ROUND 5: Knights v Dragons @ Hunter Stadium

The simple resolution that we take away from last night is that CHANGE needs to occur, whether it be with tactics or personnel, or both. Something needs to be different when we play the Sharks next week.

If nothing is different then IMO it's time to panic
 
We should have won last night, but I'm actually really excited for next week. Sometimes a good team needs to lose to adjust and tweak minor things. If we kept winning then our halves would remain flat on last tackle and Houston wouldn't leave the team, now hopefully we can build and put a dominant effort on the Sharks.
I'd rather lose by 13 to dragons than by 45 to Rabbitohs or roosters is we had to verse them.
But in saying that we should have smashed the dragons last night too :/


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mbnsw said:
Yeah its definitely Houstons fault, wasn't the repeted penalties or the fifth tackle nothing grubbers, or the fact that pretty much everyone looked like they wanted to go home and have a hot shower after 5 mins. It's funny when people focus on one guy, everything he does gets scrutinised to the point where a lynch mob will be the next step.

They all sucked last night, that game was **** garbage and they all contributed to that. Even the dragons sucked against a lifeless outfit!
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Turning the ball inside to Houston continuously was used as an example of a game plan(if it was indeed a pre conceived plan to do so) not working yet we seemed incapable of producing something different. Not meant to focus on Houston. In saying that I believe Houston is a plodder at best.
 
Dragon's line speed was great all night, especially when we tried to shift it, there was no early ball. Mitch Rein of all people played all over us. Our organisation attacking the line and 5th tackle options were poor. I think the ease that we got down that end of the field so often is a positive sign for our forwards.

The bench needs to be looked at. Gidley looked no better than Clydesdale at hooker (although at least he gets out from dummy half sometimes) and Sione looked no better than Gidley at fullback. Randall, who has actually looked pretty good at hooker when he's played this year, played as a lock for some reason. Having a fullback on the bench doesn't work unless he's a Milford type, and then you wouldn't need a hooker. Sione or Randall on the bench is a complete waste of a spot - have one, send the other back to NSW cup for some game time.

It was a crap game, but it was only one. We're 4-1, I won't get too depressed about it all just yet.
 
Not enough has been said about Tariq's debut.
He gave away a few cheap penalties, but we know the Sims boys all do that.
He posted better numbers than Korbin ever does, and even better numbers than Snowy in this game.
He was pretty strong in attack and defense as well.
This was his first game of the year, and we can expect him to get better with a few games under his belt.

Very happy with that. On the strength of that game, he is better than Korbin and Rochow, and probably Smith at this stage of his career.
 
Billy said:
Not enough has been said about Tariq's debut.
He gave away a few cheap penalties, but we know the Sims boys all do that.
He posted better numbers than Korbin ever does, and even better numbers than Snowy in this game.
He was pretty strong in attack and defense as well.
This was his first game of the year, and we can expect him to get better with a few games under his belt.

Very happy with that. On the strength of that game, he is better than Korbin and Rochow, and probably Smith at this stage of his career.
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He also played all 80 minutes in his first game in a long time. He was really impressive.
 
I was quite impressed with tariq, he really ripped in and bent the line with every single run off his.
 
Yeah Tariq was awesome for us, hopefully he doesn't get charged so we can finally see he and Korbin go mental

As for the game, I think the conditions just ruined it for us. We knew from the start that it was going to go into the Dragons hands. I think we had been working on a game plan that involved exciting attack and to jump out of the gates like we did against Penrith but we couldn't do that in the rain, we turned to just playing boring safe footy and just hoped that we could grind them out but it didn't work.

Every kick that was put up was being swept backwards by the wind, every long pass was being effected by the wind, it made it impossible to know where a kick was going to land or sit so I think the halves tried to play the ball through hand as much as they could and in the end it just didn't work. Our original game plan would have been thrown out in those conditions and it showed.

I have little doubt we would have won if it was dry and we could attack with freedom, our backs running, kicks, cutout passes, we do all those things alot better than the Dragons but it turned to a boring old slog with unpredictable, very disruptive conditions and they had better defence and put more pressure on us when it mattered in the end. It's nothing to get too upset over just yet. 4-1 and sitting 3rd is a better start than any of us predicted as good as 5-0 would have been. Let's just hope Stone has them primed for the Sharks now. I'm sure they're already keen to make up for that loss.
 
Well it was nice to see the Roosters halves go out in sympathy with ours tonight. The Sharks are going to be full of confidence though godammit.
 
I'd rather go into next week with the Sharks coming off a big win. Every loss put them 1 game closer to a win and hopefully they got it out of their system today.

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PS did anyone else think Jack Bird looks a whole lot like Darius Boyd ?
 
It's nice seeing the roosters lose but isn't it.

Phil Gould reckons the first 6 rounds are a lucky dip. Each team will win at least one and lose at least one. I am not getting too worried at this stage.

The weather did play a part, but it was awful on the Gold Coast and we managed to win that.
 
Let's just hope our halves learn a lesson from a 2 game rookie in jack bird on how to play simple yet effective game.
 
That's all footy ever needs to be, simple and effective. Look at the way Robson led his team around the park. Why can't Mullen do that?

I've read a couple times that our halves weren't that bad and it was mostly the weather.. I'm not sure if that is a serious comment or not
 
Robson has always been underrated yet he can always steer his team around the park.

Wish we had someone like that in our team. It really ****es me off.
 
Beaumont said:
I'd rather go into next week with the Sharks coming off a big win. Every loss put them 1 game closer to a win and hopefully they got it out of their system today.

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PS did anyone else think Jack Bird looks a whole lot like Darius Boyd ?
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Exactly, I'd always rather verse a winning team than a losing. There's always more motivation to stop losing than keep winning. That win would have taken everything out of the Sharks while our game we were in third gear for 80 minutes and will be buzzing to bounce back.
 
Players' Player: Round 5

Tue 7th April, 12:37PM

Jeremy Smith picked up his second Players' Player award of 2015 on Saturday night, putting in a typically combative performance against his former club in the Alex McKinnon Cup.

Despite the inclement weather and the Dragons bringing their A-game, Smith drew plenty of plaudits for his work in both attack and defence.

Even though the lock was the oldest player on the field, he still played more minutes than any other interchange forward for the Knights and averaged more than 10 metres per a run.

STATS

Minutes: 57
Runs: 11
Run metres: 119
Tackles: 35
Tackle-busts: 2


http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news/2015/04/07/players_player_round.html






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Knights thank passionate supporters

Tue 7th April, 12:24PM

The Newcastle Knights would like to thank all their Members and fans who attended Easter Saturday’s game at Hunter Stadium.

An incredible 14,261 people braved the elements to support the Knights in the Round 5 match against a determined St George Illawarra Dragons side.

The support and cheers from the grandstand did not go unnoticed to the players.

“I just want to say thank you for coming out. It wasn’t the best conditions, and I’m sorry that we didn’t get the result,” Tyrone Roberts in the sheds after the following the match.

“We did see the fans out there and we did appreciate you coming along.

“It was good to see everyone get out to the game tonight.”
Sione Mata’utia also expressed his appreciation to those who chose to spend their Saturday night in cold and wet weather to passionately cheer on their team.

“We were looking to get the fifth straight win.

“It wasn’t the best conditions but the fans turned out in some big numbers,” Mata’utia said.

“Thanks to the fans for coming out.”

The Knights return to Hunter Stadium in Round 7, hosting the Parramatta Eels on Sunday April 19.


http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news/2015/04/07/knights_appreciate_p.html




 
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