NRL Round 24 - Knights Vs Titans - 2:00pm Sunday, 16th of August - McDonald Jones Stadium

The Artist Formerly Known as Aku'd said:
I think the late tries matter big time. It’s about consistency and discipline. Setting standards for next year when we could arguably and rightly be favourites for top 4. Start setting these standards now and don’t give away **** tries versus a **** team. Particularly when it could be out of us and Souths for 6th place. Don’t leave it to chance. But anyway, no injuries (Dane not too serious hopefully) and the 2 points is big.
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Don’t think it matters that much considering the context of the game. The Fermor try was a bit of a fluke of a team throwing the ball around. Don’t know what happen with the next one, but likely players not putting their body on the lines, which I’d rather players not get injured. We iced the win at the right moments, that’s all that matters.
 
jamesgould said:
I noticed on that Fox momentum tracker thingee ... which actually seems very accurate whenever I notice it, I have to say ... our first two tries in the second half were during periods of heavy Titans dominance/momentum.

That will be the thing that really worries other sides in the finals. They can control possession, territory, errors and all that, and we can still score points.

I don't think anyone will be wanting to play us.
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Yeah that’s how Brisbane won it last year, they were never out of the game because they could just pile on points easily. Brisbane were more reliant on Walsh’s run of form than we are on KP. Even with Brown and Lucas out we still have more attacking threats than they did
 
Manuleleua was quiet today. No hate, he's deserving of a bit of a quiet one, he's been special for the past few weeks. Attack was pretty clunky going to the left though. McEwen takes some tough carries on the other end, especially when we're on the back foot.
 
Overall a decent win. Looked elite in patches, looked terrible in others but winning is winning.

Keen for next Saturday game with Best and JSaf back.

Unbelievable at the amount of injuries we have and still win. I hear commentators constantly say Dyl x 2 being out and yes but hardly ever mention Best, Crossland (last week), JSaf plus 2 Dyls.

Certainly exceeded my expectations but still hardly rate a mention with media. Although interestingly 5 finals in 7 years is actually decent. How many teams would take that?

For context, Brisbane 2 in 7 (yes yes I know 2 grand finals and a premiership but still)
 
Jon Snow said:
Don’t think it matters that much considering the context of the game. The Fermor try was a bit of a fluke of a team throwing the ball around. Don’t know what happen with the next one, but likely players not putting their body on the lines, which I’d rather players not get injured. We iced the win at the right moments, that’s all that matters.
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I completely agree with all that. My point is that you don’t see the teams competing at the top letting in pi$$ weak tries like we just did at the end (they also wouldn’t want players putting bodies on the line for no reason etc….). To be fair it was a theme throughout the game - periods of switching off and conceding weak tries. If I was the coach I’d want to start seeing less of that. It matters.
 
Couldn't ask for a better ending to the season, in my opinion. We need to take care of business next week, but we can almost treat the game against the Wahs like a finals game. Not saying we're on their level, but we need to come into finals looking sharp. Then the week off to rest up, before we go hard again for a Home (hopefully) Semi.
 
Yeah I’m more keen for us to not make those poor errors that let the other team in, in the middle of the game.
Saifiti will make a big difference when back to. Really notice the ruck getting dominated when crouch and Can’t are both on at same time. Not bagging, they are good squad players to have, it’s just a massive difference between them and elite first graders.
 
Jon Snow said:
Yeah I’m more keen for us to not make those poor errors that let the other team in, in the middle of the game.
Saifiti will make a big difference when back to. Really notice the ruck getting dominated when crouch and Can’t are both on at same time. Not bagging, they are good squad players to have, it’s just a massive difference between them and elite first graders.
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The positive is that Cody has come quite a long way in his ability to be a good physical presence as a starter even if his numbers don’t jump off the page, which should in theory mean he will bring a lot more physicality off the bench than we’ve had lately.
 
Sheent14 said:
Manuleleua was quiet today. No hate, he's deserving of a bit of a quiet one, he's been special for the past few weeks. Attack was pretty clunky going to the left though. McEwen takes some tough carries on the other end, especially when we're on the back foot.
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He looked injured to me today. Was hobbling a lot and 2 tries were scored from where he was meant to be
 
Yeah Hopwoods progression has been incredible. I think him and Saulo (if fit), will be great from the bench. Frizell back to lock too, we lose a bit when Crokes goes off. If can be all fit for finals, I think we can surprise a few given the chance.
 
It’s nice to think a team is going to be 100% mentally dialled-in at all times and never overlook an opponent but that’s not reality. They came out and looked like they were going to win by 60 and started playing like it, and to be frank, putting on a clinic against the Titans in round 24 isn't going to be the difference against good teams. If Mooney throwing overhead basketball passes or Ponga throwing the ball through his legs or the several other borderline ****-take plays the Knights tried to pull off didn’t tell you how seriously they were taking the opponent then I don’t know what will. They were playing with the confidence, bordering on arrogance, of a team that knows they can score from anywhere in the blink of an eye, because they can, and they did. Personally think that's preferrable to the team that looked like they were scared of their own shadows for the last few years.

For individuals:

Both wingers were great.

Hunt was Hunt, never going to be boring to watch for better or worse.

Winter very strong, showed off his lightning quick footwork in tight spaces and handled the physicality well. Good confidence to skip back in-field, step through and throw the risky offload for Marzhew's second try.

Sandon was good in attack but had one of his shockers in defence. Lucky the Titans seemingly lost interest in running through the wide open gap he was leaving because he certainly didn’t learn the lesson himself.

Mooney and Hopwood were good, noticeable drop off when they went off. Saifiti back should help.

McEwen was fantastic, probably close to man of the match for mine.

Francis was very quiet compared to the last few weeks but still made an impact.
 
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