TRIAL 1 - NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS V CANTERBURY BULLBOGS 21/2/2022
- Thread starter Billy
- Start date
Captain Planet
James Wynne
Dominic Young !!!! We got speed !!!!!
Fitzgibbon just plodded along, does he even make our top 17 ?
Fitzgibbon just plodded along, does he even make our top 17 ?
Ethan
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
He may have to watch his back from young Thompson ... Young could have had 4 try's if the passes had gone straight too him and not had to jump to get them .
Vaella and Crocker looked good too along with Thompson we look to have some good young forwards coming through .
Kickitoverhere
Steve Fulmer
I thought dom young looked quite poor. Tried to finish with ball in the wrong hand, kept trying to take on the defense in the outside at inappropriate times and was too shallow. He’s a great athlete but needs to learn how to play on the wing
Ethan
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Don't agree with this at all he could have had four try's if the passes to him had been spot on . Momoisea had the worst game for us dropping 3 easy catches and costing us a lot of ground and stiffling our attack BUT i like him and i hope he gets another start.
Yeah i think it was johns who said one of his strengths was his confidence and his willing to step up in big moments. I have seen him step up plenty of times but can remember him getting a result.
Captain Planet
James Wynne
the positive thing it was ponga always running that left side attack, clune running plays, frees up ponga to roam and not getting targeted as much, was great to see Clifford running the ball looks like a genuine 5/8
slotmachine
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Would you prefer hoy who was trying lots of things, a couple worked but plenty didn't.
Or Crossland who may as well not have been out there he was that passive once he got a chance in the halves?
The best ball playing in the second half was the move hoy and Baker put on down the right hand side.
Hoy even did more kicking, although his first effort was a terrible up and under, and Crossland got a repeat set with his only kick.
Or Crossland who may as well not have been out there he was that passive once he got a chance in the halves?
The best ball playing in the second half was the move hoy and Baker put on down the right hand side.
Hoy even did more kicking, although his first effort was a terrible up and under, and Crossland got a repeat set with his only kick.
Treadly
Todd Bates
Yeah Momo looked good at times but had butter fingers. Pretty close to my Young impression. His catches weren't easy but neither should he have dropped them all.
danknights
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Yep. Something tuala has over him is the handling skills.
krustykraz
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
I liked what I seen.
Clune and Clifford combo looks good and will hopefully keep improving.
Mann did better than I expected.
It looks as if Joey is working with the halves and forwards. Klem and Friz were used better than last year and Klems Try Assist was class.
If Klem and Friz get used effectively all year we could have a big year.
Clune and Clifford combo looks good and will hopefully keep improving.
Mann did better than I expected.
It looks as if Joey is working with the halves and forwards. Klem and Friz were used better than last year and Klems Try Assist was class.
If Klem and Friz get used effectively all year we could have a big year.
slotmachine
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
There were a few that didn't look to get out of first gear. KP, the safs and both the centres didn't do much either for example.
But they are all guaranteed a gig in round 1 and fitz not...
krustykraz
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Spine depth is a massive concern this year.
I think Crossland should be playing half in Cup every week to get his game up to speed incase Clune of Clifford get injured.
Crossland playing 14 or 18 isn't going to help his game imo.
I think Crossland should be playing half in Cup every week to get his game up to speed incase Clune of Clifford get injured.
Crossland playing 14 or 18 isn't going to help his game imo.
The Gidley flick
Marty Crequer
You'll probably find he will cause wasn't simi training to.be the utility
Captain Planet
James Wynne
I concur…was waiting for him to fk up…but didn’t, hopefully
he continues to play well/improve just out of spite of us bagging him…
Billy
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Finally got to watch the game.
The best spell at hooker was the 10 or 15 minutes by Crossland before halftime. He was passing well, looking for a chance to run and having some good impact when he did, took a few decent kicks and he defended like a champion as well.
Nothing wrong with what Randy did, but O'Brien must be at least thinking about if he should use Crossland at hooker.
The other thing that stood out for me was the two workhorse middle forwards who have always put in massive shifts in the lower grades - Croker and Purcell - kept us in that game for the last 20 minutes by tackling everything that moved for set after set after set.
