Second pre-season trial - Knights Vs Bulldogs - 6:00pm Saturday, 14th February - McDonald Jones Stadium

Also would love to see D'Coursey** play right wing outside gags sometime this year. Appears to be a much more explosive athlete than the other young guys. I think he'll have a breakout season if given a few games on the wing.
 
Takeaways
Our defence was decent, but we put too much pressure on ourselves with poor completions. You can’t sustain defending in your own end, we eventually got worn down.

DB has a decent boot on him. Thank god. He’s never had to do it at Parra with Moses, but he’s very capable.

We need to keep Marzhew in the team. Even though a target under the highball, with our forward pack we need his carries.

Was impressed with ESL and Manuela. ESL definitely must have a bench spot round one and Manuela soon to replace a Crokes/Jones/Cant.

McEwen to start right edge. He’s not an 80min player yet though, but I prefer him to start over Can’t.

Again like 25 no cohesion in attack. A worrying sign. The right side play to put Dom over was the only play that worked. But as I mentioned already, Sandon looked much better playing on the right side, and DB has played his whole career at left. Hollbrook don’t make it hard FFS.

A few defensive lapses from DeCorcy. He’s not FG standard yet, but good for the run. Gags back in that centre position.
 
Wasn't able to watch live last night and managed to avoid the result before putting the game on this morning.

Pre-game I was filled with excitement to watch a Left Edge of Lucas/Brown/Best - musing that this has the potential to be the best edge combination we've had in my time watching the Knights, each of the above turning 26/26/25 respectively with Lucas/Best contracted til the end of 27 and Brown until the end of time itself. I dared to dream - this may be the debut of a generational edge combination that we get to keep for 5+ years.

Further, watching Sandon take organisational responsibility at 7 in the Dragons trial and generally showing some bright sparks on the right edge in an ultimately mixed performance left me keen to see if Smith/Brown would allow Brown to flourish at 6. I've never been super opposed to Sharpe in the halves, but I am increasingly compelled by the idea of a semi-genuine 7 running the show and Sandon has a shot at being that.

Given that context, you can imagine the pit that formed in my stomach when I saw Brown line up on the right for kick-off. Before that ball was kicked, my immediate thought was that Holbrook has already decided on Sharpe partnering Brown, because why else would you possibly swap your two major halves signings to their unfavoured edges.

Admittedly I've been a bit busy across the pre-season so I don't know if this reflects how we've been training but the thought of wasting time churning through spine combinations again has me rather frustrated. I don't believe the idea that Lucas/Brown/Best (with Ponga/Sharpe floating at fullback) can be a top-tier elite edge is unreasonable, and wasting time with any other combination rather than building that chemistry feels insane.

Positives:
- Saifiti looked really good, and at times was quite dominant against a Dogs pack that has proven they can take a team to the top 4. Obviously essential for Saf to have a big year.
- ESL and Francis both have the talent but neither is the full package yet, would like at least one to be in our 19 against the Cows.
- Marzhew looked fit and as always his yardage is the core of any field position.
- Brown is a special player, even if not everything went correctly, some surprisingly good long-kicking.
- Best and Lucas both solid.
 
frankLauda said:
Again like 25 no cohesion in attack. A worrying sign. The right side play to put Dom over was the only play that worked.
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After the first 15 minutes we didn't have any field position (due to a combo of dropped ball and forwards going nowhere) until really late in the game when the spine was cant/Smith/gamblor/hunt . I'll reserve judgement for now.
 
nighttiime said:
Also would love to see D'Coursey** play right wing outside gags sometime this year. Appears to be a much more explosive athlete than the other young guys. I think he'll have a breakout season if given a few games on the wing.
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De Courcey had some great games on the wing last year.
He was a decent centre at Ball and Flegg level, but not a standout.
Honestly, his breakout year in reserve grade last year came because they needed to give other guys like McCarthy time at centre, so they moved him to wing and he thrived, scoring tries nearly every game - often multiple tries.
In short - born winger - not much of a centre IMO.
 
Last night could have just been one of the games where everything seems to go wrong and Brown may have been on the right just to trial how he would look as the game manager, I doubt it but just maybe
 
I wasn't too disappointed as I felt the team as a whole tried some miracle plays against a very good defensive team. I wonder if the first try had been allowed would their confidence have grown and maybe the result might not have been as bad. For me the real worry is that when we started to do some really stupid stuff in the second half, when we were under some real pressure, no one appeared to calm the team down and take charge. All great teams have a captain who barks orders and controls the tempo of the team and I didn't see that yesterday. Brown to me looks like a real talent but again I don't see him as that aggressive captain that we need. Joey, back in the day, was that style of player and the whole team revolved around his decision making and all great teams have that person and I'm not sure who in the team can be that person.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Welcome home Owey, I’ve saved you a spot on the couch.

There isn’t actually a reason why Brown can’t line up on the left and make a fair contribution to the general play kicking. If there’s a law against it, no one told JT or Joey Johns.

AFAIK they trained most of the pre-season with Sandon and Brown on the opposite sides to where they lined up in the trial. Why? Can only hope it’s some 11th dimensional chess thing where he just wants them to be ready to do that if we need it because I otherwise don’t get it. I feel like it’s just squandering a chance to bed the combo they worked on in pre-season in before games actually matter.
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If that’s true and they trained all pre-season on opposite sides, then it makes even less sense. Why change it what you doing all summer for game day?

Is the club aware of the concept of cohesion? How can players form combos and improve if they’re constantly being shuffled around, played out of their best positions from week to week?
 
Sharpe at 1 made sense with Ponga in doubt for Rd1 and if played others, Votano/Hunt then what happens Rd1 when Ponga isn’t right.
It works or doesn’t whichever way.
The problem is we have only 1 top backup, Sharpe, for several backline positions
 
this might be harsh and not generally an accepted opinion but for the life of me I can’t understand why we persist with McCarthy. He has a bit of size from the look of it on tv, but what does he offer? Dropped balls and poor reads in defense? Granted this is a hot take as I don’t know his lower grade form, but whenever I have seen him play it just doesn’t inspire much of anything. Who else is there waiting behind him?
 
Beer Me Strength said:
this might be harsh and not generally an accepted opinion but for the life of me I can’t understand why we persist with McCarthy. He has a bit of size from the look of it on tv, but what does he offer? Dropped balls and poor reads in defense? Granted this is a hot take as I don’t know his lower grade form, but whenever I have seen him play it just doesn’t inspire much of anything. Who else is there waiting behind him?
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Maybe he trains really well, but he makes some poor decisions during the game and like you're saying he doesn't inspire any confidence
 
Maybe Brown was played on the right side as a trial to bolster up that side as we seem to have a much stronger left side?
 
sherpa said:
Maybe Brown was played on the right side as a trial to bolster up that side as we seem to have a much stronger left side?
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I think with ponga favouring the left it's pretty good to split them that way defense can't double up on ponga without leaving them selves short on the right for brown to take advantage
 
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