NRL Round 1 - Knights Vs Cowboys - 1:15pm Sunday 1st March (AEDT) - Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas

Les Misérables said:
Im starting to think that Holbrook is taking a very long term view to the roster and its key players.

Start Brown in the most advanced role a half can play, baptism of fire, once he goes back to his left sided 6 role, he'll have more feathers in his bow, be a complete player. Maybe that's the plan?

Why tf else would anyone drag Brown across the field and make him organise a team lol when you've already got a guy who does it better on that side?
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Long term look at it or not you just have to look at Dylan browns past 7 years in the top grade and you can see he is and out and out ball running five eighth who plays all his best footy on the left side of the field. What sort of "mastermind" thinks he can change him into a ship steering 7 on the right. It's just doesn't happen. The players are the ones that need to stand up and talk here and not go by the usual " oh Ill play where the team needs me or what's best for the team". No Holbrook, Dylan brown is a left sided 6.
 
danknights said:
Long term look at it or not you just have to look at Dylan browns past 7 years in the top grade and you can see he is and out and out ball running five eighth who plays all his best footy on the left side of the field. What sort of "mastermind" thinks he can change him into a ship steering 7 on the right. It's just doesn't happen. The players are the ones that need to stand up and talk here and not go by the usual " oh Ill play where the team needs me or what's best for the team". No Holbrook, Dylan brown is a left sided 6.
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Hey you and I agree completely on this. Im just trying to rationalise the decision, as I'm struggling to understand it.

I did hear from a source in the club from very very early into Holbrooks tenure that the coaching staff were, from the outset, planning to have Sharpe at 6 and Brown at 7. I just refused to beleive it.

But given that the plan itself pre-dates Holbrook, I think its fair to suggest that POS must be playing a bigger part in this than many suspect. And perhaps Holbrook thinks its best to give POS' theory a shot?
 
This who sharpe to the halves thing has taught me one thing.

Many people disrespect the importance of the position, the idea that it is a specialist position and how hard it is to learn.

Because according to everyone it’s super easy to be in the halves and you can just throw anyone in their and get 10/10 performances, I guess we will all find out on the first
 
Les Misérables said:
Hey you and I agree completely on this. Im just trying to rationalise the decision, as I'm struggling to understand it.

I did hear from a source in the club from very very early into Holbrooks tenure that the coaching staff were, from the outset, planning to have Sharpe at 6 and Brown at 7. I just refused to beleive it.

But given that the plan itself pre-dates Holbrook, I think its fair to suggest that POS must be playing a bigger part in this than many suspect. And perhaps Holbrook thinks its best to give POS' theory a shot?
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Well they say he gave a great pitch in the interviewing process, and very often "great pitch" just means "he said what we wanted to hear".

I guess if you're in his position you would feel relaxed, he'll get a free hit like this and if it we struggle he can just move Sandon to the halves in a few weeks and then if that works - hey look, problem solved. Or maybe Bradman or whoever gets injured like they often do, he moves Fletch there and, again, problem solved.

Whereas if he picks Sandon and Dylan in the halves and it's not great straight away, a lot of pressure from the blokes around him, instantly.
 
KPGreatness said:
This who sharpe to the halves thing has taught me one thing.

Many people disrespect the importance of the position, the idea that it is a specialist position and how hard it is to learn.

Because according to everyone it’s super easy to be in the halves and you can just throw anyone in their and get 10/10 performances, I guess we will all find out on the first
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He’s played half a season there
 
I do subscribe to the comment above saying that RL is more about drive and determination than skills and tactics, to a point. But yeah, no matter who is in the squad you won't win if you are not a melded team and don't have the right mindset.

It's been clear for a long time the players just aren't there as one unit with one goal each week.

Change of coach and I want to see that drive now.

I saw a Tyson Gamble quote online from Newcastle Weekly and it said:

"There’s a real fresh view on a lot of things with Justin (Holbrook) and the new coaching staff coming in,” says Tyson Gamble ahead of the Knights' round one clash.
“The boys have really bought into it.
“Honestly, it’s been a hell of a pre-season.""

