NRL Round 10 - Knights Vs Titans - 6:00pm Friday 9th May - McDonald Jones Stadium

JOJO82 said:
It's funny that I am not disappointed because I knew this would happen.
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Yes, I know the feeling. At the game you could see it coming, too many self inflicted errors and no direction fr ok m the 7.
We were rudderless all second half and their second phase play made us look like a schoolboy side.
Tbh, we are 2 good, aggressive running forwards short now in our team. The whole dynamic of our team changes when Jsaff and Leo go off. We just don’t dominate and don’t get go forward.
It is also obvious that opposition teams work on our attacking player’s ability to hold the ball in contact. All teams are doing a job on our ball runners, adding to our dropped ball catastrophes.
To be honest, we have to develop some second phase play in out game plan, but I guess if you drop the ball so frequently in general play, wanting second phase play just could be a bridge too far.
 
Missed the game live, but just finished watching it.

Super annoying how we keep making fundamental handling errors.

Crossland had a shocker this game, needs to be dropped if possible, and I'm a big fan of keeping him in there due to his enthusiasm. Problem is Brailey is also ordinary.

Cogger - should not have been there this week, called it prior to team getting names, proven. Gamble needed to be straight in if he is good to go.

JSaf was immense first half, ineffective second due to handling errors and constantly defending them. If I'm coach I'm telling Jsaf to lay off the kick off returns and let marz or someone else take those, save yourself for tackle 4 rampaging hitups.

Anyway, clearly this game should have been in the bag. Shameful discipline in that second half.

I will say though, as much as we are patting ourselves on the back for that first half, Titans were 2nd half us level bad in that first half so no wonder we looked good. Flat track bullies.
 
I don't think Bradman was a lock in for Origin, but he did his chances no help at all tonight. He had a poor game after looking good in the first half with Fletch's try. Has Gag's got more years in him? They're all P#ssing me off to be honest. Weekends should be fun time to watch your team. With our team, it's just not enjoyable any more, They're pathetic. I'm over them. I'd be happy to hear that KP has asked for a release. Oh for the days of captains like Chief, & Joey. This bloke is a joke as Captain.
 
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Tim said:
I'm starting to think we are really missing DSaf. As frustrating as he was phoning it in for years...
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Miss him for sure , i think the issue was the amount we were paying him definately were not getting value for money.

The problem is if you get rid of some one like D-Saf for those reasons you need to replace them with someone that you are getting the value for money from .
 
DSaf has been having some good games for the phins. (Haven’t seen them all). Similar to JSaf in the last few weeks - strong carries.
But, I have no problem that we offloaded him. He was not giving us his best, for whatever reason. There’s every chance he would still be here phoning it in. I guess evidence the type of culture we have here at the moment.

Lucas is too good for us. Don’t think he is into the origin team yet, but he ain’t far off in my opinion. He gives his all every single game. J Saf also strong again.

I thought we were getting a speedster in Schiller. I seem to remember a bit of hype around his speed. He gets chased down effortlessly.

Sharpe really needs to take some blame in all of this. I get that he’s young and new to first grade, but that’s no excuse. He should be telling his teammates how fun scoring tries is. “When you see a break, you just kind of run next to them, so if they are about to be tackled, they can pass you the ball, and score a try. It’s a little bit of hard work, but you get to score a try!”.

“Shut up Fletcher, we have injuries. We are working on our defence. Signs are positive. We can be proud.” - AOB - probably.
 
Is it too much to ask to have someone in our team inspire the way Latrell inspired his team to victory last night? In an everyday job if you were paid as much as some of these guys and not producing the work required, you’re on notice or let go. The time to be accountable was November 1 2024 and I’m still to see it. There appears to be disharmony out there, I’m yet to see O’Sullivan pull this roster together, he’s just signed a player for 10 years who just seems to be a chase that he’s had for a few years now and finally found a desperate enough club to do something that stupid. We want Dom back? Roosters don’t want him because of his flaws… the same flaws AOB spoke about out with our outside backs currently. We were a town
let down down last night and the booing at the end certainly isn’t something we do every day. Yes some of it was towards the refs but I waked out with the crowd yesterday and there was an air of disgust.
 
The team needs a massive reset...this is what I would be doing.

- Ponga can float side to side and play out wide only, not first receiver. Also needs to do the basic fullback things such as backing up in the middle.

