The pre-season 2026 thread

CornChippy said:
I haven't seen this posted here. Zero tackle put out a list of what they think our best roster setup is.

Like us they are not confident on who our halves should be lol.

www.zerotackle.com

NRL best 19s for 2026: Newcastle Knights

The hardest team in the NRL to work out?
www.zerotackle.com www.zerotackle.com
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In all honesty, I don't think this is crazy.

If you were going to play with Sharpe and Brown as your halves, you probably should just rip the band-aid off and play Sandon most of the game at 9, whether starting or if you start Harrison Graham instead.

I think you kind of have to have a genuine first receiver at lock if you have Dylan and Fletch as your halves, so yeah Crossland at 13. Then both another hooker and Gamble on the bench to relieve Phoenix.

I don't love it, but there is logic to it as Fletch looked better as a half when we played with Phoenix at 13, it allowed him to play wider.

I'd rather have more true middle forwards in the rotation, but if you wanted to counter that with the argument that a lot of our forwards are too **** to demand minutes, and you might as well just play Phoenix to get more ball movement and line speed, I don't have a great counter. Then your prop rotation is just J Saf and Mooney starting with a bench of Friz and whoever's demanding selection.

I look at it and think "this is a lot of shuffling around and also the team build immediately stops making sense if Phoenix is out", but yeah if you're arguing for Brown & Sharpe halves I sincerely think Phoenix at 13 is a necessary consequence to make it work, so I have to say I've seen crazier stuff on ZT.
 
Les Misérables said:
With our go-forward, Holbrook doesn't have a choice. He needs a specialist forward at 13
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Yeah the logic would be that you're just conceding you won't be able to punch holes through the middle and are reliant on ball movement in your own half and backline carries to get up the field. That's the solution to the small pack at the Dogs. But it looked horrible for basically the first full season of it.
 
Les Misérables said:
Its not a coincidence that we were held scoreless with Brown as the leading playmaker and halfback.

It's not a strength of his. Never has been. Not even for a single game of his career has he done a job in that role.

And if Brown is ineffective at steering the ship you'll seriously disappointed by what Sharpe has to offer in that capacity.

Those two cannot be paired together in this team. It doesnt work.
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We've just got to find a balance sort of like Cronulla in that first season with Nicho there, where he was the "leading playmaker" in the sense that a lot of their attack was built around what he's good at, but Moylan was actually doing a lot to steer them around & allow Nicho to play with freedom.

These things come with time and you can only really find the balance on the field, but if it's Sandon, Brown & Ponga as you and I assume, they all have different challenges this season:

Sandon has to find a balance between playing what he sees/taking risks and understanding that he makes about 35% the salary Kalyn and Dylan do for a reason, and so often he just needs to hit singles rather than go for a home run. Understand that he should measure his success by how prolific his teammates are in attack, not himself - but without losing individual threat.

Brown is our most experienced and talented half and has to learn to balance being the dominant general play kicker - I do think he's our best, particularly in yardage - with being the sort of player in attack he was in the Pac Champs. Funnily enough he actually touched the ball more than Foran, who did such a good job of what Moylan did for Nicho - being the "dominant playmaker" (organiser) but also the "secondary playmaker" (w/r/t actually setting up & scoring tries). The worry there is Foran & Moylan were both massively experienced, Sandon is not. But that's why Dylan can't just be dangerous run & pass guy, he's got to add the kicking load so he and Sandon are both making each other's lives easier rather than just one for the other. For $1.3 million a season I don't think it's unreasonable to demand.

And Kalyn needs to understand that he's *always* been at his best and most prolific getting fewer, higher quality possessions per game. He won the Dally M in his fewest touches per game season besides the one where he finished second in the Dally M. It's not all his fault because often the reason he's so aggressively looking for the ball is everyone else playing terribly and not making anything happen. But *surely* playing with Dylan and Sandon, it should be easier to spoonfeed him opportunities to look amazing. Float around behind the play & just pick your spots mate.
 
Was listening to Backstage and Cooper Johns made an interesting point that got me thinking about our culture a little bit.

It was along the lines of Storm and Penrith being motivated to win the premiership, and the buy in from staff and players to make it happen.

An interesting quote that got me thinking was “not everyone wants to win a premiership”…”everyone says they do to the media, and everything thinks we do” ‘ but some guys just like playing footy and hanging out with their mates and are happy with playing NRL’.

I feel, in some ways, making the Knights squad is kind of enough for some. They are pretty much the pinnacle of sport in Newcastle.

Just about getting the right people on board to help the group take the next step. Hopefully a change of voice can help steer things in a positive direction.

Edit:
Just adding, Holbrook doing some good things getting the players to engage with the “mining” side of things. Albeit for a bit of a photoshoot. But think the more community engagement with open sessions and fan days and things, the more the playing group can see what it means to the region. Penrith drew on their community as a motivation.
The Bulldogs are embracing their fans more and more with simple things like walking through their fans to the stadium seems to have given them a bit of extra motivation to draw on.
 
