ROUND 22 - NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS V CRONULLA SHARKS

NEWCASTLE OR CRONULLA

  • NEWCASTLE 13+

    Votes: 4 21.1%

  • NEWCASTLE 1 - 12

    Votes: 8 42.1%

  • Draw

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • CRONULLA 1 - 12

    Votes: 2 10.5%

  • CRONULLA 13+

    Votes: 5 26.3%
  • Total voters
    19
Was very worried about this game, justifiably so the way we played. Sharks had to win and played strong and hard, we could afford to lose and played a bit lazy/cautious. We scored early to everyone’s surprise then we thought we had it.
Our spine was ordinary, no leadership, they all tried things but but not together. We had a plan, I think, but when it didn’t work we didn’t change it. Barnett was criticised on here for getting in the way but he just gave his all and did some great things he kept getting the ball because he made himself available, several runs, a steal and some critical tackles, MOTM stuff for me and I am not a fan. Others to play well, Ponga a bit off and on, Best looked dangerous but was better at creating, Tuala has been so much better at left wing with Best inside him, dangerous 5 tries in two weeks. Frizell, Klem, JSaf and DSaf unsurprisingly always good and strong. The spine was a bit disappointing with each player doing a bit but not together. Watson was not so good starting as coming on later, better with Sue/Barnett starting at 13 and Watson at 14
Overall the team seems to lack combinations and we lack line breaks, we seem to run at the defence rather than avoid it
 
Yep as above. Problem is we don't create the space, especially that game, everyone was so flat in attack. If your playing flat you've gotta play hard but we were lost in attack.
 
danknights said:
Hannay criticized the refs for giving Newcastle the 50/50 calls. What game was he watching?
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Banging on about best being driven back in goal, and a few other things, did he not see cronulla first try came from a attacking raid that 2 meters out they clearly knock the ball on and the ref allows it to play on, or the endless amount of 6 agains they got handed FFS
 
nunnsy said:
Watching the game i thought the sharks were getting up and playing the ball i lot quicker then us. I just had a look at the stats apparently our play the ball speed average was quicker.
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The way they record average play the ball speed doesn’t reflect how quick the actual ruck is or if that team got any kind of roll on. Players like Cameron Murray who are known for slipping between defenders then getting the ball to the dummy half quickly often record pretty slow average PtB speed numbers which don’t line up with the eye test at all. It’s a stat which can be very misleading.
 
Looking at the Sharks presser, they are gutted and say they couldn't have tried harder.
My impression was that the game didn't rise to any great heights and we didn't play well, but listening to Sharks presser you'd have to think that was as good as those two mid table teams can go.
 
Billy said:
Looking at the Sharks presser, they are gutted and say they couldn't have tried harder.
My impression was that the game didn't rise to any great heights and we didn't play well, but listening to Sharks presser you'd have to think that was as good as those two mid table teams can go.
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I think that was as good as the sharks could have gone remembering they are missing some key players, I would like to think we can go better.
 
It's hard to have faith in this team. On one hand you look at how bad we've been playing, with all our key players on deck. It's borderline unacceptable, we have the quality there in Ponga, Pearce, the Saifitis, Klem, Friz, Brailey, Watson. Best is a rising star. There should be no excuses.

And then on the other hand, we're running 7th, won half our games with Pearce & Ponga missing most of the season. It's hard to imagine we wouldn't have picked up more wins if they played most of the year so who knows where we could have been. Will be interesting to see how much fight we put up if we do indeed make the finals. Will be hard to have faith in Obi if we go out meekly again.
 
krustykraz said:
On a positive note,
Clifford's goal kicking was great.
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Probably can't judge his goalkicking on a couple of good games, but it does look like he has been taking lessons and has improved a lot. He was no better than Ponga in his first few games for us.
 
I thought it was a game where the sharks turned up to play their finals match and one where we thought our skill would see us through. Scoring so early maybe didn't help us knuckle down in hindsight, although it proved crucial in the end.

I think the turn around at half time is a massive positive. Obi obviously changed their mindset, the forwards went up a few notches and we hardly made a mistake in the second half. When we are gritty like that, good things happen for us. I thought we really came up with the big plays in the second half. Credit to Cronulla, they played very, very tough.
 
Billy said:
Probably can't judge his goalkicking on a couple of good games, but it does look like he has been taking lessons and has improved a lot. He was no better than Ponga in his first few games for us.
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He probably wasn’t practicing that much at the Cowboys
 
In hindsight we played awful with the ball. But what did they score off? A drop ball from Mann, and failing to wrap the ball up scrambling on our own line. Best part about it was there was no strolling through our defensive line.

Id much rather see Hunt in the centres and Toa on the wing. Would be good to try it against the dogs.
 
packo said:
In hindsight we played awful with the ball. But what did they score off? A drop ball from Mann, and failing to wrap the ball up scrambling on our own line. Best part about it was there was no strolling through our defensive line.

Id much rather see Hunt in the centres and Toa on the wing. Would be good to try it against the dogs.
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You are right we were horrible with the ball but sharks were lucky with their two trys.

Also regarding Mann, I don't think he has actually been that bad the last few weeks in the centres.
 
Billy said:
Looking at the Sharks presser, they are gutted and say they couldn't have tried harder.
My impression was that the game didn't rise to any great heights and we didn't play well, but listening to Sharks presser you'd have to think that was as good as those two mid table teams can go.
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Nah, that was just more of his ref whInge. Saying we tried our guts out but didnt get the points due to the ref not giving us calls.

Both teams had some dud calls, they didnt take their chances to ice the game. We did.
 
Going over the game again, yeah Barnett’s strip & his ball running both very impressive. But the first Sharks try was mainly caused by him defending way too narrow, and that eye catching last ditch try-saving tackle was him making up for a fairly poor miss on the initial break, again from standing too narrow.

Clearly has all the attributes to be a great backrower, but this is why I find him so frustrating. Great highlights, consistent issues with the basics.

I think probably he should be pencilled in as the 2nd row on the left edge next year, and we should be looking to sign a middle who can give you something as a starter at 13 (the off-contract list for edge backrowers is dire but there’s some middles we could get in who could do a job for sure, and I know we love Connor but again I think he was a vulnerability as a starter at 13 yesterday). But we need more from him in the attention to detail areas, and if fewer highlights are the trade-off I’ll take it.

Would be nice if Brodie or Jirah could put their hand up to claim one of those spots and make all this a moot point.
 
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