day work life in some sort of form be it you be a manger a foreman on a job site or otherwise, you have to be able to direct your troops in an assertive manner and you have to have that arsehole factor about you to get results out of your team otherwise you will be a pushover and an easy beat
Exactly. The 'arsehole' factor is what we need in a captain. Nate Myles is one example, and someone who can be assertive and get the team going. Even Cameron Smith plays dirty and knows how to get the win
Quite a lot of talk on Mannah lately, regarding his captaincy. This blog is a bit to take in, but might give an idea of what kind of character we're looking for.
Simple fact is that Tims got to go as captain, at this point nobody could offer less as a captain, we might as well just spin the chocolate wheel, id give it to Choc and i think it could be just what the doctor ordered for Anthony.
I agree. You look at all the other captains and the majority have played a ton of rep footy, just like Choc. It might also force him to step up and lift his game.
To be honest I thought Mannah actually played with a bit of agro on Sunday. He was giving facials to tackled players and hitting hard. Very unMannah like.
Maybe he wore his sandpaper undies for that game?