NRL Round 1 - Knights Vs Cowboys - 1:15pm Sunday 1st March (AEDT) - Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas

I did want to highlight a negative here and that was Dom Young.

I spotted some lazy moments from him one of which was walking in back play when he should have been pushing up and supporting Fletcher Sharpe. Coach needs to be highlighting that play and asking what he was doing there.

We need to keep this going. Keep this defensive effort going. We squander out start every season and if we have any designs on playing finals it is in the first half of the year we set ourselves up for that result. We can't afford to be 10 weeks in and languishing out of touch with the 8.
 
Kurriboy said:
I did want to highlight a negative here and that was Dom Young.

I spotted some lazy moments from him one of which was walking in back play when he should have been pushing up and supporting Fletcher Sharpe. Coach needs to be highlighting that play and asking what he was doing there.

We need to keep this going. Keep this defensive effort going. We squander out start every season and if we have any designs on playing finals it is in the first half of the year we set ourselves up for that result. We can't afford to be 10 weeks in and languishing out of touch with the 8.
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Dom said in an article during the week that he's done very little training because of his broken foot and really needed the hit out in the trial - so he's still pretty much half fit. He'll be better for this game.
 
Also, I got sick of hearing them jizz over Tal every run when his runs were ordinary and nothing at all like the Tal of old barnstorming runs. They were extoling his quality first stint when in reality he was fairly ordinary.
 
I think banking early wins while we are clunky, developing combinations is very important. We will be a much better team at the back end of the season, so if we can play like today for the first third or so, hopefully we'll be sitting 4-8th when we actually hit our straps.
 
Alright, had a bit of time to cool down.

I thought Ponga looked refreshed. If he keeps this going, he can probably add another Dally M to his bookshelf, and we are gonna be in a real tricky spot whether we extend his contract. Anyway, early days, but I liked what I saw. Was still getting involved at first receiver a bit. But seems like Holbrook has a better plan.

Sharpe looked great. Really took a bit to adjust when he went off. Can probably chalk off their first try to his injury. I agree with the sentiment on here that if he stayed on, I think we put on some more points. Hopefully just a short term injury. Things just happen around him.

Smith took a little to warm into things, which is understandable. But when he did, he did some great things. The inside ball to Ponga was *chefs kiss*. Just what I’ve been dying to see.

Thought mostly everyone put in a really solid performance.

The try where they went 90metres. Gags got there to put contact on the receiver, but there was no support to back him up, leading to the staggered line and I don’t think we recovered that set.

A 40/20 from Crossland. Just what I wished for. Love that. If he adds that to his game, that’s just another thing for teams to be mindful of. Love it.

Brown did well. I think he did exactly the job required of him. He will be better for that run. The combinations with Ponga are enough to scare any defence.

There were some moments that looked like a team that trained a play. One of our first sets, we had Ponga and sharpe left, we sent the ball right to Brown who hits Croker, who fires it back across the ruck to Ponga to kick in behind for Sharpe. It could have been a botched last play. But it looked too smooth, send the fullback and most of the defence one way, and go back to the space and we had a 3 on 1 kick chase. If that was a set play, again, I love it.

I’m trying to enjoy this. But…I think the Cowboys are absolutely wooden spoon candidates. They were pretty dreadful. However, they don’t really look like they can improve too much. Mostly our mistakes or errors that gave them points. On the other hand, we had some poor moments but boy, when things clicked, we looked great.

Definitely a work In progress, but I’m excited to see where it leads. Just glad to score some points and look like we are capable of scoring.
 
www.newcastleherald.com.au

'Nothing serious': Knights coach confident Fletcher Sharpe will be cleared of ACL injury

Historic moment for Hunter club in US city amid injury drama.
www.newcastleherald.com.au www.newcastleherald.com.au

Article in the Herald that gives mixed messages about Sharpe's injury.
Quotes the coach from the presser as saying he doesn't think it's serious.
Quotes Sharpe as saying it happened when he changed direction and just didn't feel right, but he has no pain and only a bit of restricted movement. Also says he stayed in his uniform and sat on the bench for the rest of the game.
Says he will have scans when he returns home.
 
