We were the better side, but didn't Ice the game.

A couple of Manly trys were flukey,  especially the try just before half-time. 

Skelton is a bit suspect in defence 

We can learn from that, needed to throw more at them in attack. 

Now we just need to build on that next season. 

Fuck Manly. Didn’t deserve to be in the game. We just shot ourselves in the foot again. The second half we could have easily put it to bed but looked like shit. Just hold the ball you fucks!!!!

Just such a shit roster. Relying on Burto to kick a two point field goal. Just stupid. We did everything wrong in that second half. So stupid. 

We had a terrible second half. We choked. 

They'll remember the pain of today...  And will be better for it ...
Dogs 2025!!!

We didn't choke, but our halves showed inexperience 
.
I would have played Sua instead of Skelton.

We need to keep that standard of defence and improve our attack.

More punch in the middle and some offloads will help.

We had a couple of sets down their end in the second half and didn't throw enough at them.

The Kiks charge down was the right play but luck wasn't with us.

I doubt that we would have beaten the  Chooks.  Good improvement for 1 season. 

Most of our players will be there next year and will be better for the run,

Off season is here HD...
Where were U when Kennedy was shot???...

Bulldogs deserved to wim that game but momentum and field position given away a few times by some dumb plays, particularly by Mahoney.. 

Glad Dogs played well enough to win it to shut up some of the media who totally wrte us off after last couple of weeks. The ref was also attrocious which didn't help. 

Overall a great improvement in 2024. We are so lucky to have Critta to continue the rebiluild around. A bright future for the Dogs.

I was mowing the grassy knoll, on my way home from the shooting range,

Next year. Just need to sign some decent props. Need to get on top in games like that. We really lacked size and that helped Manly get back into that game. 

RCG announcement Friday at 11am...

We have a couple of forwards coming we have some good forwards in the lower grades. 

I would have played Sua instead of Skelton, but Sua played Flegg.

Not really his fault but Skelton has no idea in defence at times, Sua also good under the high ball.

Manly got a couple of lucky trys and they took the opportunity from the scrum well.

Next season we should have a bit more size and a deeper squad 
.
I do agree that an elite fullback would improve the side. Tracey is NRL standard and is solid, far better than the guys who played fullback in the last 8 years.  Taaffe has a bit of X-Factor but was suspect in the high ball.

I would like to see Taffee, Wilson and Papalii get a shot at some stage, but Tracey deserves to start the season. 

Aside from that we just make a few stupid errors and lapse in concentration at times.

To match Panthers and the Storm we need to cut out the stupid errors including dumb aggressive play, improve the attack and improve the game management. 

Not sure it was size that did us in... Though will gleefully take an experienced hard head... Will be interesting to see how Amone comes back to NRLol and what our plan for Sitilly Montion is ..

I have no doubt we improve next season... No doubt at all...

Have seen some people on the TK blaming Kiraz for the loss... They probably believe in flat earth too... 

While Kiraz wasn't perfect... Skelly cost is 3 trys tonight... 2 in D, 1 in A...

Size wasn't the issue in defence.

Some size might have been handy in attack.

We had opportunities to ice the game in the second half, after the Skelton try and before the 2 Manly tries. We also lapsed in defence for the last Manky try but Manly rolled the dice,

We were also on top in the first half. 

We lapsed just enough to keep Manly in the game and didn't kick away when we had the chance.

Storm and Panthers put Manly away first and second half.

Improve our attack and we will get some easy wins, we will also win when the opposition is the better team for 60 mins.

I am hoping that we do sign RCG. 

I agree.

We could have played Sua on the left and kept Kiraz on the right,  Sua is good under the high ball.

But Cirro didn't want to throw a young guy into a game like that and Xerri was suspect in defence. 

The Fox needing to stand down also costs us. No need to tell him, he knows. Cop the penalties from the NRL,  impose a club penalty and move on. 

