Round 1 2016 Team

Jaelen Feeney, Pat Mata'utia, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Daniel Saifiti, David Bhana.

1. Jaelen Feeney
2. Jake Mamo
3. Pat Mata'utia
4. Dane Gagai
5. Akuila Uate
6. Jarrod Mullen
7. Trent Hodkinson
8. Kade Snowden
9. Danny Levi
10. Korbin Sims
11. Lachlan Fitzgibbon
12. Robbie Rochow
13. Jeremy Smith


14. Tyler Randell
15. David Bhana
16. Pauli Pauli
17. Daniel Saifiti

No Stockwell in particular would be disappointing. I hope they just mean Knights debuts.
 
1 feeney. *
2 Mamo
3 gagai
4 pat mat. *
5 uate
6 Mullen
7 hodkinson
8 Snowden
9 Randell
10 korbin
11 Rochow
12 Safiti *
13 smith
14 pauli
15 Safiti *
16 Levi
17 Bhana *

- - - Updated - - -

Fitzy made his debut last year
 
Hughburt6 said:
1 feeney. *
2 Mamo
3 gagai
4 pat mat. *
5 uate
6 Mullen
7 hodkinson
8 Snowden
9 Randell
10 korbin
11 Rochow
12 Safiti *
13 smith
14 pauli
15 Safiti *
16 Levi
17 Bhana *

- - - Updated - - -

Fitzy made his debut last year
Click to expand...
That looks like the most likely team

Edit: Maybe Chanel in for Mamo
 
Hughburt6 said:
1 feeney. *
2 Mamo
3 gagai
4 pat mat. *
5 uate
6 Mullen
7 hodkinson
8 Snowden
9 Randell
10 korbin
11 Rochow
12 Safiti *
13 smith
14 pauli
15 Safiti *
16 Levi
17 Bhana *

- - - Updated - - -

Fitzy made his debut last year
Click to expand...
Yep, that looks like it.

Not sure what to think of it but can't really argue with the selections either. Bring on Round 1.
 
Interesting Paea could be on the outer, I thought he had been going OK. I guess the thinking is at 30 he isn't going to get any better.

Stockwell no one to blame but himself, he was awful in the trial.
 
Browny you legend. Paea is honestly nothing special so I'm not surprised at all if he misses out. He was pretty ordinary in the SL, he's 30 and he's our smallest prop. It's great that these young guys are getting faith put in them early on. They'll have a dig and go all out to impress the coach while our old slugs who don't seem to care get dropped. It's so refreshing.
 
I would have had Chanel on the wing too.

Smith and Bhana will share lock, and the prop rotation doesn't lack for size anymore! Snowden, Saifiti and Pauli are all huge.
 
I like Bhana. He's a very good defender and in attack he's mobile with decent footwork which allows him to gain extra metres. He can also get an arm free for an offload.
 
On the back of today's news I'd say the 5 debutants will be: Jaelen Feeney (FB), Pat Mata'utia (CEN), Jacob Safiti (INT), Daniel Safiti (INT) & David Bhana (INT). Players most likely to miss out: Jack Stockwell, Mickey Paea & Danny Levi.

There's also some interesting resemblance to the 2007 Dragons. In 2007, the Dragons named 5 debutants in their 18-man squad for Round 1 (Josh Morris, Keith Lulia, Richie Williams, Dan Hunt & Lagi Setu - 18th man). Nathan Brown also named a player who had only 1 NRL game to his name (Tony Caine). The Dragons had 3 captains (Ben Hornby, Mark Gasnier & Jason Ryles), while they named 3 captains Gasnier missed the start of the season. The Dragons played the Gold Coast Titans on a Sunday in Queensland.

All these facts might sound coincidental, but on the back of today's announcement there is a degree of symmetry.

- Nathan Brown was coach.
- They played the Gold Coast Titans away on a Sunday.
- 3 Captains were named, only 2 played. Tariq Sims will miss the first 5 weeks.
- Lachlan Fitzgibbon is a strong chance of playing. He has only played 1 NRL game. Just like Tony Caine.
- Pat Mata'utia will debut, but not alongside his brother. When Josh Morris debuted, Brett didn't play.

It may sound crazy but you cannot deny there are similarities.
 
rob c said:
On the back of today's news I'd say the 5 debutants will be: Jaelen Feeney (FB), Pat Mata'utia (CEN), Jacob Safiti (INT), Daniel Safiti (INT) & David Bhana (INT). Players most likely to miss out: Jack Stockwell, Mickey Paea & Danny Levi.

There's also some interesting resemblance to the 2007 Dragons. In 2007, the Dragons named 5 debutants in their 18-man squad for Round 1 (Josh Morris, Keith Lulia, Richie Williams, Dan Hunt & Lagi Setu - 18th man). Nathan Brown also named a player who had only 1 NRL game to his name (Tony Caine). The Dragons had 3 captains (Ben Hornby, Mark Gasnier & Jason Ryles), while they named 3 captains Gasnier missed the start of the season. The Dragons played the Gold Coast Titans on a Sunday in Queensland.

All these facts might sound coincidental, but on the back of today's announcement there is a degree of symmetry.

- Nathan Brown was coach.
- They played the Gold Coast Titans away on a Sunday.
- 3 Captains were named, only 2 played. Tariq Sims will miss the first 5 weeks.
- Lachlan Fitzgibbon is a strong chance of playing. He has only played 1 NRL game. Just like Tony Caine.
- Pat Mata'utia will debut, but not alongside his brother. When Josh Morris debuted, Brett didn't play.

It may sound crazy but you cannot deny there are similarities.
Click to expand...
Wow that's actually pretty insane
 
Capture.PNG
 
While the prospect of 5 players making their debuts all at once seems risky, let's not forget why Nathan Brown was brought in as coach. The Knights finished dead last in 2015, in order to improve tough decisions have to be made. I'm sure the easy thing to do would be go with players who have played first grade, but those are the same people who contributed to a 16th-placed finish last year. It would be a massive call to drop Mullen and put Brock Lamb in, but Nathan Brown is here for a reason. If he thinks the best way to get the Knights into contenders he has to be allowed to do it, otherwise it'll be another season of disappointment.
 
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