Knights Players Given Time Off / Knights secure EAS

knight-no-7

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KNIGHTS coach Brian Smith played Santa Claus yesterday and gave most of his "little helpers" an extra four days of Christmas holidays as a reward for their outstanding results in the first month of pre-season training.

Smith had planned to recall most of the full-time NRL squad on January 3 but said yesterday that only a handful of players would be required to return on that day, with the rest expected back on Monday, January 7.

The Knights will complete their first block of fitness and conditioning next Thursday then enjoy a family Christmas party together before going their separate ways until the new year.

"The boys came in and really ripped it again today so I gave them a good Christmas message today; a bit earlier than I'd planned," Smith said last night.

"I was originally thinking we'd have quite a few boys coming back fairly early, but I think we'll finish with probably eight or 10 of our long-term injureds, a couple of the younger boys, and any volunteers coming back on the third [of January].

"All the rest will be coming back on the seventh, so we're extremely pleased with their progress at this stage."

Smith said utility forward Chris Houston would be a late starter when training resumes, despite receiving an encouraging report after undergoing minor knee surgery last Friday to repair torn cartilage.

"He won't run again until after we get back. He might even be a week or so after we start back, but he's had some good news from his operation," the coach said.

"The surgeon told him that one of the flaps in the split in his cartilage was bending back and was trapped in the joint, so it was a fairly easy thing to stitch it back together as I understand it. It wasn't removed, which for young blokes is much better if they can retain the thing."

Halfback Luke Walsh has undergone further abdominal tests to determine the cause of his stomach ailments but is not expected to receive the results until later this week.

And just some other news...

FORMER livewire Knights fullback Milton Thaiday and rising star Tyren Mundine will play vital roles when the Newcastle All Blacks defend their NSW Aboriginal Knockout title in Newcastle next year.

The All Blacks secured the rights to host the three-day tournament when they were crowned champions at this year's carnival at Kempsey and made it official at yesterday's launch at No.1 Sportsground.

Thaiday and Mundine combined with former Newcastle representative halves Scott and Jacob Briggs and veteran Eddie Smith to win this year, and all five plan to play again on their home soil.

"It's been a long time since we hosted the tournament, and last time it was played here we had 64 teams," Smith said.

"This year at Kempsey we only had 16 teams, so we are hoping to build it back up to 64 again."

Thaiday said he was looking forward to the tournament.

"It's a great honour to go out and represent your people," he said.

The statewide knockout started in 1971, but Newcastle did not enter a team until 1975. Smith, who represented Newcastle during a stellar rugby league career, was the ball boy for the original side. He graduated into the team and was integral in Newcastle winning the knockout for the first time in 1987.

The following year the tournament was played at No.2 Sportsground and Peacock Field at Toronto, but next year it will be at No.1 and No.2 sportsgrounds on the October long weekend.

Officials are confident they will have at least 32 teams competing, meaning there will be $50,000 prizemoney $32,000 of which will go to the winners.
 
Well not really, because they share, and the A-league have a deal at the uni for training and a home base, that was only orgainsed early this year.
 
Obviously we werent going to loose it, it even has a stand named after newcastle's hero, but i guess ALeague would have been a threat, with its popularity increasing in Newie
 
Well Im Seriously Confused Yesterdays Daily Telegraph Said We Had Been Training 2/5 (If that Makes Sense basiclly its how we've been training) But Darall Brohman Rated it and the teams like melbourne etc got 5 thongs out of 5

So i dont know if we are training hard or not...

Yet again Aku was our player to watch.
 
If the Newcastle A-league team had have got the lease to EAS then they would have subletted it to us ... so it is a good thing that we got it! I'm not sure if the A-league team was bidding, but it would have been quite a blow had they won out.
 
jamesgould said:
If the Newcastle A-league team had have got the lease to EAS then they would have subletted it to us ... so it is a good thing that we got it! I'm not sure if the A-league team was bidding, but it would have been quite a blow had they won out.

i dont think ALeague mad a bid for it. They lease it from us for far cheaper price than what we pay, so i heard.
 
knight-no-7 said:
jamesgould said:
If the Newcastle A-league team had have got the lease to EAS then they would have subletted it to us ... so it is a good thing that we got it! I'm not sure if the A-league team was bidding, but it would have been quite a blow had they won out.

i dont think ALeague mad a bid for it. They lease it from us for far cheaper price than what we pay, so i heard.

Well you'd expect that, since we lease it for the whole year and they only use it for a few weekends.
 
jamesgould said:
knight-no-7 said:
jamesgould said:
If the Newcastle A-league team had have got the lease to EAS then they would have subletted it to us ... so it is a good thing that we got it! I'm not sure if the A-league team was bidding, but it would have been quite a blow had they won out.

i dont think ALeague mad a bid for it. They lease it from us for far cheaper price than what we pay, so i heard.

Well you'd expect that, since we lease it for the whole year and they only use it for a few weekends.

But it was also based on crowd numbers, coz they werent getting many people comming to watch it before, but the numbers have now increased, so i think the knights expect them to pay alot more this time, when they re-negotiate.
 
knights4premiers said:
Well Im Seriously Confused Yesterdays Daily Telegraph Said We Had Been Training 2/5 (If that Makes Sense basiclly its how we've been training) But Darall Brohman Rated it and the teams like melbourne etc got 5 thongs out of 5

So i dont know if we are training hard or not...

Yet again Aku was our player to watch.

they aren't into the intense training yet

still got months before the season begins

you don't want players burning out

this was posted last week
After a first-up stretching session,Smith's 32 man squad then divides into specific training groups and players head off to their designated sessions-cardio,strength,speed development,tackling technique or skills.

The emphasis is on sharp and snappy.Most sessions last less than an hour;then each group rotates.

Each session is graded by Smith's training staff,from one (easy) to five (intense).Players are then required to evaluate the sessions with their own gradings,to provide feedback.

Staff report to smith if a player is struggling in any particular session,and generally they will lesson his workload.The last thing they want is anyone breaking down.

Some players have asked Smith to start pushing them harder,but he insists that the pre-season is a gradual process.
"I've told them we want them to be fit to play in February ,not christmas",Smith said.

 
It's hardly important, for one thing they can hardly give an accurate score for every team witout attending several sessions, which I doubt has happened, and for another it is very early in the pre-season - Christmas is still coming, and it's no use the players getting super-fit only to lose it all over Christmas anyway!

Smith is probably thinking of the injury toll last year, it's best to keep the players pretty much in cotton wool for as long as possible, without affecting their build-up to the season.
 
hey did anyone see on foxsports tonight

"rugbyleague summertime" it was on the roosters and next week they will look at preseason training at the sharks

ill look out for when the knights are on and post it up
 
Yeah I'm planing on recording it and mite try upload it for the people who don't have fox.

I Thought i had mentioned this already about the roosters being on tonight? Maybe that was league loaded.
 
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