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There are definitely a few guys in that "just happy to be there" bucket. I would hazard a guess as to that being why Brodie is being gently ushered out the door.

I actually do think though that we have a lot of guys for whom the burning desire to compete is there, that's why we've had those late season charges when other teams are prepping for Mad Monday. Sincerely think on multiple occasions when we've made the finals, we've done so at the expense of certain teams who really should have finished ahead of us. Just my interpretation but I think the issue with the playing group more broadly has been a lack of ability rather than desire.
 
I’m gonna disagree and say it is a huge problem for us. I hear lots of talk about making the fans happy, the fans are happy if we try hard, that’s all they ask for, etc. But very rarely will I hear anyone from the Knights organisation talk about a burning desire to win a competition.

I think in our early successful days, we had several players, the likes of Joey, Chief, Buderus and BK, who were totally driven by success and wanted nothing other than to win a premiership, make rep sides, etc.

I think those types of players these days are actually as rare as hen’s teeth. So it’s no slight on us that we haven’t had any. But I think you need one or two of them to lead the club and drag the rest of the players up to that level.

I think a big indicator is things like 2024 … I think we were all hoping for a consistent, successful, top four year after 2023. Instead it looked like the entire club had taken the foot off the gas in pre-season and were satisfied with the previous year, and thought as long as we scrape into the finals again, anything can happen.

Not how it works if you genuinely want to win a premiership.
 
Paradoxically, I don’t think any of you are actually wrong.
The positives first:
Bradman, Lucas, Phoenix are three players who I would bet my life on are here to win a comp.
Then there’s others who I’m not really sure about, they may go through the motions.

But, Phoenix is the least talented of those three but I will defend him even if I make an arse out of myself. He quite literally commits to every tackle like his mother’s life depends on it.

Out of curiosity, I genuinely welcome every opinion here; does anyone think Dylan Lucas shouldn’t be the captain within the next 12 months? If he plays like he did last year, he’s my sole captain for 2027 and I’d extend his contract for as long as possible.
 
jamesgould said:
I’m gonna disagree and say it is a huge problem for us. I hear lots of talk about making the fans happy, the fans are happy if we try hard, that’s all they ask for, etc. But very rarely will I hear anyone from the Knights organisation talk about a burning desire to win a competition.

I think in our early successful days, we had several players, the likes of Joey, Chief, Buderus and BK, who were totally driven by success and wanted nothing other than to win a premiership, make rep sides, etc.

I think those types of players these days are actually as rare as hen’s teeth. So it’s no slight on us that we haven’t had any. But I think you need one or two of them to lead the club and drag the rest of the players up to that level.

I think a big indicator is things like 2024 … I think we were all hoping for a consistent, successful, top four year after 2023. Instead it looked like the entire club had taken the foot off the gas in pre-season and were satisfied with the previous year, and thought as long as we scrape into the finals again, anything can happen.

Not how it works if you genuinely want to win a premiership.
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Tend to agree. Frankly am sick of the lip service to the fans too. “We’ve got the best fans, they turn up not matter what, blah, blah, blah” yes that’s true, so maybe the team could try showing up no matter what as well.

The coal mining bit is cringe as **** too. Mining only makes up a relatively small percentage of the workforce particoin Newcastle itself where it accounts for hardly any, yet they act like they’re the only fans that matter

Despite what many think I actually believe KP is the one that wants to win the most. It’s no coincidence that most of their form runs come directly off the the back off his form. He dragged that team as far as he could in 24. There’s definitely others like Lucas, Crossland, Gags, Frizz, Best and I’d add Sharpe to that who want to win as well but I think the lack of talent an desire from a number of others outweighs them

Sadly I don’t think this club would even know what to do with success if them in the face. They put together a fantastic women’s teams with a great coach and won 2 comps. Then destroyed it all themselves due to mainly Parr wanting to give one of his social inept mates a job and sheer incompetence. So even if the men managed to find success along the way somehow, I’ve no doubt it wouldn’t last long because they’d find a way to sabotage it themselves
 
Newygirl said:
Tend to agree. Frankly am sick of the lip service to the fans too. “We’ve got the best fans, they turn up not matter what, blah, blah, blah” yes that’s true, so maybe the team could try showing up no matter what as well.

