Freelance

Last night during the Manly v Cowboys game we saw two halves of football which were in stark contrast to each other. The first half saw Manly, perhaps initially a little complacent, then nervous and uncertain as they found themselves put under significant pressure by a Cowboys team which was determined and desperate. During this half I watched the young Manly halves with interest and groaned as my earlier concerns about thier inexperience and abilty to perform under pressure were starting to be realised. Cherry-Evans was being charged down, putting rushed and misdirected kicks in. The bigger surprise, however was that Foran was almost invisible. The body language and intensity of the Manly team was uncharacteristically down. Going into half time 8-0 down it was up to the great...

After the recent demise of St George Illawarra as competition favourites in the NRL I've been asking myself who the [b]*real*[/b] contender is for this years premiership. It's that time in the year as the regular season begins "the run home" when teams are gearing up for finals football and form-lines become all that more important. For me there is a standout, and that is the Manly Sea Eagles. This team is well coached, disciplined and is very well rounded with solid performers in all positions. The intensity which they maintained last week against a struggling, yet determined and improvings Rooster outfit showed off thier professionalism and strong desire to be serious title contenders this year. They also have a coach and senior players who have won the premiership before. Compared...