Moses would have been great to have available for this game but it does seem very winnable still. Manly usually love to run around us with their speed but the wet weather should really favour us in that aspect. If our forwards can play to a similar level of last week should have a good shot. Any other keys to winning this one ?
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Yep, agree Eli, feel the weather is an advantage to 16 Eels players, and a disadvantage to Manly & Penisini, who may steal the all time handling error record set by Peni Terepo.
This weather suits Hawkins moreso than a very open game. He's a decent game-manager & has a good kicking game.
Kick to the corners & force Manly out of their end over & over for 80mins.
The Eels line speed & contact has been great over the past month, and feel they could force some errors out of Manly who as you say, like to move the ball to their edges. The weather nullifies Manly's speed to a degree.
We win this one through the middle so big games from Ryley & Co in there. From what we've seen of Smith, he looks like the kinda kid who would be very excited for this game in the wet.
It's probably not going to be an enterprising game, just get the two points & move onto next week.
I do hope they put the offloads and risky passes away, you right about penisini haha. Just keep it simple and use our speed around the ruck and run good lines. If we start offloading and trying to take the easy options we will be in trouble
Last year, I would've had those concerns also, as well as the inability to defend our goal line.
But this year i'm far more confident with the teams discipline (offloads / easy way out plays) & defence, Ryles has done a great job in those areas?
Feels like a very winnable game.
The ado carr, Williams and Walker signings prob best value pickups we have made in a long time. Quality nrl players
Hawkins is a decent kicker of the ball, issue is he is not very accurate or have a grasp of hang time. But he can deliver some decent kicks. He has scored a few tries in Cup the last few weeks so hopefully confidence is booming.
Simple kick and chase hard complete high there's nothing more simpler than that.
Dont over think it mix up the kicking game in the arm wrestle wait for them to make mistakes take your opportunities when presented.
Simple game plan. Kick well and on top of that chase well. Samrani will be important for his carries. Let the other team make mistakes.
the key to beat Manly is to outscore them i think
id love to see Tommy Turbo taking a lot of dirty runs out of their end, in the wet. i dont want to see him injured long term but with all the hamstrings & cork issues of late, a heavy track wont help him.
side question - do these conditions either get Papalii a debut or ensure his placed in the rack for better conditions?
They saying he'll get some run at dummy half tonight, should be interesting