McManus Dropped?

MattyM

MattyM

Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Hello everyone,

So with all this hype going around about our 2012 season, most Knights fans are naming their teams, etc. And, one a number on occasions through Facebook or MS, I've seen quite a large number of people dropping McManus for Tahu or Mata'utia.

Am I the only one that thinks this is insane?!

It drives me crazy!

People are continually dropping McManus, who has 4 and a half years of NRL experience, talented in the air and has speed for either a rookie with only 3 first grade games under his belt and/or a centre/winger who will be coming back from injury and may not be fully fit, but can play other positions also.

Me, personally I'd go with a back-line of:

1. Boyd
2. McManus
3. Sau
4. Naiqama
5. Uate

And Tahu coming off the bench.

What are your thoughts? :think:
 
Nobody in their right mind would drop McManus ... it's probably people who wanted us to keep Kirk Reynoldson who want to drop him.
 
This happens all the time with Knights players. Some supporters can be very short-sighted. McManus get injured, Mata'utai replaces him and plays alright, then people forget about McManus and call for McManus to be dropped. The same thing happened to Mullen with Stig and Henry with Roberts.

I consider him to be one of the safest wingers in the comp and their is no way Bennett is going to drop him for a rookie, he isn't that dumb. McManus will be on the wing next year.
 
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Not sure why people are calling for McManus to be dropped either. Mata'utia has been very solid filling in I must say, but it's not like he's blitzing teams and forcing the coach to keep him in ahead of others. McManus might not be the flashy winger everyone likes, but he's been solid for us for years, which has earned his spot on the wing
 
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josh2010 said:
NO way McManus should be dropped. Tahu IMO should be used as a Reserve.
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Exactly what I think Josh, as above ^.

Madman said:
This happens all the time with Knights players. Some supporters can be very short-sighted. McManus get injured, Mata'utai replaces him and plays alright, then people forget about McManus and call for McManus to be dropped. The same thing happened to Mullen with Stig and Henry with Roberts.

I consider him to be one of the safest wingers in the comp and their is no way Bennett is going to drop him for a rookie, he isn't that dumb. McManus will be on the wing next year.
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I agree with all of this, Mcmanus has no right to be dropped for a rookie and a centre who can come off the bench.

Novocastrian90 said:
No its not crazy or insane, only the people that are dropping McManus are.
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Touché.

jamesgould said:
Nobody in their right mind would drop McManus ... it's probably people who wanted us to keep Kirk Reynoldson who want to drop him.
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:lol: Exactly!

Aidos said:
Not sure why people are calling for McManus to be dropped either. Mata'utia has been very solid filling in I must say, but it's not like he's blitzing teams and forcing the coach to keep him in ahead of others. McManus might not be the flashy winger everyone likes, but he's been solid for us for years, which has earned his spot on the wing
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Great post Aidos! I also agree, Mata'utia has definitely showed potential but McManus shouldn't be dropped for just that!
 
What has Mata'utai done that McManus hasn't been doing? McManus will be in the team, but it will continue to happen, some new kid will have a decent debut, and everyone will be calling for him to replace the injured player fulltime, stuff like that will never change.
 
The only thing wrong with McManus is that he has had some injuries recently which has been preventing him from showing everyone just what a talent he is. Mata'utai has been a great fill in, but he is no replacement for McManus. I would just like to see him injury free. No way I would drop him or leave him out of the backline for 2012.
 
knights22 said:
What has Mata'utai done that McManus hasn't been doing? McManus will be in the team, but it will continue to happen, some new kid will have a decent debut, and everyone will be calling for him to replace the injured player fulltime, stuff like that will never change.
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Making the right decision in defence is probably my only answer.

Two years ago you could depend on McManus with your house and as soon as he put on that Blues jersey he got injured and hasn't been the same in fans eyes since.

He isn't flashy, but doesn't need to be. He is our Nightingale IMO and if fit, will be one of the first players picked in the team next year.
 