The pleasing thing about the match was that even if they had actually lost the game, they definitely weren’t a punish to watch. Nice to actually enjoy how they played for a change even if there’s still a lot to work on.

Thought KP played really well considering he hadn’t had a change to train with the team all summer. Pretty much everyone made a good account of themselves which was nice
 
danknights said:
If sharpe stays on I reckon we nearly hit the 40. He looked Sharpe for a lack of a better word. Bloke is an everywhere man. Better than ponga and if he plays for another team I'll be absolutely shattered.
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Why I think he was undeniable as the 6 in Holbrook mind. Think he held his gloves up in that role akso
 
danknights said:
If sharpe stays on I reckon we nearly hit the 40. He looked Sharpe for a lack of a better word. Bloke is an everywhere man. Better than ponga and if he plays for another team I'll be absolutely shattered.
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They’re different. I’m going to find it easier to buy into Sharpe as a half if Kalyn keeps playing like he did today. Sharpe’s try and near-try before that came from two pinpoint Ponga kicks. The one he set up for Greg came off the back of Brown landing one on Tom Chester’s head - Chester is an iffy athlete so easy bat back for Bradman there. He was playing really well but in a context of being allowed to do what he does best.
 
Watching back the highlights and there’s some good skill shown in all of the tries.

- Sharpe jumping over Drinkwater
- Marzhew powering through multiple defenders in a way few other wingers can
- Frizell late offload into some great vision from Smith to put Ponga in space
- Good setup from Brown and quick hands from Gagai on Dom’s try
- Dom catch and offload to Mooney for the final try

More fun than watching a single, sad consolation try in the 77th minute when the opposition has clocked off.
 
Had time to think about it, to enjoy it, was a very good effort, big game from most, we can be better. Yes sad if we miss Sharpe for many weeks but Smith looked ok/good.
Ponga was great, ran well, created opportunities. Young was strong but not at his best, Gagai was strong defensively, looked good, Best was his usual self but didn’t get as much opportunity partly because of a disjointed spine, Sharpe injury. Marzhew was strong but opposition didn’t seem to use high ball to him, his try was pure strength and determination. Sharpe, strong fast but unfortunately injured early. Brown, classy display, he was involved in many plays. JSaf probably his best game in a season or two, very strong both in attack and defence. Crossland, usual big effort, one poor pass overridden by 40/20 kick, 50?+ tackles. Mooney played strong, tackled well, great game winning try backing up a winger. Lucas played his usual strong defence and attack game, alway good. McEwen played well but needs more time, will be very good as he progresses. Croker started at 13, was a good choice played lots of minutes without a break and was probably his best game, especially starting. Smith had more minutes than expected and showed touches, especially his pass to Ponga resulting in a try. Frizell moved to bench, like him up front replacing 8-10, experience, makes ground, makes tackles, strong efforts. Cant gives it all but seems more useful in last 20 or so. Saulo wasn’t great but did chase a kick that got us the ball back, big effort for a prop but he seems more an injury replacement rather than a top 17.
Happy with most of top 17 with Saulo, Cant and McEwen areas of concern. Saulo has problems breaking the line, Cant seems more suited to 18/19 while McEwen shows a lot of promise and needs a bit more time, maybe short stints of 14-17 for further development.
If Sharpe is missing for X amount of weeks we will need a 14 to cover 9 and 7, Gamble? Hopefully not needed
Sorry bit wordy trying to top Harvey in word volume
 
something else I wanted to recognise was the team rising to an occasion on a big stage, at a big event.

In the past we haven't been the best at turning up to "special" days, like player debuts or anniversary games. It was great that we flew over there, allowed themselves time to soak in the atmosphere and Vegas, then got back to work and turned in a good solid performance. This sort of game would have been near certain loss in the past.

And with Sharpe going out early and a change in the halves, the team didn't panic or struggle really and were in the arm wrestle the whole game I thought without an obvious period in the game where we were flat. I thought it was a consistent effort for the 80 that got the result.
 
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