Maguire proud of hard work in trying Manly defeat
Author
Caitlyn Grant
Timestamp
Fri 16 Aug 2019, 11:07 AM

Wests Tigers Head Coach Michael Maguire said his side were never really in the contest against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles with a weight of possession telling in the end as the home side ran away with a 32-12 victory at Lottoland.

With just over 30% of the ball for the majority of the contest, Maguire said he was proud of the way his side continued to hang in the game with a number of costly injuries again forcing reshuffles, but said that even in limited opportunities, Wests Tigers needed to find a way to be better with the ball in hand.

“We couldn’t get possession and couldn’t get a hold of the game,” Maguire reflected.

"To Manly’s credit they squeezed us and put the pressure game on and locked us in the corners [but] We didn’t help ourselves at times with what we did with the ball.

“We just couldn’t get in control as much as we’d liked to but that’s obviously what happens when you’re facing a team that’s creating pressure.

"Unfortunately blew out the end there — our boys hung in there and fought really hard right throughout the game but the score line unfortunately just blew out.

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“The competition is so tight you can’t be thinking about this game or that game — at the end of the day, every week is an important week.

"We’ve got three games to go and I’m looking forward to turning up tomorrow and going back to work to achieve what we set out to achieve,” he emphasised.

“I’ve got a bunch of boys that work really hard for each other and I saw that tonight.

“I’m really proud of this team but we’ve got a fair bit of work to do."

On a tough night for his side, Maguire said it was pleasing to see 19-year-old Tommy Talau make his first-grade debut and said the tyro had a long future ahead.

“He was good on debut," Maguire said.

"There are some big lessons for him there obviously but it’s a tough game to come in to with Daly Cherry-Evans coming down his edge quite often.

"It’s good to see a young man like that come out and perform in a tough game.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how he takes his career now.

"If he keeps working the way he has been there are no reasons why he can’t have a really long time in first grade.”

Wests Tigers will look to end a run of consecutive defeats when they host the Newcastle Knights next Saturday at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

DCE probed by alien??? Did I read that news headline somewhere :))

Glad we learned from our ET at 9 experiment last week

@TheDaBoss I agree with coach and for the amount of possession we had , Penalties 8-2, 200+ more tackles the guy tried their guts out… I thought Talau did a fine job in his first game and having Manly running all over us… Hope he gets picked again this week and he looks the goods.

The effort was certainly there but with the lack of possession it was always going to be very difficult to keep the margin close

‘Unfortunately blew out the end there — our boys hung in there and fought really hard right throughout the game but the score line unfortunately just blew out.’
Just blew out - like a car tyre or a balloon, something you have no control over. Nothing to do with you, really.

Unfortunately the roster is just too average to be competitive. The whole ‘the guys worked hard for each other’ just doesn’t crack it in todays playing environment anymore, it’s just a token statement. We need to be patient YET AGAIN, ride out Clearys crappy contracts and Madge needs to start planning his assault on potential players he wants now. WTs fans deserve a solid team for one, not just a team relying on hail mary plays.

And there it is, another coach reaches into the same old bag of excuses…

Jesus our supporters are blind. No I’m not accepting failure but jesus we are trotting out a reserve grade forward pack. We did try hard and if he isnt tryimg to jag a top 8 spot he should be booted.

@guyofthetiger yeah, I suppose he should just tell the truth in public that the forward pack he has isnt good enough for first grade? I’m sure that’ll instill faith in the team from supporters and really raise the confidence of the players he coaches who need to trot out another 3 times this year.

@hsvjones I thought Talau went quite well for someone his age too. Showed he has enough to belong there in the future.

I would really like to see our club do to an opposition what Manly did to us. Starve possession, grind them down and then put them away.

@BalmainJnr said in Maguire proud of hard work in trying Manly defeat:

I would really like to see our club do to an opposition what Manly did to us. Starve possession, grind them down and then put them away.

Agree. The Manly game displayed all our deficiencies. Kick to the corners, make us take the hard yards and build pressure. We don’t have the forwards or wingers to get out of bad field position. We couldn’t do the same to them as Fonua Blake and Taupau made metres at will from their own end. DCE has a superior kicking game also. We played the game where they wanted as we were physically dominated. The penalties also kept the pressure on.

Anytime a team plays like Manly we will lose we can’t counter a brute force game plan. If they held the ball it would have been 50.

@TYGA said in Maguire proud of hard work in trying Manly defeat:

@BalmainJnr said in Maguire proud of hard work in trying Manly defeat:

I would really like to see our club do to an opposition what Manly did to us. Starve possession, grind them down and then put them away.

Agree. The Manly game displayed all our deficiencies. Kick to the corners, make us take the hard yards and build pressure. We don’t have the forwards or wingers to get out of bad field position. We couldn’t do the same to them as Fonua Blake and Taupau made metres at will from their own end. DCE has a superior kicking game also. We played the game where they wanted as we were physically dominated. The penalties also kept the pressure on.

Anytime a team plays like Manly we will lose we can’t counter a brute force game plan. If they held the ball it would have been 50.

Yeah - if they held the ball it would have been 50. If we GOT the ball it would have been closer than it was. Not sure what you are saying really.

@BalmainJnr like we did against NQL two weeks ago?