It's been said before, but last year Young would go for a couple of decent runs and spend the rest of the game trying to catch his breath. In this game he was chasing work and looking fresh for his whole time on the field.
Mac Baker is a very under rated option for us at fullback.
The best spell at hooker was the 10 or 15 minutes by Crossland before halftime. He was passing well, looking for a chance to run and having some good impact when he did, took a few decent kicks and he defended like a champion as well.
Nothing wrong with what Randy did, but O'Brien must be at least thinking about if he should use Crossland at hooker.
The other thing that stood out for me was the two workhorse middle forwards who have always put in massive shifts in the lower grades - Croker and Purcell - kept us in that game for the last 20 minutes by tackling everything that moved for set after set after set.
It's been said before, but last year Young would go for a couple of decent runs and spend the rest of the game trying to catch his breath. In this game he was chasing work and looking fresh for his whole time on the field.
Mac Baker is a very under rated option for us at fullback.
Still_Nutty
Josh Smith
Will try not to cover some of the ground already discussed....
* Really liked the forethought of Adzy to use the trial as a capability building exercise based on the potential for COVID to affect the coaching framework during the season- putting Rory in the box and giving him 'control' of the trial. I know he had a radio to communicate but I suspect that was more to say that he'd seen what he wanted to see from certain players and combo's and to rotate them out so he could see more broadly what the club wanted to explore with combinations in the trial.
* I think Phoenix Crossland is going to grow into the bench utility role but he is still developing the skill sets of covering multiple positions - although I don't think he was terrible Billy, I did think his dummy half service was adequate but pretty poor on occasion (one of the passes Momo put down was on Crossland, not him) but I agree, defensively he is strong, he was pushed into the first receiver role for a while and did the catch and pass thing OK but (clearly under instruction) he wasn't expected to use any initiative in that role and I think instruction (by Joey most likely) was generally 'give it to Tex', he put one nice kick through to get a repeat set.
Whether he is cut out for that key bench utility spot longer term is debatable but I do also note that he is still only 21 and been chopped and changed over the past 2 years. This has also been further impacted through COVID not giving him much of an opportunity to build that capability via a traditional lower grade learning and development pathway, .
I still think there is a solid NRL footballer in there that can be an asset in first grade but they need to give him the time, opportunity and continuity to develop into what they want him to be.
* Our defensive foundations right through the club are now becoming the sort of structures that the top level clubs have built and sustained - to see that defensive resilience in the lower grade players in the second half of that trial was one of the most heartening things I have seen for the future of the Knights. Turning up and scrambling for repeat set after repeat set (the Bulldogs had 74% of the possession over much of that 2nd half) without crumbling was the stuff we only dreamt of in our club a couple of years ago - Adzy's influence in bringing this benchmark can not be overstated. Even in the first 30 minutes, the only tries they scored were long range opportunistic efforts off 2 handling errors, whilst we were deep in attack.
* really happy with the debut of Clune and the all round game he brings - what excited me more than some of the skills I'd noted from the video footage I'd already seen, was the speed and chase effort in those 2 runaway tries that the Bulldogs put on in the first half - I've said in other posts, we were going to miss the 1%ers Brailey brought, including those sorts of effort on effort plays but it seems Clune also brings that to our club.
* also really happy to see the developing talent coming through the ranks in both the forward and the backs - special mention for Mac Baker...although he was obviously asked to play second fiddle to Tex, this kid exuded class out there for me and I'm excited to see his progression into first grade in the coming years. It also became apparent to me, after seeing the emerging forwards we have coming through, that letting King move on wasn't a surprising decision for the club after all - we have some serious fire power developing for the future if they continue on developing.
* and finally, really impressed with the development and potential of Dominic Young...definitely still learning his craft and some will say a big call but IMHO he is going to be one of the best wingers this club has seen within the next 2-3 years if he stays fit and injury free. That effort to try and steamroll 3-4 Dogs players including Okunbor, when he ended up just inches short, was the sort of effort that will see him be a crowd favourite bigger than Aku was in his heyday...and the take in-goal to defuse that bomb is something we need to see more of down the other end for him to be scoring tries - great leap!
www.nrl.com
* Really liked the forethought of Adzy to use the trial as a capability building exercise based on the potential for COVID to affect the coaching framework during the season- putting Rory in the box and giving him 'control' of the trial. I know he had a radio to communicate but I suspect that was more to say that he'd seen what he wanted to see from certain players and combo's and to rotate them out so he could see more broadly what the club wanted to explore with combinations in the trial.
