Home truths hit Sea Eagles hard THE Sea Eagles are determined to reinforce the reputation of "the Fortress" when the Raiders come to town this evening.
The players have long taken pride in the success they have enjoyed at Brookvale Oval and the fact that it has long been regarded as as one of the most hostile venues for visiting teams.
But over the past month, Manly has uncharacteristically lost at home to South Sydney and Sydney Roosters.
That means in tonight's game with Canberra they face the possibility of losing three games in a row at Brookie for the first time since July 2005.
And that doesn't sit well with the players.
"Brookie, it is our fortress," said Jamie Buhrer.
"It is a place where we love to play and pride ourselves on making it an atmosphere that you don't want to come and play in.
"In the last two games we have played some good footy but haven't come away with a win and we will be looking to rectify that."
His thoughts were echoed by winger David Williams.
"We pride ourselves on winning every game at Brookie," he said.
"Knowing that stat, we will have to come out all guns blazing and really take back our home turf."
And centre Steve Matai added that the players love playing at Brookvale and having the fans cheering them on.
Buhrer believes the team will bounce back from their incredible defensive effort in their 10-all draw with the Storm on Monday night.
"At this stage we are feeling fine, we are doing our recovery throughout the week just like any team who has to go through a tough game of footy," he said.
Buhrer said the team could maintain its defensive workload.
"We wouldn't like to have to do it all the time," the forward said.
"Tooves (coach Geoff Toovey) has said ... throughout the year he doesn't know why we do it to ourselves. I think we will begin to rectify that over the coming weeks."
Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/home-truths-hit-sea-eagles-hard/story-fngr8iii-1226650141532
Topic: Manly desperate to restore Brookvale reputation against Raiders
