Round 2: Newcastle Knights vs Penrith Panthers

What is your prediction for this game ??

  • Knights 13+

    Votes: 7 33.3%
  • Knights 1-12

    Votes: 13 61.9%
  • Draw

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Panthers 1-12

    Votes: 1 4.8%
  • Panthers 13+

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    21
  • Poll closed .
Fair play to the Panthers tonight, they out muscled us and aside from a few breaks down the left edge we really never looked like scoring.

Game plan at the moment seems like 3 tackles, pass to Ponga and hope he pulls off something brilliant, Ponga tackled, pass to Pearce for a 5th tackle kick.

Have to say though, I tried to give the Ponga and Watson swap a chance before I criticised it but so far Ponga looks far more at home in the 6 than Watson does in the 1.
If Watson's best position is fullback then he must be a woeful 5/8.
 
Exactly right, in close games like this one you make your own luck and Penrith did that better than we did.
They had more intent with the footy and the desperation to get the result as we saw with Whare knocking the ball back in.
That being said it is only round 2 and I'm sure everyone on this forum would take that over falling out of close games like we did last year.
 
Mann was much better this week. If he can build his minutes up to 50 or so, we might be alright if Levi can't play for any reason.
 
Pretty ordinary. Looked disjointed and made too many silly errors. SKD, Barnett and Sione were our best. Ponga had some nice touches and Klemmer was solid.

Everyone else was pretty **** to be honest. To only lose by 2 was a decent effort really.

Pearce needs to be so much better. His 5th tackle options were pathetic. Did he think it was an Origin game?

They need to be much, much better if they want to play finals football.

On a positive note so many of the guys look physically stronger than they did last year. The days of us getting getting totally rolled in the forwards should be over.
 
Pretty ordinary. Looked disjointed and made too many silly errors. SKD, Barnett and Sione were our best. Ponga had some nice touches and Klemmer was solid.

Everyone else was pretty **** to be honest. To only lose by 2 was a decent effort really.

They need to be much, much better if they want to play finals football.

I think after watching the first 2 weeks we’re a genuine top 8 team. Our attack will get better - no two ways about that. What has impressed me is that we can defend a mistake much better. And that’s what the good teams do well. All in all, I’m pissed we didn’t win , but still proud of the effort. Bring on next week
 
Watson to become the utility 9. Mann too fullback? Too much scrappy stuff. Drop balls in red zone. Few bad calls but our efforts were there just never took the chances when we had them.
 
Never been a big fan of Barnett, but he's taken a big step forward this year. He'll do.

Fitz must have stopped taking the anti-****head pills. His true personality is coming back.
 
Never been a big fan of Barnett, but he's taken a big step forward this year. He'll do.

Fitz must have stopped taking the anti-****head pills. His true personality is coming back.
Barnett's last 2 seasons have been effected by his shoulder injury. He looks much stronger and appears set for a big year.
 
Disappointing second half after a positive first half. How Watson was denied that try is absolutely beyond me. Apart from Ponga’s cut out pass our attack really lacks anything creative. Defensively though we are much, much better. If we hold onto the ball more than we do at the moment we can pile more points on. Not getting disappointed over that. Beat one top 8 teams, lost to another by 2. Vastly improved on years past.
 
Didn't read the thread but I am sure the razor blades were out again on here.

We have played 2 teams in 2 weeks from last years top 8.

Last week we won the game in the forwards, this week we competed but just missed opportunities and some dropped ball put us out of it. Line speed dropped a bit in the second half.

All in all we are going fine.
 
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