The coal mining bit is cringe as **** too. Mining only makes up a relatively small percentage of the workforce particoin Newcastle itself where it accounts for hardly any, yet they act like they’re the only fans that matter

Despite what many think I actually believe KP is the one that wants to win the most. It’s no coincidence that most of their form runs come directly off the the back off his form. He dragged that team as far as he could in 24. There’s definitely others like Lucas, Crossland, Gags, Frizz, Best and I’d add Sharpe to that who want to win as well but I think the lack of talent an desire from a number of others outweighs them

Sadly I don’t think this club would even know what to do with success if them in the face. They put together a fantastic women’s teams with a great coach and won 2 comps. Then destroyed it all themselves due to mainly Parr wanting to give one of his social inept mates a job and sheer incompetence. So even if the men managed to find success along the way somehow, I’ve no doubt it wouldn’t last long because they’d find a way to sabotage it themselves
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There is not much I could argue with here.
In fact, Newygirl has presented the most honest appraisal of the men’s and women’s presentation over the last few years.
Andrew Johns has said we will continue to be also-rans until we can develop our juniors to NRL standard, similar to the lead up to the 1997 and 2001 seasons.
He estimates 4-5 years before we get to that place.
Let’s hope he is right!
 
But I mean, in identifying "the players who want to win", Crossland is the only one of the names listed who isn't a past or future Origin calibre player. Seems like an interesting coincidence that the ones who stand out for really having the want and desire are the ones who are also better at footy than the other guys... and even then I'd say Crossland *is* quite talented, because the level of athleticism and motor he can bring at his size is itself a talent a lot of our other guys lack.

Also lowkey think Friz is probably the biggest "on field business decisions" guy in the team when we start playing bad. Can't blame him, it's giving him a very long career...
 
www.newcastleherald.com.au

'One team, one town': Justin Holbrook opens up on why he came home

The Knights start the season this week. We went one on one with the coach.
www.newcastleherald.com.au www.newcastleherald.com.au

So all those who hate "best pre-season ever" rhetoric will find this refreshing. Interview with Holbrook.

Holbrook says he had a full roster when he got here and hasn't signed anyone himself.
Says he mostly worked with the young guys and didn't get the "internationals" back till late (Brown, Crossland, Young etc). Also says he only had Ponga right at the end.

He does say a lot of positive things about the culture, the staff he has, the facilities and the talent coming through - but the thrust of the interview is that it was far from an ideal pre-season due to circumstances beyond his control - "worst pre-season ever?"
He probably only gets to use that excuse once.
 
Never thought the issue we had was a lack of effort in pre-season. When the attack has been clicking or at least good enough we’ve looked like one of the fitter and more committed clubs.

Continue to believe our issues had more to do with a head coach who was a bit too rigid, always years behind how the game was played, but more than anything else was this stress head who was either infecting the playing group with performance anxiety or lacking in any ability to remove the anxiety the players had. When your players are making breaks, then not being able to execute a simple catch and pass they’ve been doing all their lives till they hit first grade, if they’re in fact throwing 150kmph thunderbolts at their teammate’s heads instead, this to me reads like a symptom of severe performance anxiety and fear. When players are failing to defuse kicks because they’re where they expected the ball to be instead of watching where it’s going, and the ball is landing 15 metres away, that reads like a coach who doesn’t trust and empower players, one who wants robots.

It’s not about results per se, the #1 determinant of results is how good your players are IMO, the main thing the head coach usually does is allow them to be the best or at least a good version of themselves OR **** everything up. I don’t think the players are as bad as AOB has made them look.

Hey but maybe we’ll discover that actually we do just have a uniquely cacky-handed and stupid playing group, and AOB’s fascism was the one thing preventing total collapse all along.
 
jamesgould said:
I’m gonna disagree and say it is a huge problem for us. I hear lots of talk about making the fans happy, the fans are happy if we try hard, that’s all they ask for, etc. But very rarely will I hear anyone from the Knights organisation talk about a burning desire to win a competition.

I think in our early successful days, we had several players, the likes of Joey, Chief, Buderus and BK, who were totally driven by success and wanted nothing other than to win a premiership, make rep sides, etc.

I think those types of players these days are actually as rare as hen’s teeth. So it’s no slight on us that we haven’t had any. But I think you need one or two of them to lead the club and drag the rest of the players up to that level.

I think a big indicator is things like 2024 … I think we were all hoping for a consistent, successful, top four year after 2023. Instead it looked like the entire club had taken the foot off the gas in pre-season and were satisfied with the previous year, and thought as long as we scrape into the finals again, anything can happen.

Not how it works if you genuinely want to win a premiership.
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I call that attitude of not wanting to win every contest, the sugar bowl. You know when the sugar bowl starts. It is easy to pick. When the players walk back with their hands on their hips. You are correct James, all we want is for the players to have a go. The Knights system was broken for years the heart was not in the players chest, the sugar bowls came early in a game walking back watching the opposition kicker line the ball up for a shot at goal. Stupid free kicks given away because of frustration that things were not working out the way the players wanted it to.
We have a lot of talented players this year and a decent half to guide us around the paddock. If we have a team that believes they are good enough to win the sugar bowls will disappear, the cheap shots will disappear and the drive to win will land in bucket loads. If we don't win then we blame the reff because the lads tried their best.
I have been enthusiastic at the start of every year, this year is no different and this year feels a lot better than most.
 
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