Round 18: Newcastle Knights vs Canterbury Bulldogs

What is your prediction for this game ??

  • Knights 13+

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • Knights 1-12

    Votes: 5 23.8%
  • Draw

    Votes: 1 4.8%
  • Bulldogs 1-12

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • Bulldogs 13+

    Votes: 7 33.3%

  • Total voters
    21
  • Poll closed .
Talking up Hodko's short kicking game? That'll do me.

This game will be a lot closer than the Tigers one I feel. They killed us with second phase and early ball shifts while the Dogs can barely string a pass together in attack at the moment. The only question is where do our points come from? We got a barge-over and a one from a deflected kick on Sunday.
 
In his interview Brown said Lamb should be back "sooner rather than later", but he also said Feeney has only had 5 games, and talked about Hodko's short kicking game being something we should use in coming weeks, so it's very unclear how he is going to go with the halves this week.
Cloak and dagger stuff
 
Bulldogs v Knights: Schick Preview


Thu 06 Jul, 2017, 9:00am
By Corey Rosser‌, New Zealand Correspondent‌‌, ‌‌‌NRL.com



Schick Hydro Preview: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs v Newcastle Knights
Belmore Sports Ground
Sunday, 4pm

After both suffering defeats in Round 17, the Canterbury Bulldogs and Newcastle Knights meet this Sunday in a condensed round of NRL Telstra Premiership action.

Canterbury finished strongly to force golden point in an eventual 13-12 loss to the Parramatta Eels last Thursday, a result which seems them drop six points out of the top eight.

The Knights meanwhile missed the chance to climb off the bottom of the ladder in suffering a 33-12 defeat to the Wests Tigers, which coach Nathan Brown labelled as their worst performance of the year.

The Bulldogs have lost Brett Morris, Josh Jackson and David Klemmer to Origin duty, which means Kerrod Holland comes in on the wing with Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Sam Kasiano to start in the pack.

Asipeli Fine and Andy Saunders join coach Des Hasler's bench.

With Ken Sio out and Dane Gagai in camp with Queensland, Chanel Mata'utia and Brendan Elliot are named on the wings for Newcastle.

Former Bulldog Trent Hodkinson maintains his spot in the halves ahead of Brock Lamb, while Luke Yates replaces Josh Starling on the bench.

‌Why the Bulldogs can win:

While Canterbury struggle to execute inside the attacking half, they have no real issues getting there thanks to a strong cast in the middle of the park who are helping the Dogs to average 1542 run metres per game.

Despite going down last week, Canterbury powered through for 1671 metres, almost 200 more than the Eels, with four members of their pack running for over 100 individually.

Why the Knights can win:

Canterbury average less than 14 points scored per game this year and in eight of their 15 matches so far Newcastle have managed to score more than that, averaging 16.6 across the season.

While they haven't always shown it in 2017, the Knights have some strong ability on the ball and can rack up points when they fire, with the likes of Nathan Ross, Trent Hodkinson and Jaelen Feeney all genuine attacking threats.

The history: Played 44, Bulldogs 23 wins, Knights 20 wins, one draw.

The Bulldogs are currently riding a four-game winning streak over the Knights, and haven't lost to them since 2013.

But this weekend's home ground advantage is questionable, given that since returning to playing at the Belmore Sports Ground in 2015 the Bulldogs have an unfavourable record of one win from five games at the venue.

What are the odds:

Around 80 per cent of the money with Sportsbet is on the Bulldogs, and Canterbury 13-plus is the overwhelming favourite in winning margin. Not even a hefty points start has been enough to entice punters to back the Knights. Latest odds at sportsbet.com.au.

Match officials:

Referee: Ben Cummins. Assistant referee: Gavin Reynolds. Sideline officials: Michael Wise and Rickey McFarlane. Review official: Bryan Norrie. Senior review official: Ashley Klein.

Televised:

Fox Sports – Live coverage from 4pm.

NRL.com predicts:

Given both sides have struggled to consistently generate points this year, this has the potential to be a grinding encounter played mostly through the middle of the park.

The Bulldogs have the superior forward pack and appear to have more quality than the Knights right now, which should be enough to see them get up in this one.

Canterbury by 10.


http://www.nrl.com/bulldogs-v-knights-schick-preview/tabid/10874/newsid/109658/default.aspx
 
Will be good to see Chanel again, he was injured so basically anonymous in his only game last year & the year before was dropped into an absolute rout by Souths. Basically we haven't seen him since the Mata'utia's magic run in 2014. He's got all the ability, just needs a good run with injuries.
 
Why the dogs will win.

They put in an effort for the full 80. We simply don't and are lucky to get 40 good minutes from the team.
 
Knights Thursday training gallery:

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http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news/2017/07/06/gallery_thursday_tra.af_news.html
 
So you don't think it's one of their worst sides? I'm sure many Bulldogs fans would agree with me. Everyone knows we're crap but that shouldn't stop me from being able to point out flaws in the Bulldogs side. They have the worst attack in the comp. It's purely objective to say if we can get possession & put on some good attack, they may not be able to catch up. Whether our boys get off the bus ready or like deers in headlights is another story.

They look better on papaer than us, **** every team does... LAst week we were favs, it didnt sit well.. this week NO ONE gives us a chance so maybe we can jag one if we get the 50/50's
 
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