Sounds like the usual best pre-season ever thing I guess, but hopefully more to it with the the boys have really bought in to it, because if they haven't and play games like last seasons, without the passion and drive to dominate the opposition every game, we are going to be near last again.

This is more important I feel than who plays where and what number is on their backs.
 
Sheent14 said:
He’s played half a season there
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There are different types of halves growing pains. The guys who needed time but came good didn't tend to struggle with just the basics of engaging the line and putting the ball in front of an intended receiver.
Grug said:
Hughes went from fullback to 7. He goes alright.
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Hughes was way more of a genuine 6/1 utility before that though, and his game suits playing in the halves. Ryan Papenhyuzen wouldn't be good in the halves. Different players are different.
 
I don't know if Sharpe and Brown is the best pairing, or Smith and Brown is. But I think there's points in this team. I think we're underestimating the team based on how we finished last year.

We never looked great last year, but we were in games for the most part, plodding along with a very conservative game plan. We didn't fall apart and go full wooden spoon mode till the end of the season. We also didn't have Ponga, Sharpe or Dylan Lucas during that period, 3 massive attacking weapons for this team. And we've added Dylan Brown, who most would agree is a world class player. Those 4 players have some points in them. Having Young back for a full season will help too.

Forwards are kind of the same, just swapped Leo for Mooney, KPP for McEwen. That could be an issue maybe. Elliott and Heth losses don't count, they barely played.

Could be clunky as we adjust, but as long as Holbrook let's them play footy, I think we've got exciting moments in this team with Ponga, Sharpe and Brown on the field.
 
The thing is, our best football in the whole O'Brien era and probably the Brown era as well has been when Ponga is combining well with our left edge.
Brown is very good on the left edge as well.
Sharpe just plays what he sees in front of him anywhere on the field.
Ponga has only done 3 or 4 weeks with the team, but has done years of good work with Lucas, Best and Marzhew. He should just slip into working with those guys, and they should just fall back into working with him.

Everyone is thinking that Holbrook should concentrate on how to build our whole team around Brown, and the way to do that would be to use him on the left and let him build great combinations with Best, Lucas and whoever we use as left wing - but that would be throwing out our best attacking system for the last 5 years and rebuilding it around a new guy, and then trying to get a new system on the right as well.

Solution - let Ponga do what he does well and turn Brown into a better version of Gamble to work with Gags and McEwen and Young - and just let Sharpe do Sharpe things wherever he wants to do them.

If we had had a long pre-season with everyone fit and training, we probably could have come up with a new system ready to roll from round 1. As it is, if Ponga can slip into his old patterns with very few reps, Sharpe can bring individual flair and Brown can do something to get Young and Gags into the game, we have a shot I think.
 
EASBay17 said:
Is it safe to say every side going to vegas now has a halfback who has been moved into the 7 away from their best position?
Are there any other clubs manufactering halfbacks?
Cows - dearden
Dogs - galvin
Us - brown
Dragons - atkinson
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Titans - Campbell - I see a lot of similarities with Sharpe.
Tigers - Deuhi or Luai
Storm - Hughes - I don’t know if we just consider this a success now? But he was manufactured.

Could make an argument that Hynes is also more of a 6 playing 7.

I’d argue Cleary, Moses, Katoa, Walker/DCE, Fogarty, Reynolds, Metcalf are the genuine/conventional halfbacks.
 
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Little bit of a vent, but it annoys me a little at how inflexible we seem to be with Ponga sometimes, and how many things seem to revolve around him, to detriment. (I know it’s mostly speculation with the Holbrook era atm).

He did his absolute best work when he was being a fullback. Not a hybrid halfback. Not first receiver. Just being a fullback. Limiting his touches. Watching. Waiting. Pouncing when the time was right. We saw this and presumably he saw this, and thought, hmmm, if I can score/set up 3 tries with 10 possessions … give me 40 possessions and we will have 12 tries. With that, the quality of those possessions drops and leaves the attack predictable and impotent. Enter Armstrong and Sharpe - who just do fullback things, watch the game, lurk the ruck, support the forwards and pick their moments - success.