- Crossland to bench, Brailey out of the squad and Arthur starts at hooker. I feel Crossland just kills the play every single time with his poor choices.

- Dom in for Schiller (if he does sign), however looks like Greg has picked up a knee injury so Schiller will hold his spot.

- Frontrow rotation needs to be changed up, we absolutely lose the middle whenever Jsaf and Leo are off. We need replacement NRL middle forwards asap. It's so obvious how we get killed in the middle when they are off.

- Attack will flow once we roll through the middle, we tend to go too wide way to early. We don't use enough second phase play.

- Our D seems to get tired and forgets to stop second phase play.

- These lapses where we start getting the dropsies are killing us, these blokes need a good hard look in the mirror as it's not something that can be coached.

- Last but not least, Cogger needs to be shot out of a cannon and never be seen in first grade again. He is the worst halfback I have seen....At this point I would take Bud Sullivan over him.

Sorry for the long post.
 
I'm sure I'm not alone but I didn't wake up feeling any better about this game. I try to see the positives even in the losses but geez the Knights are making it hard this season. The only thing I came up with was Fletcher Sharpe's continued development is a positive.

But the following thoughts occurred as well:
Have the Knights hit the record for number of halfs in a season where we've scored 0 points? I make it 7 halfs this season where we've scored 0 points. To quote Geoff Toovey "There needs to be an investigation".

Also, given it's increasingly looking like we're in a spoon battle rather than a top 8 battle it occurs that Jack Cogger debuted in round 10 2016....nothing ominous in that I'm sure.
 
Penrith can have Cogger back. They took Milky. JO JO is right, our attack will flow if we are getting on the front foot in the middle. Or at least holding our own. Unfortunately we don’t have the halves to play off the back foot and get us out of trouble.

I think Ethan Blumore is available next year? Weather starting or “quality” off the bench. Herthington when he comes back should improve us.

It was almost instant as soon as Leo and Jsaf come off the game went completely off the rails.
 
mozza said:
You know what the worst part is? Tomorrow the Bulldogs and Raiders who are 1st and 2nd are gonna play a quality close game of football and neither side has a better roster than us. They just have 17 players every week who actually care about the jersey.

The comp is the weakest it’s been in years and we still manage to be the worst side. God I hate them so much.
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AOB prefers a grinding style of footy, but to execute, you need a half with a long kicking game something both the Bulldogs and Raiders possess. The Bulldogs might not have the biggest forward pack, but they hunt in numbers in defence on the back of Burton’s boot. Usually forcing the opposition to kick from their 40m line. That makes it much easier for the Bulldogs back five to cart the ball out of their own end, especially when they’re taking the kick on the full with momentum. Their outside backs are not making many mistakes because they’re playing on the front foot right from play 1. Connor Tracey might not be the most skilful fullback, but he doesn’t stuff around on kick returns and takes every meter. Compare that to Ponga.

In contrast, our side struggles due to the lack of a long kicking game. Every set, we’re effectively handing the opposition a 10–20 metre head start. That allows them to kick from halfway and compete for the high ball every set. Eventually fatigue sets in and we start fumbling under the high ball or turning the ball over trying to work it out from a corner.

TLDR we need a half with a big boot.
 
JOJO82 said:
The team needs a massive reset...this is what I would be doing.

- Ponga can float side to side and play out wide only, not first receiver. Also needs to do the basic fullback things such as backing up in the middle.

- Crossland to bench, Brailey out of the squad and Arthur starts at hooker. I feel Crossland just kills the play every single time with his poor choices.

- Dom in for Schiller (if he does sign), however looks like Greg has picked up a knee injury so Schiller will hold his spot.

- Frontrow rotation needs to be changed up, we absolutely lose the middle whenever Jsaf and Leo are off. We need replacement NRL middle forwards asap. It's so obvious how we get killed in the middle when they are off.

- Attack will flow once we roll through the middle, we tend to go too wide way to early. We don't use enough second phase play.

- Our D seems to get tired and forgets to stop second phase play.

- These lapses where we start getting the dropsies are killing us, these blokes need a good hard look in the mirror as it's not something that can be coached.

- Last but not least, Cogger needs to be shot out of a cannon and never be seen in first grade again. He is the worst halfback I have seen....At this point I would take Bud Sullivan over him.

Sorry for the long post.
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Cogger is crap but I think Townsend is worse
And both have a premiership 😂
 
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