That's a good victory for Melbourne, Manly matched them for 60 odd minutes and it appeared the Sea Eagles were going to get home on the back of the crowd. Then Melbourne went to their bread and butter, Hughes did his best Cronk impersonation and just served it up for Vunivalu who summed it up no sweat. Smith bangs it over from the sideline and then to show it wasn't a fluke, they did exact same thing to take the game away from Manly. It was damn near a carbon copy, except Vunivalu's put down was far from clean.
Manly didn't do their chances any harm, I thought they were the better side until Munster pulled off his strip and Melbourne just camped inside the Sea Eagles' half until they came away with points.
I said it at the start of the year, the Dragons don't have any trust in their system or in each other. They can't take percentage plays or make a genuine effort to support because in the back of their minds they don't trust the other team mate. A lot of players look like they're on deaths row, like they know they won't have a job and they're worried about themselves and their own future. They know changes have to be made, but for whatever reason, McGregor has kept this side together and a lot of players have over-stayed their welcome.
The game was served up to them tonight, but even at the start of the year, I knew exactly how it would play out. The Tigers maybe lacking the skills, but Maguire has instilled enough confidence in the players he has and has shown he'll reward players based on form. It showed in the end and he's been able to attract some pretty handy players, particularly some up and comers coming through.
It'll be crazy if he lands Grant because he'll have two of the most promising hookers from Queensland and both of them should have be in the Broncos system.
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