NRL Round 4- Bulldogs Vs Knights - 3:00pm Saturday, 28th March - Accor Stadium

frankLauda said:
I would say the club and POS have factored in extending Ponga. Based on what he has repeatedly said he wants to win a premiership.

Two factors. If we are looking like genuine premiership contenders this year and I would assume he takes some unders to stay at Newcastle. Because he will more than likely be getting some big offers. Although with his injury history maybe not? Not sure.

It’s still a bit early to tell if we are going to be a top side this year. For us to be serious about winning a premiership we need to extend Ponga.
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I don’t see a team that is a ‘contender’ having the cash to offer Ponga anything more than we could. Those top 4 teams usually have a quality spine to start with.
 
Newygirl said:
I can’t remember the last time I saw everyone running hard and more impressively hitting as hard as they were in the first half in particular. I know I never saw it under AOB

What was also very pleasing see was that the hard clearly identified an issue with the Dogs left hand side defence so they went after it again and again. Previously I generally had no idea what they were trying to achieve and they rarely persisted with attacking the same spots (2023 was probably the only exception)

Overall, it’s just very impressive to put 5 tries on what’s a very good defensive side and they did it without 2 of their best players
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Very well said, couldn’t agree more.
 
mullenmagic said:
Dally M votes: Sandon Smith 5, Dom Young 4, Phoenix Crossland 2, Fletcher Sharpe 1.
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Sketchy again. Smith had a great eyes up play with the 2nd Dom Young try but was probably one of our weakest players over all. J Saf has been our best every week and probably hasn’t got a point yet off these idiots.

They need to name the judges so they can be rightly criticised for their poor judgement.
 
Absolute farce. Sharpe gets a point purely because he is a name. Forwards like Tapine, AFB, etc all get points because they are a name. Smith had a good game, but he didn’t score 3 tries and change the momentum of the game. For the life of me Jsaf, again, not scoring a point is a disgrace.
 
I thought Sandon was great lol. Obviously some hairy moments in defence but he created the numbers advantage for the first try and the little defensive triangle Sharpe exploits for the third one, so it wasn’t just the one try he was heavily involved with.

But also the try/break which more directly came from him was a pivotal, match turning one. Two forced drop outs. Got us rolling forward a lot with his ball playing. He was absolutely one of our handful of best guys in that one.

I would identify Dom and J Saf as our two best, and probably Sandon next.
 
I think the Dally M should be voted by players themselves, they play against them week in and out and know who is the best and fairest, just make it so they can’t vote for their own team and done, I don’t put a lot of stock on dally m and put way more into RLPA personally
 
It’s also not perfect either but an MVP system like the one used in American leagues makes sense & results in egregious outcomes like Jack Wighton winning way less often. By the end of the season everyone kind of knows who the standout players have been whether or not that aligns with the noise of week to week voting.
 
frankLauda said:
I think the commentators for the game should be the judges. They watch the game, are respected ex-players.
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It’s a good idea in theory but having Jake Duke, Blocker and Kevvie deciding doesn’t sound too flash. I’d imagine Crichton would’ve got 6 points and they’d of given Ponga and Brown points too because they can’t think of any other Knights players.
 
Used to be the refs who decided the points back in the Rothman's Medal days. Simpler times, I can only imagine the controversy it would create with how much people despise refs these days lol.

Have to say the forwards got recognised a lot more back then, and it didn't just go to the obvious playmaker for each game. It did seem possible for 1 through to 13 to take it out.
 
Late to the game thread as I was on a 2500km road trip over 2 days. Couldn't spare any time to watch the game until now.

What a great performance. I did read some comments that we went a bit flat when our middles went off and I think that is unfair to the bench to be honest. The only real momentum change I saw was half time and the dogs came out revved up, put on a couple of tries. But once the opening period of the second half was done, we regained control of the game and iced it.

This game came down to a good 80 minute effort and executing our game.

2 Dogs tries off forward passes and some conversions missed by Smith and this game looked closer than it really was. The score line flattered the Dogs.

Galvin, I commented when he was with the Tigers he is over rated and got dressed down over it, my opinion hasn't changed at all. I wouldn't swap him for Sandon Smith personally.

Fantastic getting that win away from home at the Dogs home ground. Especially in front of AOB who must have been thinking leading in here comes an easy 2 points and was left thinking why couldn't I get the team playing like that. And without KP and Brown to boot.

Dally M points should have all gone to Smith, J Saf and Hunt.

What a win.
 
Kurriboy said:
Fantastic getting that win away from home at the Dogs home ground. Especially in front of AOB who must have been thinking leading in here comes an easy 2 points and was left thinking why couldn't I get the team playing like that. And without KP and Brown to boot.
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I think you are giving AOB way too much credit. Why any club would hire him, let alone for 'attack' is beyond belief
 
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