I would give the Fox a shot at redemption next season,  but he will have to play well and often to earn an extension. 

We have some impressive young outside backs including a few wingers.

I think Sexton and Burton will learn from this game, they didn't do much wrong, but they also didn't Ice the game. 

I see it differently.
I think we dont offer much variation in attack to make line breaks that can either result in tries ir gain good field position. 

Both teams played safe today. Hardly a line break. Only that last Manly try that should never have been scored if oir FB was up to the task.

Poor play by Tracey. Had a poor end to the season and coincided with our 3 losses.

Yep...

Hopefully next year Burto can navigate the ice wall with his Sextont...

Absolutely devastated, but go into this off season the happiest and with greater hope for the next in a loooong time... 

If we have Mann or Karl O playing at ,ock, our attack would be more dangerous. 

Salmon sums up our team, great effort in defence but lacking a cutting edge in attack. 

This particular game was an unlucky loss, but it also showed where we need to improve. 

Morrin and Hayes similar to Salmon great in defence but ideally we need a forward on the bench who can make an impact. 

Storm and Panthers also took a few seasons to reach their peak particularly Panthers. 

We should improve next year. A lot of games this year we should have won early in the season. Need to start well. 

That try before half-time was probably a forward pass or a knock-on perhaps both.

We lapsed badly for the first and last Manly trys, Skelton was the main player who got it wrong...

But second half we had good field position and momentum,  we can up with some lame plays including Marhoney passing to a stationary forward.  What we need was a hard running forward, win the contact and play the ball fast. Attack close to the opponents try line needs some work.

Tracey might have been injured earlier but he seemed OK today,  had a pretty good game.p

A couple of dropped passes in the second half cost us,

Skelton will make lots of yards for the Tigers and will probably score a few trys, his decision making in defence needs a lot of work.

Overall good effort from the side, but plenty to work on.

When I was tinkering with hypothetical sides Morrin and Hayes were the guys I was thinking of leaving out for at least one forward with more size.  Both young players and they will improve. 

Hayes, Curran and Toups can play in the middle or on the edge.

Cirro thought that was our best side and we went close to winning it 

Or looking at it another way if we had RCG starting and Hughes coming off the bench, we probably win. 

Hot starts and ice finishes... The recipes there ..

Don't just blame Tracey, Skelton also failed in defence for that last manly try. Tonight manly were kissed on the dick by a leprechaun, the bounch of the ball and 50/50 calls all went thier way, and the officials gave them massive leg-ups at critical times. I am so proud of the team they played for 80 minutes and came up just short. I think we are in for a cracker 2025 season.

The players we missed this game are Wilson and Mann.

Some of our better trys this season featured Wilson or Mann.

Sutton was out all season and would have made a difference. 

Can't fault the effort we did the best that we could with the available talent. 

I am happy with the season, big step forward. 

I hope that the guys can back up with a similar effort next season. 

Not probably hd, definitely.
How an onfield ref, two linesmen and the bunker all "missed" a knock on, followed immediately by a blatent forward pass that led to a try which was confirmed, in my opinion is nothing short of deliberately influencing the result of the match......
Which it ultimately did.

I thought that the forward pass part was obvious..

But the lessons we learned today we would have learned sooner or later.

Now we can book surgery for any players that need it,  finish off recruitment and retention and start focusing on next season. 

To be fair, the bunker cant rule on forward passes but this is a huge blight on the game and i blame dinosaurs (like Gus) who think the bunker shouldn't be involved. 

The game is fast and on field refs may not be in the best position to rule a pass forward. Let the friggin bunker rule on the howler. Its not that hard.

Still we should have won the game. 

Inspite of the bad call. 

We can learn from this.

The concern on forward passes is that the bunker might not have the camera angle. But we only need to catch the bad examples Let the ref rule on the rest, the Roosters one was too tight for the bunker to be involved. 

I don't know how the ref and touches missed ours.

Making the semis was great experience and we learned where we need to improve.