Manly Review and Maroon Mumblings

One thing you’ll always get from me on this blog is honesty. So, shamefully I must admit that I tipped the Sea Eagles to give us a right thumping down at Brookvale. Even though they were missing the influential Jamie Lyon, I didn’t think our pack would be able to match the Sea Eagles’. Thankfully I was very wrong, and that was actually where we won the game mostly thanks to Sam Thaiday. He’s having the season of his career, unmatched by anyone else in the NRL for effort in my opinion.

We surrendered a try early, but that was about as happy as the night was going to get for Manly. All the forwards played their part, defending well and making great yardage. You could be excused for thinking it was the Broncos of old. I’m really enjoying having Tronc on board. He looks a little lethargic, but a prop with good go-forward that can make 35 tackles without missing a single one is quite special.

I love beating Manly. It was one their typical performances too, where they dropped knees and elbows on faces in just about every tackle they made. They have such a dirty culture at that football club, and it’s certainly gotten worse since Hasler took over as coach. Just watch the highlights if you need any proof. In the lead up to our last try Thaiday makes another inspirational hit up. For his troubles he cops a swinging elbow and a knee to the chin as he’s bending to play the ball. I fucking hate Manly.

Moving on... NSW have just named their team. I care very little about anything to do with their team, but they’ve named Gidley again which means that even if Hayne is available to play he’ll be on the wing where the damage he can do will be limited. The decisions the NSW selectors come up with have boggled minds for years now, but they’ve outdone themselves again by dumping Kimmorley in place of young Mitchell Pearce. Their problems in game 1 had nothing to do with their number 7, who was actually one of their better players on the night. Oh well, it’s their loss.

The QLD team will be announced tomorrow. Lockyer has done a backflip on what he said last week about selecting Folau and he’s now pleading to have him named in the side. It sounds very unprofessional from Lockyer, who’s apparently suddenly realised that we don’t have much to choose from now that Tate has gone and broken his jaw. State of Origin positions are influential in keeping our players in the NRL, and now that Folau has decided to turn his back on the game we simply must cut our losses and give his jersey to someone else that is worth investing in. The logical choice is Tuqiri, even though he’s only just returned from another code himself. Tahu has slotted straight back into his NSW jersey after returning to the NRL from union, so there’s no issue on whether or not Tuqiri should be allowed to do the same for QLD. The only thing that might stand in the way of that decision is a rumour that Tuqiri wants to play for the Fijian national rugby league side.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow, but I’m confident that our selectors will make a decision that’s in the best interests of our game. Until then sports fans.