NRL Round 20 - Knights Vs Sharks - 6:00pm Friday, 17th of July - Ocean Protect Stadium

JOJO82 said:
Just realised our game vs roosters next week is on Friday also..... We have a horrible Friday night record, that game is going to be ugly
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We’re a better side than the Roosters. We’d of gave them a touch early this year if we were at full strength and will beat them next week.
 
I seriously hope you are all right, but I can just see us getting bent over again with poor officiating as seems to be the norm for us against the more fancied teams.
 
As expected: their big forward pack eventually wore us down. We needed to bank a bigger lead when we were jumping them earlier on in the game. Cronulla were there for the taking as they struggled coming down from their big high last week. The boys had a good crack as they usually do, but we can't ignore the big picture issue that our expansive style just doesn't match up well against the bigger sides like Cronulla. Especially in the rain.

We need to park talk about the top 4 because the top 8 is still not guaranteed. Because of our relatively poor p/d, there was always the risk that we could slide down the ladder very quickly if we started stinging losses together. Next weeks game is huge: if we lose again, we could even slip out of the 8 if results don't go our way.
 
Billy said:
The loss was disappointing, but it was in our top 2 or 3 performances of the year - scored 4 tries to 3 against one of the form teams.
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This. The boys proved that they can turn up when it counts.

Cant take it too harshly, Sharks are very hard to beat, particularly at home. We did really we'll considering how understaffed we were. That's not a preferred result but its a good result.

2026 is a beta test. We bring on the young blood this year and think big picture for 2027
 
Les Misérables said:
This. The boys proved that they can turn up when it counts.

Cant take it too harshly, Sharks are very hard to beat, particularly at home. We did really we'll considering how understaffed we were. That's not a preferred result but its a good result.

2026 is a beta test. We bring on the young blood this year and think big picture for 2027
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Yep there is absolutely nothing going wrong with this team that won't be fixed by guys like Cody Hopwood fulfilling their potential.
 
This part of the season the NRL tends to favour the teams they want in the final 8, not saying it's right but it's inevitable.

I'd say 5/6 is a pretty fair assessment of where we're at as a team at the minute. If anyone wants to complain about that, if encourage you to look back twelve months and see how we were going and how we were playing.

I think from tonight's game the clear takeaways are that Gagai is replaceable, Manuleulua can hold his head high, but is still very green, and that Crouch despite being one of the top performers in NSW Cup isn't quite FG ready yet.

Would 100% rather take close losses at this stage of the season than floggings that can ruin your confidence.
 
After watching the Roosters Storm game, I think the Roosters are very beatable. Hopefully it's a repeat of the 2019 game as that was the last time we beat them at McDonald Jones. Was also a Friday night game that night.
 
Only just watched the highlights. Shame KP left his kicking boots at home. Didn’t get much context of the game and far too tired to watch the whole replay now. Will check it out in the morning.

On a positive note, we’ve been close the last two weeks and are in the hunt for top 4 still.

What happened to Hopwood…..??
 
Really don't know why everyone is content with what happened yesterday. If we want to be taken seriously as a top 8 team this year, I don't think we can continue to excuse poor performances like this for much longer.

Let's be honest, we haven't been performing well as a team for months now. I'd say ever since we flogged the Dragons in Wollongong, we've struggled to put in a good performance and have been half-assing it ever since. We were one Flanagan drop away from losing to the Dragons. We could have even lost to the tigers a few weeks back if it wasn't for Dom's brilliance towards the back end of the game. Not to mention being saved on the bell by a rare Brown FG. We could easily be 9-9 or 8-10 right now and be where the tigers, dogs or storm are right now.

Even today, that second half was awful if we are being honest. We need more from our spine when we get into good attacking positions against top 4 sides like Cronulla who strangled us in that second half. Just like last week, we just looked lost when camped in the opposition red zone. We are far more comfortable attacking long-range than in the red zone which is not a sustainable strategy for success.

Have to be much better next week against the chooks.
 
Watched the replay, whilst there was no lack of effort we were clearly beaten. Our first 25 mins was great, but soon as Crouch and then Jones came on we absolutely lost the ruck. Sharks were running wild, and we’re lucky they didn’t score more.
Sharks defence in the second half was elite, we just couldn’t get out of our end, would love us to defend like that. Still good signs we kept fighting and nearly won, but really gonna have to jag a win soon.
 
Yeah I thought we played really well last night. Closer to an 80 minute performance than anything we've dished up in the past 3 months anyway.

I am however, getting really tired of referees/the bunker only applying certain rules when it suits them though.
 
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