Parramatta captain Tim Mannah has mastered the art of ignoring criticism over the course of his career, but even he concedes he struggled to handle the abuse that came his way as the Eels battled thought the opening weeks of the season.
Try as he might, Mannah was unable to put it out of his mind. Years of loyal service apparently became an afterthought as disgruntled fans went searching for answer and made Mannah one of their targets.
“To be honest, the last two weeks have been really tough,” Mannah said. “I have been really good at ignoring it but because we’re under the pump so much and you’re feeling a lot of pressure — I have to get better at blocking some noise out.
“The last two weeks have been pretty tough. Social media hasn’t been great. I have got a lot better at handling it but I have to get better again.”
What made the abuse more difficult to understand was Mannah’s belief that he had been playing well. Asked why he took the abuse to heart, Mannah said: “Just because we weren’t getting the right results and because I felt like I was going OK.
“If I was playing terribly and I felt my form was rubbish, it would kind of be warranted. But because I was chipping along well and felt like I was going well, getting that kind of feedback doesn’t always feel great.
“I am a sports fan and sometimes when I am watching a sports game I can be pretty critical of an athlete. I understand that side of it.
“Because we’re losing so many games it is easy to look for answers and wonder where it has gone wrong. Fans have their opinions. I am pretty happy with how that is travelling.
“In terms of taking it personally, I am not that sensitive.”
That’s fortunate because a sensitive person may have reacted differently to being relegated to the interchange bench, as Mannah was last week.
He responded the only way he could — by running for 168 metres in his 39 minutes on the field. His performance was among the highlights as the Eels finally ended their barren run, thrashing Manly at ANZ Stadium.
It was the perfect response to a demotion he didn’t see coming.
“It was different — it’s not what I am used to but it was nice, a bit of a change,” Mannah said.
“I am happy to do whatever my role is for the team. I am happy to play my part. I think I have got really good over the years at getting my ego out the way.
“Any player who has to deal with the changes, the biggest thing it hits is your ego. I learnt a long time ago to let the ego out the way and put the team first.
“If this is best for the team, I am happy to play my role. I have been pretty happy with my form at the start of the year.”
The win over Manly was a long time coming and the Parramatta players are intent on maintaining the momentum when they play Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium tomorrow.
The Eels are refusing to contemplate finals football, although they haven’t given up on playing in September.
They need to go on a run if that is to happen and there is no time like the present. The performance against the Sea Eagles was more reminiscent of the Parramatta side many expected to challenge for the premiership.
“It’s why we all play — we play to be there at the end of the year,” Mannah said.
“The reality is our focus is not on finals at the moment. But even if we were 6-1 it wouldn’t be our focus.
“We have a lot of belief out of the weekend. We needed that monkey off the back to remind everyone how good we can be — more remind ourselves more than anyone. We got a lot of belief out of that and moving forward we’re going to play a lot more of our style of football.”
Replies
agreed there are a many on here who've played NRL....
Of course your not always going to have positive comments when the team aren't going well, so why not ignore the papers and media sites ?
I think very few are singling out individual players and rubbishing them personally - that's not on - but i see many are in disagreement with what's happened with recruitment and retention, but that's a club problem.
Chief if you don't think Mannah is being singled out on here you read different blogs to me.
Mack, as a capitan of a professional sporting club, Mannah should know better and set the example to our whole jnr base that social media should be ignored.
Mack that's exactly what I expected from you.
Why does mannah need social media seriously.
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