* I think Phoenix Crossland is going to grow into the bench utility role but he is still developing the skill sets of covering multiple positions - although I don't think he was terrible Billy, I did think his dummy half service was adequate but pretty poor on occasion (one of the passes Momo put down was on Crossland, not him) but I agree, defensively he is strong, he was pushed into the first receiver role for a while and did the catch and pass thing OK but (clearly under instruction) he wasn't expected to use any initiative in that role and I think instruction (by Joey most likely) was generally 'give it to Tex', he put one nice kick through to get a repeat set.
Whether he is cut out for that key bench utility spot longer term is debatable but I do also note that he is still only 21 and been chopped and changed over the past 2 years. This has also been further impacted through COVID not giving him much of an opportunity to build that capability via a traditional lower grade learning and development pathway, .
I still think there is a solid NRL footballer in there that can be an asset in first grade but they need to give him the time, opportunity and continuity to develop into what they want him to be.
* Our defensive foundations right through the club are now becoming the sort of structures that the top level clubs have built and sustained - to see that defensive resilience in the lower grade players in the second half of that trial was one of the most heartening things I have seen for the future of the Knights. Turning up and scrambling for repeat set after repeat set (the Bulldogs had 74% of the possession over much of that 2nd half) without crumbling was the stuff we only dreamt of in our club a couple of years ago - Adzy's influence in bringing this benchmark can not be overstated. Even in the first 30 minutes, the only tries they scored were long range opportunistic efforts off 2 handling errors, whilst we were deep in attack.
* really happy with the debut of Clune and the all round game he brings - what excited me more than some of the skills I'd noted from the video footage I'd already seen, was the speed and chase effort in those 2 runaway tries that the Bulldogs put on in the first half - I've said in other posts, we were going to miss the 1%ers Brailey brought, including those sorts of effort on effort plays but it seems Clune also brings that to our club.
* also really happy to see the developing talent coming through the ranks in both the forward and the backs - special mention for Mac Baker...although he was obviously asked to play second fiddle to Tex, this kid exuded class out there for me and I'm excited to see his progression into first grade in the coming years. It also became apparent to me, after seeing the emerging forwards we have coming through, that letting King move on wasn't a surprising decision for the club after all - we have some serious fire power developing for the future if they continue on developing.
* and finally, really impressed with the development and potential of Dominic Young...definitely still learning his craft and some will say a big call but IMHO he is going to be one of the best wingers this club has seen within the next 2-3 years if he stays fit and injury free. That effort to try and steamroll 3-4 Dogs players including Okunbor, when he ended up just inches short, was the sort of effort that will see him be a crowd favourite bigger than Aku was in his heyday...and the take in-goal to defuse that bomb is something we need to see more of down the other end for him to be scoring tries - great leap!
Dom Young building nicely for Newcastle
Dominic Young looked good for the Newcastle Knights against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs during Round 1 of the 2022 NRL pre-season
www.nrl.com
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Joshhh
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Yeah he looked lively, I was getting Benny Barba vibes from him during his stint (not to say he's anywhere as good). I think he'd go good. Shame we didn't get to see much of Hodgson, outside of some fancy footwork. I just feel he's very fresh faced at the moment, he's not just a smaller frame, but he's also just a 19-year old kid, he'll get beat up every week and the Bulldogs tried. We shouldn't rush him, the more pre-seasons he does, the more his body develops, more gradual experience he gets, the better he will be.
Billy
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Stand-in Knights coach Kostjasyn on the Bulldogs trial draw
The assistant coach's verdict on the 16-all draw.
Kostjasyn talks about Clune, Clifford and Young, but says he is most proud of the young players who defended in the second half.
I thought all the young guys were great, but Croker, Purcell and Talty tackled themselves to a standstill.