NRL Round 2 - Sea Eagles Vs Knights - 4:05pm Sunday, 15th March - 4 Pines Park, Brookvale

Billy said:
So Cant potentially having a stint at hooker.
We know Holbrook loves the guy, and gave him a run at hooker in the trials.
He wasn't very good, but has possibly been training there.
To be honest, if he can do 20 minutes to let Crossland have a rest, he solves a lot of issues for us. He can defend well in the middle and do a long spell at lock as well, so saves an interchange.
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Surely, he goes with Graham to play a bit of hooker if we need it (if fit!)
 
They have a strong backline. On paper I think pretty evenly matched sides. Manly at home and they just lost last week gives them the slight edge. Bookies have them $1.57 favourites to us $2.49. I will be tipping the Knights again.
 
frankLauda said:
They have a strong backline. On paper I think pretty evenly matched sides. Manly at home and they just lost last week gives them the slight edge. Bookies have them $1.57 favourites to us $2.49. I will be tipping the Knights again.
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1. Ponga
2. Young
3. Koula
4. Best
5. Marzhew
6. Smith
7. Brown
8. Jsaf
9. Crossland
10. Mooney
11. Lucas (close with Hamoule)
12. Mcewen
13. Friz
14. Walsh
15. Croker
16. Bullemore
17. Manuleleua
 
Haumole plays on the right edge so technically it’d be between him and McEwen. In the fair ****s department you’d surely give that to the big fella. Paseka would also walk into our side. Halves would probably be Fogarty and Brown.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Haumole plays on the right edge so technically it’d be between him and McEwen. In the fair ****s department you’d surely give that to the big fella. Paseka would also walk into our side. Halves would probably be Fogarty and Brown.
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Yeah Paseka and Jsaf is pretty close. You could probably give it to Paseka. I was just going by the 1-17 names on Nrl.com. Hamoule very easily over McEwen.
 

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Les Misérables said:
It'll take something very special to beat them.
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Gee I hope not. Canberra had 1 set in the first 20 minutes & still pretty comprehensively outworked them and had way more in the tank in the second half. Had the game well in hand before they Canberra'd their lead away in the last ten minutes.

I'm honestly still very confident Manly are a bottom four team, I thought that in pre-season and I still think it now. They won't be able to stop anyone scoring. Yeah Brookie is a hard place to play at, and they have some very good attacking players, particularly Koula, but if we come away from this one with a bad loss where we create nothing in attack I'll have some serious concerns about the rest of the season.
 
Yeh I don’t rate Manly. The scoreline flattered them. Canberra clicked off thinking they had it won. If we can get on a roll I don’t think their defence will hold up
 
6 man bench makes it very tricky with “debuting” players.
Obviously not the most important thing about the game day, but it’s always nice when clubs do something special for players on debut. The jersey writing, family and friends etc. it has potential to be a special moment.
 
Curious to see what Crossland does if he’s got Hooker coverage on bench. Eg will we see the same “stand and deliver”, tackle. Or will he be taking some scoots and trying a bit more.

When Smith had to come on at 6, he knew he was needed to play 80, so curious how much of his performance was in conservation mode.

FWIW, I think he did well and didn’t overplay his hand. Penrith CEO speaks about when they got rid of Api to go with Kenny - ‘Api was crafty and good at knowing when to give to Luai vs Cleary, but once they set themselves and had a few games behind their belt, they just need somebody to tackle and give the ball to them.’
 
Yep Penrith going from Api to Mitch Kenny as a full time 9 and winning the comp two more times in comparably dominant fashion is kind of the ultimate proof that if you’ve got a guy who defends strong, gives clean ball to his playmakers, and doesn’t overplay his hand - i.e. either just dishes it really quickly or when they step out of dummy half a bit they’re looking to engage specific defenders rather than do damage themselves - you can have a really well functioning team with that.

Tallyn da Silva makes more money than Mitch Kenny because of a few 10 minute cameos where he made some eye catching runs. That got him a payday. Kenny’s reward for shoring up the middle in D as well as anyone and giving Cleary some of the best service in the comp is a meh salary and old guys on comms calling him “so underrated”. It’s a market inefficiency.
 
Crossland played most of the Cowboys game with a hand injury and I think it was the Toohey article that said he's still not 100%.
If we had everyone fit, we'd probably try to get as much time at hooker from Smith as possible and let Crossland have a light week.
We seriously only have 1 genuine firstgrade hooker and a few part timers, and one guy in Arthur who might have to be dropped into the job and sink or swim.
 
Harrison Graham played more first grade at the Phins than you’re probably all guessing and he was basically fine. I don’t think it’s going to kill us on the weekend.

Also Phoenix is the toughest bloke in the team, I will be surprised if he doesn’t just do the 80 and then go to a batting cage and intentionally get hit by the balls like Happy Gilmore.
 
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