He has made a few poor un-McManus like calls in defence recently, no doubt about it. But he has been out of the game a while, and is playing outside centers he doesn't have an experienced combination with.
 
Same thing happened after Rd 26 last year, Kevin Naiqama had a good debut, McManus had an average year & people were calling for Kev to replace him. I myself did get caught up in the Kev hype aswell although i never called for him to replace McManus. I had one or the other at fullback & Gids in the halves since it worked so well at the end of 2010. But as we've all seen Kevin has a long way to go before cementing a spot in first-grade. Same may happen with Mata'utia.

Back on the topic, McManus shouldn't be dropped & won't be dropped. He is one of the best in the air, has a great jump, makes good metres out of dummy-half, finishes well. Most of which fans ask of a winger. Defensively he has been fairly average but you have to remember he's had guys like Sa'u & Lulia inside him. They aren't the best defenders themselves so he wouldn't trust them as much as he would if he had MacDougall inside him just like the good old days of 2008-09. He's playing on the wrong side to add to it. If you gave him a whole year injury free on the right side with MacDougall (injury free himself) than i have no doubt Macca would be back to his best. Unfortunately that's not gonna happen because Uate is on the right, MacDougall is always injured & half the season is gone already.

My conclusion is he either needs a good defensive centre inside him that he can learn to trust, or just move him himself to the centres.

Added after 6 minutes:

And yes to add, he's also been out of the game for pretty mucha year with horrible luck with injuries. A guy like Houston has been out for a year & come back good but has been training hard all that time without the injuries. Macca has had it very tough & has come out of all that well. I hope he gets back to his best under Wayne. It would be a great sight. I've felt heaps sorry for him since his injury after Origin. Everyone bagged him out coming back & even me at points but he's a tough bugger & i can't wait to see him playing great again next year.
 
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I'd hardly say he's been average in defence, he's made the odd wrong call here and there, same as most other wingers in the comp (eg. Uate in origin 3).

I still don't understand why everyone wants Gidley in the halves, I reckon he's awful there compared to fullback.
 
jamesgould said:
I'd hardly say he's been average in defence, he's made the odd wrong call here and there, same as most other wingers in the comp (eg. Uate in origin 3).

I still don't understand why everyone wants Gidley in the halves, I reckon he's awful there compared to fullback.
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Someone who finally understands! I'm not a fan of Gidley in the halves at all. He's either going to be Halfback or Hooker next year, IMO he would be best suited at Hooker, unless Buderus comes back and takes over that role and Stig drops to the bench for Gidley to move into the halves. I'd like to see:

1. Boyd
6. Mullen
7. Stig
9. Gidley
14. Buderus

That spine IMO would be our best for next year!
 
I'd prefer Gidley at hooker, but seeing as Stones already got his mind set on him in the halves, theres no point arguing about where he should be.

Interesting to note, in the Players Vote, pretty much a bunch of questions to players from different clubs, Uate labelled McManus as the most underrated player (Only answer he was probably serious about, aswell as Fiji being a new team in nrl).

(On a side note, Paterson also named Fa'aoso as most underrated, and Hilder as the toughest
 
knights22 said:
I'd prefer Gidley at hooker, but seeing as Stones already got his mind set on him in the halves, theres no point arguing about where he should be.

Interesting to note, in the Players Vote, pretty much a bunch of questions to players from different clubs, Uate labelled McManus as the most underrated player (Only answer he was probably serious about, aswell as Fiji being a new team in nrl).

(On a side note, Paterson also named Fa'aoso as most underrated, and Hilder as the toughest
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Isn't that up to Bennett to decide? :think:
 
A.Snowden said:
And to think you guys don't want Gidley in the halves yet want him as hooker? Fullback or bench.
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Well TBH, he provides more spark and seems better suited as a Hooker, and with Boyd coming through, Fullback is ruled out, so why have your captain on the bench?

He has a reasonable kicking game and is a fairly good passer but his workload from Hooker is much better, he tackles hard and makes some good metres.
 
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