Elimination Final - Knights V Raiders - Sunday 10 September 4:05pm - McDonald Jones Stadium

Match result

  • Total voters
    11
  • Poll closed .
Kurriboy said:
I'm still buzzing after yesterdays game.

I'd put that atmosphere against any rugby league atmosphere ever, grand finals included.

Most games you get some of the crowd for one team, some for the other. This was near 100% Knights. What a special night.

The pre game with Morgan Evans singing Long live the Newcastle Knights. Whole crowd singing along.
Early stage of the game and then the quiet when we went behind.
Whitehead throwing the ball away in to our in goal and Marzhew trying to hit him from 20 metres away with his NFL style throws.
Whitehead noticed and they had a little battle going for a bit there.
Biting incident and the crowd just going feral from then on. Booking anything Raiders.
The Whighton's a Wayne Kerr chant.
The poor Raiders drummer effectively just drumming for the Knights chant as no raiders chant could be heard.
Getting the win and the crowd just going crazy jumping up and down, haven't seen that since being at the SFS in 97' as Albert crossed the line to score.
The singing after the siren to the music, the whole crowd singing along to the songs like a giant party.
The booming Newcastle chants throughout the game, pre-game, post game, well after the siren, in the back of the grand stands on the way out.
That bloke who brought a raiders head with a sword through it complete with blood.
On field interviews after the game was like we had won the GF with the crowd going nuts.
Securing 10 wins in a row for the first time in the clubs history!

Truly one of those games to remember and be saying yep, I was there when the Knights beat the Raiders that day.
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I am envious, what a day you had while most just dream, saviour it for all time and thanks for sharing
 
Billy said:
Gags was playing left side for Souths between Johnston and Walker when he had his best ever year in 2021. People still talk about that as being the most deadly edge in recent times. He couldn't have had a sweeter gig.
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I still say he’s been better this year.
 
danknights said:
I'm not getting on the gags hype train. The eye test for me he hasn't been overly that impressive as other have stated. His still doing the pinball thing but doesn't really make metres doing it like he used too. His foot is clearly a hinderance to his style he likes to play.
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Yet somehow he averages a career high of 170 metres per game so far this season. More than any other centre in the NRL.
 
jamesgould said:
Yeah just rewatched the final few minutes of the game. Some absolutely huge runs from Gagai which were pretty instrumental in us getting the win. That's big game experience for you, when the crunch came Gagai stood up.
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The way he can find little seams in the defence to sneak through when everyone else is running in molasses is insane. He’s always been able to do it and has only gotten better with time. Can think of few other players with the same ability. I remember Justin Hodges having a lot of clever runs in him and I mentioned To’o earlier but no one else immediately springs to mind.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
I still say he’s been better this year.
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Gags is the King of tackle breaks and always has been, although Marzhew might have his measure. Best doesn't break tackles anywhere near as much as Gags - 145 tackle breaks for Gags and 55 for Bradman this year - but Gags has only 12 line breaks and Bradman 11 - so is all that energy worth it if it doesn't translate into points on the scoreboard?
I wouldn't want either of them to change their style because what they do works for them, and Bradman probably doesn't have the fitness to struggle in tackles like Gags and Gags doesn't have the size and power to burst through the line like Bradman - but I know who is having the most effect on the scoreboard this year - although it's pretty close and both are having a year they should be pretty proud of.
 
Billy said:
Gags is the King of tackle breaks and always has been, although Marzhew might have his measure. Best doesn't break tackles anywhere near as much as Gags - 145 tackle breaks for Gags and 55 for Bradman this year - but Gags has only 12 line breaks and Bradman 11 - so is all that energy worth it if it doesn't translate into points on the scoreboard?
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But it does though. Getting down the field more effectively than the other team makes it a hell of a lot easier to score those points. Bouncing off tackles and forcing the opposition to make extra efforts to put you down puts fatigue into the defensive line. This is why Penrith are so ridiculously dominant, not only do they get downfield so effectively, they also force defenders to do extra work to effect the tackle on a very high % of possessions. They’re not actually that lethal or even particularly efficient in attack, but they constantly put you under pressure while being themselves almost unbelievably good at not allowing themselves to be placed under any sort of sustained pressure. Gagai would fit right in over there.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a very high opinion of Bradman, and I think he’s a player we should do whatever it takes to hold onto, but a lot of his tries and assists this year have been fairly simple instances of getting saloon passage to the line or simple catch and pass stuff playing on the business end of a very effective offence, which he hasn’t gotten in previous seasons because of how bad we were in attack as a whole, not because he was doing much wrong personally.

He has impressed me in his ability to win quick play the balls when our attacking shifts to the left haven’t quite come off though, which makes it easier to then spread it wide and test the opposition on the right.
 
With Latrell Mitchell going for surgery and Val Holmes seemingly ruling himself out there's a solid enough chance that one of Bradman or Dane ends up in the green and gold at the end of the season.
 
You can more or less guarantee Hamiso Tabuai Fidow gets one centre spot this year. Will be a lot of competition for the other.
 
Craig Gower's rampage is still one of the greats:

In December 2005, Gower was fired as Panthers captain after incidents at a charity golf event where he argued with several guests, groped the then teenage daughter of former league player Wayne Pearce, chased Mitchell Pearce with a bottle before vomiting on him, streaked nude around the resort, stole and crashed a golf cart, held a butter knife to the throat of a Sydney radio personality before throwing it at resort guests, and engaged in a brawl with resort security before being ejected from the official function and detained by police. He was handed a "final warning" by the National Rugby League and fined A$100,000, with A$90,000 to be paid to an NRL programme encouraging the responsible use of alcohol by league players and $10,000 to replace the destroyed golf cart. Gower was "deeply unhappy" that the Penrith Panthers club did not defend his reputation, and at one stage threatened to "walk" from the club.
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HarVeeGee13 said:
Yet somehow he averages a career high of 170 metres per game so far this season. More than any other centre in the NRL.
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Yeah I'm just not sold on them being the best metres he can gain. The jink, pinball, half palm, slip through seems to take some effort from him for not much gained. I understand defences tire too but nobody seems to know what gags is doing for the attack side of things.

I love the individuality he brings but I'd love some cohesion or a set-play off the back of gags.
 
Jack Wighton has been found guilty of biting. 🤣🤣🤣

Wighton has been suspended for 3 games. The last 2 suspensions for biting have been 4 weeks.😡😡😡
 
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