NRL Round 13 - Dragons Vs Knights - 8:00pm Friday 30th May - Jubilee Stadium

MattyM said:
He definitely hasn’t stopped doing it, it’s just that the opposition knows it’s coming from a mile away and know how to defend against it now.
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Yeah that’s quite possible too. He’s not grabbing my attention like he has previously so maybe I’ve just put the *** in assume.
 
MBQLD said:
Yeah that’s quite possible too. He’s not grabbing my attention like he has previously so maybe I’ve just put the *** in assume.
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No, it's that the team isn't getting on the front foot in attack. Our forwards aren't winning the battle, not making damaging runs and getting quick play the balls which leads to the ball getting to Ponga with a retreating, broken defensive line that is a little shaky.

Like in Origin last night. QLD weren't winning the forward battle, so whenever they tried to go wide, our defensive line was already set and sliding easily to cover, so there was no gaps for Ponga to exploit.

Ponga still has the magic in him, but he does need the team to be getting him the chances he exploits.
 
That's actually a serious issue with our team construction though.

Making $1.4 million to be the icing on the cake who doesn't consistently contribute to the baseline stuff that wins games.

The reason Teddy was the best fullback in the comp for years was that he was an elite attacking player AND this excellent workhorse that got sets rolling & put his team on the front foot AND always there in support to turn opportunities created by others into tries. Kalyn is only the first thing for the most part.

There have been times where he has contributed to the hard yakka but it hasn't been consistent, and honestly he's relied on clean line breaks on kick returns to make this kind of impact. Which can of course swing the momentum a lot. But the kick returns from someone like Dylan Edwards are more consistently valuable.
 
Cogger is not listed 1sts or Cup, if Ponga is playing then Cogger likely to be 5/8 in Cup, if Ponga isn’t playing he will likely be 7 in first
 
Interesting selection in reserve grade - Taj Annan replaces Haami Loza at 5/8 - I couldn't think of 2 more different players - Loza a small, crafty, hard working playmaker - annan a tall, solid running wing or centre who is supposed to have a giant kick, but we've never seen it.
 
Annan theoretically has the skill set coming from union but wouldn’t surprise if Votano or Jones is actually playing five-eighth with Annan in the outside backs
 
Knights are down 22 - 6 at halftime in cup - bartv is only working for a minute or two at times, so i've seen nothing of it.
 
Knights down 22 - 12 after 48 minutes in cup.

First try was a Hastings pass 5 out to Manulelua at speed and he crashed over.
Second try on 47 minutes was an intercept by De Courcey and he ran 90 to score - faster than I thought.
 
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