I think this season is all or nothing for Ponga and his time at Newcastle on big money. He needs to perform to his price tag and faith we have showed him, otherwise I think we let him negotiate in November and probably push to get him out for 2027.

I can see the logic in saying to Brown, look, you’re the face of this team for 10 years, we need you to step up and be the franchise player we paid for. He’s young and extremely talented. I don’t think there’s any reason he can’t adapt. Think there’s a difference between filling in for Moses, with a gameplan designed for Moses and hopefully a system designed to suit his strengths, but also demand a little more. I think we have given him the keys to the castle - and it remains to be seen where he drives us, but I’m happy to give it a go.

I’m just excited to see something different. I’m excited to see the instructions that have been given to Sharpe, Brown and Ponga (and Smith when given his chance) from a coach other than O’Brien.

On Smith, hearing Keary’s comments about him put a bit of doubt in my mind he was gonna get the 7 gig. Keary played with him, obviously followed the Roosters since leaving, and presumably had a few conversations with Holbrook when we tried to recruit him. Holbrook also knows Smith and his pros/cons very well, he has worked with him for 2? years. So if he’s come in and said, gee, Sharpe offers more. I’m inclined to go with it.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
So the big question is how many minutes Sandon has in him at 9.

I think for this to work even a bit we need more Phoenix at 13 than at 9.


I reckon this has been factored into the decision over the spine, Friz will get subbed off for Sandon in the first half with Phoenix moving to 13. Effectively the solution to a lot of the bench management questions re: the middles will, I think, Crossland playing huge minutes so we don’t have to ask for so much from the bench. But yeah as I said above that relies on Sandon being ready to play more than half the game at 9.
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I believe Phoenix to 13 as a means of indirectly solidifying our middle depth is a factor that has been underrated when considering how Holbrook arrived at this outcome.

Of course the problem with that methodology is that I would hope we plan on having better squad depth over the remaining years of Smith's contract. So if this has loomed as a significant factor in playing Smith at 14, we are prioritising short-term performance over the effective long-term utilisation of key spine players due to an acute roster management deficit.

That approach is one that I disagree with, particularly given a new coach will inevitably have some degree of a grace period and considering we are coming off a ******* spoon so the fanbase isn't exactly armed with high short-term expectations. Nonetheless, I do accept there is a short-term appeal to this option.

Or I could be completely wrong and Holbrook is just dead keen on making Sharpe and Brown our 6 and 7. Sandon may just comfortable hanging out playing his non-preferred position off the bench despite showing promise as a starting half and two new teams entering the competition who are desperate for said halves.
 
Smith will get a chance. Players getting through a season uninjured is rare. At some point one of the halves will have to miss a game or Sharpe might move around, fullback seems likely at some point! 😅 If Brown and Sharpe aren't killing it, Smith will get a chance eventually and if looks better, Holbrook might change his mind. This is a fresh start for everyone, we don't know how anything works yet.
 
EASBay17 said:
Is it safe to say every side going to vegas now has a halfback who has been moved into the 7 away from their best position?
Are there any other clubs manufactering halfbacks?
Cows - dearden
Dogs - galvin
Us - brown
Dragons - atkinson
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Recognise it was a while ago now but Dearden was Brisbane’s great white hope at halfback, he played halfback when he first arrived at Nth Qld, and when he and Chad Townsend both signed with the Cows there was consternation over them paying Dearden $400K to play reserve grade because people assumed their spine would be Townsend and Drinkwater in the halves with Hammer or Holmes at fullback.

Atkinson also I believe mostly played halfback up in Queensland before the Sharks picked him up and naming him at 6 there had more to do with the other players in the team.

Galvin, sure, but the kid wanted the ball A LOT when named at 6, arguing the toss a bit on that one.

Jayden Campbell a clearer example of a manufactured 7 who’d usually previously played 1.
 
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