NRL Round 1 - Knights Vs Cowboys - 1:15pm Sunday 1st March (AEDT) - Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas
- Thread starter Lefty
- Start date
Tackleslikeagirl
Kade Snowden
I’m so excited! Yay for footy being back and i genuinely believe we have lots to be optimistic about!
frankLauda
Timana Tahu
ALOT of changes makes for optimism at least! I hope we do a 25 Canberra this year.
Defence wins games
Luke Quigley
The key for us seems to be how our forwards stand up, particularly the younger guys coming into the pack. Our performances in 2016 will be determined by our forwards.
krustykraz
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Forwards didn't do well in 2016.
Spoon year.
alexwilliams
Adam Woolnough
Oh god, we've gone back to that horrible year???
Defender1
Matthew Johns
Ponga is good to go. He's pain free and was signed off by the doc... they're just not risking him in a trial.
Billy
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Article in the Herald this morning where Chris James says he went to the first Vegas game with the Roosters and he's been working on our schedule from when we got the nod and has it locked down.
Says we can only take a 22 man squad and it won't be decided till after the last trial, but we will be taking a non playing 23rd man in Marcus Dacre, who will do media for us in Las Vegas as a combine winner. He will also train with the side and James talks up Dacre as a player and says the plan is for him to play a full season of NSW cup this year.
www.newcastleherald.com.au
Says we can only take a 22 man squad and it won't be decided till after the last trial, but we will be taking a non playing 23rd man in Marcus Dacre, who will do media for us in Las Vegas as a combine winner. He will also train with the side and James talks up Dacre as a player and says the plan is for him to play a full season of NSW cup this year.
Travelling man: Vegas combine winner heading back to where it all began
'His pathway from the combine through to an NRL contract.'
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Grandpa Joe
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Why can't we take as many as we want?
waynesworld
Shane Christensen
They probably mean the NRL only pays for 22 as part of the agreement.
knights80
John Crooks
NRL only covers 22 players and a smaller amount of staff to travel, anybody outside of that is completely at cost of club and eats into the profit margin they gain from going to the game
And the NSW cup season starts the next weekend so need players here for that game and jersey flegg etc
relicorange94
Anthony Quinn
I think he was meant to say 2026.Oh god, we've gone back to that horrible year???
I know we do actually have a few players that will hopefully do a better job at halfback than the last few years … but this is still so Knights lol.
HarVeeGee13
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Predicted round 1 team:
1. Kalyn Ponga
2. Dominic Young
3. Dane Gagai
4. Bradman Best
5. Greg Marzhew
6. Dylan Brown
7. Sandon Smith
13. Tyson Frizell
12. Jermaine McEwen
11. Dylan Lucas
10. Trey Mooney
9. Phoenix Crossland
8. Jacob Saifiti
14. Fletcher Sharpe
15. Matthew Croker
16. Brodie Jones
17. Pasami Saulo
18. Thomas Cant
19. Fletcher Hunt
Only real wrinkle I can maybe see with this is Justin may be tempted to start someone like Brodie or Cant on an edge and bring McEwen off the bench for 50.
I suspect his thinking with the 14 spot is that he wants to get a high motor, skillful player in there for a big stint as a way to solve the depth issue in the forwards, whether that ends up looking like Fletcher playing 40 minutes in a Connor Watson like role, or Sandon coming off the bench after 20 mins to play out the game at hooker while Phoenix shifts to lock between mins 20 and 60 to tackle himself to a standstill. I don't love this as a solution to a depth crisis in the forwards but I think that's his thinking, if you don't have an impact middle like Xavier Willison, the next best thing is a very fit, mobile guy who can add to your offensive threat.
As I've stated before I hate asking this of Fletcher, but I'm not doubting his toughness and ability to perform in that role. Ryan Papenhyuzen basically did this when he first came into grade and he's shorter and lighter than Fletch. I still just think we should play Fletcher on the wing over Greg and seriously think about carrying Matt Arthur at 14.
I'm not ruling out that Sharpe ends up getting the nod at 7, I just think that after a pre-season with mostly Sandon/Dylan training in the halves, something would have to seriously go wrong for them to **** the bed badly enough in the trial that there's then a change for round 1.
1. Kalyn Ponga
2. Dominic Young
3. Dane Gagai
4. Bradman Best
5. Greg Marzhew
6. Dylan Brown
7. Sandon Smith
13. Tyson Frizell
12. Jermaine McEwen
11. Dylan Lucas
10. Trey Mooney
9. Phoenix Crossland
8. Jacob Saifiti
14. Fletcher Sharpe
15. Matthew Croker
16. Brodie Jones
17. Pasami Saulo
18. Thomas Cant
19. Fletcher Hunt
Only real wrinkle I can maybe see with this is Justin may be tempted to start someone like Brodie or Cant on an edge and bring McEwen off the bench for 50.
I suspect his thinking with the 14 spot is that he wants to get a high motor, skillful player in there for a big stint as a way to solve the depth issue in the forwards, whether that ends up looking like Fletcher playing 40 minutes in a Connor Watson like role, or Sandon coming off the bench after 20 mins to play out the game at hooker while Phoenix shifts to lock between mins 20 and 60 to tackle himself to a standstill. I don't love this as a solution to a depth crisis in the forwards but I think that's his thinking, if you don't have an impact middle like Xavier Willison, the next best thing is a very fit, mobile guy who can add to your offensive threat.
As I've stated before I hate asking this of Fletcher, but I'm not doubting his toughness and ability to perform in that role. Ryan Papenhyuzen basically did this when he first came into grade and he's shorter and lighter than Fletch. I still just think we should play Fletcher on the wing over Greg and seriously think about carrying Matt Arthur at 14.
I'm not ruling out that Sharpe ends up getting the nod at 7, I just think that after a pre-season with mostly Sandon/Dylan training in the halves, something would have to seriously go wrong for them to **** the bed badly enough in the trial that there's then a change for round 1.
frankLauda
Timana Tahu
Do you remember when Nyco Hynes was playing off the bench for Melbourne. What role/position was he playing? I think that roaming lock role. Ponga also did this in origin for a few games coming off the bench.
I still think it’s better to put Sharpe on the wing, because Marzhew is a full target for teams under the high ball.
slotmachine
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
I think ESL is a real chance of grabbing a bench spot if he can produce 20 really strong minutes in the trial again.
HarVeeGee13
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Think Craig just had him there for injury cover and he was usually an unused sub.
mozza
Game on broheim
Yeah don’t think we need the triple vanilla of Crokes/Jones/Cant all in the 19. We need some punch somewhere.
Billy
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
We should wait till we've seen Hopwood play before picking a side.
Early in the pre-season a few things were said about him training the house down, and then it all went quiet.
Last year he was still going to school and not training fulltime, and still improved enough to make his debut in the last round.
He is the same age as McEwen was last year, and I think just about every one has him pencilled in as a bigger talent than McEwen.
In short - he might be ready for bench prop - we don't know yet.
Early in the pre-season a few things were said about him training the house down, and then it all went quiet.
Last year he was still going to school and not training fulltime, and still improved enough to make his debut in the last round.
He is the same age as McEwen was last year, and I think just about every one has him pencilled in as a bigger talent than McEwen.
In short - he might be ready for bench prop - we don't know yet.