2025 Witzer Pre-Season Challenge - Round 2 - Knights V Eels - McDonald Jones Stadium - 6:00pm Friday 14 February

Positives to take out of this:

• Brailey, Gamble, Marzhew, Friz, Jones all solid in the opening half.
• Matt Arthur very handy back up at hooker, got some smarts out of dummy half.
• Juniors look very promising for the future of the club.
• Sharpe’s halves transition looks promising, needs a bit of polish on his kicking and defence but he looks like he’ll pick it up quickly.

Negatives to take out of this:

• Defence non-existent at the best of times
• Can’t hold the footy
• Cogger

If it isn’t a Sharpe/Gamble halves combo to start the season AOB should be automatically fired.
 
MBQLD said:
Was hoping to see a different creature with a good preseason in Will Pryce… if Ponga is unavailable these are the opportunities he needs to grab with both hands and hasn’t done it again
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Im just waiting for pryces visa to expire honestly. Bloke looks out of place at cup level at times
 
Gamble way in front of Cogger at seven, Cogger is too much of a liability in defence. He gets bumped and gets caught out in the 20 zone. There was an instant improvement as soon as Gamble came on. I actually thought Hastings played well at 13. Not sure he makes the 17 but was good.

Sharpe definitely to keep him at six. He needs to back his ability to know when to run rather than pass. His denfence was not great. But I can deal with that as I’m confident he will get better. He has heaps of up side in attack.

Really happy with Brodie Jones. Herthington same stupid mistakes. I would have Jones and Croker bench rotation. Not sure I would have Cant at this stage in the side round 1, I would be leaning at Hastings.

Let’s see next week.
 
Sua was our best forward for the last month or so of reserve grade last year and I don't know how we could possibly pick Hetherington over him.
Jermaine McEwen has gone ahead of Cant.
Sharpe was strong in the tackles he was in position for, but wasn't marking up a few times a missed his tackle.
All-in all, only Hetherington, Cant and maybe Schiller were disappointing I thought.
I don't know what we do with the 14 - Brailey, Crossland, Arthur and Gamble could all make a case for it.
 
Billy said:
All-in all, only Hetherington, Cant and maybe Schiller were disappointing I thought.
I don't know what we do with the 14 - Brailey, Crossland, Arthur and Gamble could all make a case for it.
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Did you not think Cogger was disappointing?
 
Billy said:
Sua was our best forward for the last month or so of reserve grade last year and I don't know how we could possibly pick Hetherington over him.
Jermaine McEwen has gone ahead of Cant.
Sharpe was strong in the tackles he was in position for, but wasn't marking up a few times a missed his tackle.
All-in all, only Hetherington, Cant and maybe Schiller were disappointing I thought.
I don't know what we do with the 14 - Brailey, Crossland, Arthur and Gamble could all make a case for it.
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Pretty simple Billy. Gamble is our 7 as far as I’m concerned. Cogger to Reggie’s. In saying that unless I see a massive turn around between Gamble and cogger next week, that’s my pick.
 
You know it’s going to be a long season when Crossland and gamble look like the best halves pairing sharpe going to be a great player but he isn’t the answer to the 6 problem for the start of the year he was a long way off in defence
 
McEwen is ready for FG. Legitimate talent. Needs to be signed long term. Day light between him and the rest our juniors

Gamble put on a clinic, probably should start at 7.

Sharpe showed enough. I think he'll look twice as good with Ponga offsetting certain deficiencies and complimenting certain strengths.

Arthur is FG ready. A similar player to Robson.

Hopwood is very young and needs another couple years but there's a very intelligent and capable footballer there.

Might seen a little premature given his age but I reckon Votano lacks the explosivity to be an NRL fullback. He needs to be viewed as either a wing or centre imo
 
Gamble did more than enough to get the 7 jumper, I want to see how Sharpe goes with our first choice squad, he needs stronger defence around him and possibly a Tony Carrol type of guardian
 
Chaister said:
Cogger and Pryce (+ Jack) were the worst on field by far I thought.
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This next week’s priority for the Knights is defence. Even though it was a trial, conceding 44 points in any game, even a trial is inexcusable.
There were many misses, poor first contact, and allowing too many post contact metres.
Defence wins games, any games, if it is done with correct technique, intensity and attitude.
Start there, and start the season again next week.
PS
A lot of our young guys had great games and several should make their debuts in 2025.
 
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