2026 Ladder Predictions

jamesgould said:
Yeah was just going to add there’s very little depth for the game management role in the team, as well.

Personally I don’t have the confidence some others do about this year. I think it could be a real struggle, especially if injuries hit. Actually had a dream we got lapped by 40-50 in Las Vegas haha.
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Scratch beneath the surface at most clubs and theres very little nrl quality game managers. its the nature of the salary cap and top 30 setup.
 
Les Misérables said:
Our starting 13 is a top 6 team. Firmly in the top 6.

Our 17 is a top 8 team.

Our top 30 is a bottom 8 team.

It'll be a mixture of injuries and form / development of emerging guys like Hopwood that will determine whether we finish in the top 6 or miss the 8. But on our day with a healthy roster, there's no one we won't be able to tuck in
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I am liking this positivity Les. About time someone brought sunshine into this room. Top four is where the Knights will end up this year.
 
The pace of the game now makes game management skills harder than ever, it's why it seems like the average age of starting halves keeps going up (with a few notable exceptions) and certain guys remain indispensible even once their bodies are falling apart. As good as Isaiya Katoa has been so far for example, his decision making in tight, competitive games has been pretty poor so far. And he's probably got the skill set which lends itself most naturally to that part of game out of all the young halves atm.
 
Gutsy said:
Watching the fox footy podcast with Fletch and Hindy , they said they were interviewing players recently up here and said the difference between this year’s players morale and last year’s was very noticeable. Fletch said it was “ like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders “ , and they were very positive about their chances this year.
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That’s very interesting to hear. Players enjoying what they do is so important.
 
Haha, curious now how long it took for the AOB sack thread. It was some time his second season from memory.

Have to say one of the good things I feel AOB did at the knights was we had a decent defensive side. It did fall off a cliff back quarter of the year, but they were done.

Defence is mainly attitude so they say. Hopefully Hollbrook and White can bring and maintain that, and obviously bring in a vastly improved attacking game plans.
 
The best defensive half, which hopefully makes our defense overall for the entire team better than last year.
 
Yeah I think Dylan Brown is the best overall defender who plays in the halves in the NRL going by long term track record, but Ethan Strange is mounting a strong challenge to that branding.

Dearden is the best cover defender but not as good in front up defence. Cleary is the best in contact and all that but he has these weird defensive howlers in him for whatever reason. Luai's also pretty good all around, he's just not as good of an athlete. Katoa good.

Worst defender in the halves is way more of a crowded field. DCE is underratedly horrible on that end.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Yeah I think Dylan Brown is the best overall defender who plays in the halves in the NRL going by long term track record, but Ethan Strange is mounting a strong challenge to that branding.

Dearden is the best cover defender but not as good in front up defence. Cleary is the best in contact and all that but he has these weird defensive howlers in him for whatever reason. Luai's also pretty good all around, he's just not as good of an athlete. Katoa good.

Worst defender in the halves is way more of a crowded field. DCE is underratedly horrible on that end.
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ive thought with Cleary its usually wide tackles hes missed and wondered if it was his shoulder issues that contribute to that, because yeah they can be simple misses.
 
I think we will be lucky to avoid the wooden spoon in 2026.

We have the weakest forward pack in the comp. An injury or two to our forwards and its looking like a NSW cup pack.
We don't know who our 7 is supposed to be two weeks out from round 1.
We can't find a position for our best prospect in Fletcher Sharpe.
Injury clouds over KP and Gagai before round 1.
Lots of new players in the spine/team which will take a while to gel.
New coach.
Coming off the worst attacking season I have seen from a team in the modern NRL.
This season looks to be a tight contest as pretty much every team looks good on paper.

I consider this season another rebuilding year, I don't want another spoon but I think its highly likely.
 
CornChippy said:
I think we will be lucky to avoid the wooden spoon in 2026.

We have the weakest forward pack in the comp. An injury or two to our forwards and its looking like a NSW cup pack.
We don't know who our 7 is supposed to be two weeks out from round 1.
We can't find a position for our best prospect in Fletcher Sharpe.
Injury clouds over KP and Gagai before round 1.
Lots of new players in the spine/team which will take a while to gel.
New coach.
Coming off the worst attacking season I have seen from a team in the modern NRL.
This season looks to be a tight contest as pretty much every team looks good on paper.

I consider this season another rebuilding year, I don't want another spoon but I think its highly likely.
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I am sure you could find more negative actions happening for the Knights if you just tried a bit harder.
 
CornChippy said:
I think we will be lucky to avoid the wooden spoon in 2026.

We have the weakest forward pack in the comp. An injury or two to our forwards and its looking like a NSW cup pack.
We don't know who our 7 is supposed to be two weeks out from round 1.
We can't find a position for our best prospect in Fletcher Sharpe.
Injury clouds over KP and Gagai before round 1.
Lots of new players in the spine/team which will take a while to gel.
New coach.
Coming off the worst attacking season I have seen from a team in the modern NRL.
This season looks to be a tight contest as pretty much every team looks good on paper.

I consider this season another rebuilding year, I don't want another spoon but I think its highly likely.
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You should be on the bloke in a bar podcast. They’d froth over your opinions.
 
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