Knights 2018 squad

The telling sign is when we got ourselves in to good attacking position starting sets inside their 30. He offered nothing. You can't blame the forwards not grabbing metres in that scenario. I don't get how people defend him based on this excuse. It doesn't cut it. He went missing in every aspect a half should be having an impact in! Kicking in general play went to Lamb, and often if lamb wasn't available it went to anyone, anyone but Hodkinson. Oh but he has bad knees was the excuse. He went missing in attacking kicks near the try line whether to put in kicks attempting to score tries, or to secure a repeat set. Again, our SOO half let those duties slide to the rookie, his knees was rolled out as the excuse again.

In attacking movements in good attacking position he in the vast majority of cases just shoveled the ball along the line to let someone else have it, anybody but him. I saw him score a try once where he was going to just shovel it along the line as per normal, but a defender had sprinted up to block that option which left him the only option left to run. That defender had left a hole Hodkinson ran through to score. Hodkinson hadn't even noticed the player sprinting up, was going to dump it along the line until he looked to pass and couldn't.

And finally, after our rookie made a big error all but giving the game away, we find ourselves after the siren with a conversion attempt to send it to extra time, he did what he has proven he does well, he let someone else take it, the rookie that just messed up and hasn't kicked all game, and nearly all year. The predictable happened and Lamb shanked the kick, it was too much pressure for him, especially after just making a big error that cost the team the win. His excuse was that he thought the kick was from 10m further back. So a SOO half with all that experience, doesn't know where he is on the field? A seasoned goal kicker doesn't instantly assess the goal kick option, pros and cons as soon as the whistle blows a penalty? Good players want the ball in those pressure moments. They don't hide as Hodkinson does in virtually every aspect of a halves game.

You can't lump all that on the forwards.

He looked better in reserve grade, against reserve grade quality opposition. You would expect nothing less.
I like it
 
The guys I think will have a good off season;

Jack Cogger - he was one of our best trainers in the 2016 pre season. In the 2017 pre season he spent the whole time battling a groin injury and was mostly in the rehab group. He had one game at the start of the year and they decided to send him off for pretty major surgery and he took most of the season to get back to close to his best. As far as I can tell he'll go into pre season fully fit, and by the looks of him he spent his down time working on upper body strength. I expect he'll be back to one of our best trainers this year, after 2017 being pretty much a write off for him.

Danny Levi - Danny spent most of last pre season in the rehab group after back surgery, and really only got into full training just before the season kicked off. I think he has been getting fitter all season, and having a month or so to just train for his test debut now should see him at his lifetime fittest right now. If he gets through the WC OK, I can see him coming back to training and being at a whole new level of fitness, and he already led our tackling stats in 2017.

Jacob Saifiti - another guy who has had longterm injuries, but now seems to be over them, and should take training to a new level.

Kayln Ponga - from what I read, he seems to have Kurt Gidley like fitness, so he should go well.

Guerra is supposed to be a very committed trainer.

Buhrer came to the club as a noted hard trainer and showed that last off season.

Sam Stone went to a new level last off season and will need to lift just as much this year. He has it in him.

Pasami Saulo - he missed doing most of last off season with shoulder surgery and took half the season to get fit, but when he did get fit he was pumping out better numbers than guys like jack Stockwell and Micky Paea in reserve grade. If the 19 year old goes into a firstgrade off season fully fit he could make massive gains. He could do as well as the Saifiti brothers in their first off season.

Brown has said of most of the new guys that they are good trainers, so hopefully they will make it very competitive for everyone.
 
Herald saying Tyrone Amey will sign for 2018 and train fulltime for the first time.
The same article lists all our prop options and says Brown has high hopes for Pasami Saulo - who I think could be our best prop by 2019 or 20.
 
I rate both Amey and Saulo very good and with training with top line players could develop very well, see them as reserve graders developing over next 12 months to pressing for grade spot especially if those senior props finish up end of 2018, Heighinton and Lillyman.
 
I rate both Amey and Saulo very good and with training with top line players could develop very well, see them as reserve graders developing over next 12 months to pressing for grade spot especially if those senior props finish up end of 2018, Heighinton and Lillyman.
I'd like to see both of them get blooded next season at some point. It's good for these young guys to know what the difference is between first grade and reserve grade... I was hoping Browny would give them a taste at the end of this year so they could enter the offseason knowing exactly what it takes. Realistically I think we'll only see them in 2019. However you never know with injuries...

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Article in the Herald says Amey had off season surgery last year, so didn't have much of an off season, and then worked fulltime during the season - which makes his form during the NSW cup season even more impressive. He seems like a classic late developer who could make big gains this off season.
He doesn't look that big on the field, but I've stood next to him and he's a massive guy - built like a barrel.
 
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We really are looking good for the future hey , if the talent we are bringing through and the talent we have bought play the way we know they can then all I can say is ....WOO HOO bring it on ...2018 to learn each others games and gel as a team with constant improvement and then 2019 ....LOOK OUT...
 
And we still have 1.5mil in cap space apparently which is awesome that we are at this position with our roster looking so good. Yet still have room to move on more talent.
 
If the 2018 team can bottle some of the determination and eagerness shown at the end of the 2017 season with the experience and solid platform that comes with new signings , I think all Knights supporters will be more than pleased.
 
It is even more important now for the team to strive for better results won't automatically happen just because we have signed a number of top players.
 
On the Knights site, the announcement re start of training tomorrow says the kids stepping up from NYC are;
Matt Cooper,
Pasami Saulo,
Zac Hosking,
Brayden Musgrove,
Jack Johns
Tom Starling

I think I guessed all but Musgrove, but he isn't really a surprize even though he missed a lot of 2017 with injury. He is a big, impressive centre or wing who has played 2 years of NYC and made NSW pathways under 18s squad, although i'm not sure if he ever made the final team. Cooper, Starling, Musgrove and Saulo are all still young enough to play under 20s next year. I assume Cory Denniss, Nick Meaney and Brodie Jones are not mentioned because they will be having their second NRL preseason, although Jones is also young enough to play under 20s.
 
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We will have 6 19 year olds in the squad this year - Starling, Musgrove, Ponga, Cooper, Saulo and Jones. That is the most I can remember.
 
Do we have any idea of guys like bradie smith,braden Robson etc that were in/around top squad last year, or other promising u20 guys like dark,birsch,gudgeon,Crocker etc are somehow still affiliated in some capacity or were they have gone
 
Brown quoted in Herald as saying if team was picked tomorrow Sione would be centre.

Guess we're used to leaking like a sieve on the edges.
 
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