The Halfback Conundrum

Which potential halfback, available from November 1, should the club make the #1 priority?

  • Ben Hunt

    Votes: 7 11.9%

  • Braydon Trindall

    Votes: 8 13.6%

  • Jonah Pezet

    Votes: 27 45.8%

  • Sam Walker

    Votes: 3 5.1%

  • Daniel Atkinson

    Votes: 3 5.1%

  • Lachlan Ilias

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • None of the above - Stick by Jack Cogger and continue to nurture kids currently in the system

    Votes: 6 10.2%

  • Other (comment with their name)

    Votes: 1 1.7%

  • Ronald Volkman

    Votes: 1 1.7%

  • Toby Sexton

    Votes: 3 5.1%
  • Total voters
    59
jamesgould said:
I still don’t get the asterix, it’s not uncommon for a team in the lower half of the 8 to have a negative f+a, and it’s very common for sides to fall away and miss the finals as the year progresses.

We’ve made it to the finals regularly, whether or not you think it’s a pointless achievement, it’s there in black and white.
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Totally agree, James. Nine other clubs would have loved to make the top eight. I get the frustration of not progressing in the finals, but that's where we are at the moment. We have one superstar at the moment, we need at least two more to crack the top four and be in true contention, it's a roster problem not coach.
 
jamesgould said:
I still don’t get the asterix, it’s not uncommon for a team in the lower half of the 8 to have a negative f+a, and it’s very common for sides to fall away and miss the finals as the year progresses.

We’ve made it to the finals regularly, whether or not you think it’s a pointless achievement, it’s there in black and white.
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Yes, finals are good but it's hard to say we've progressed under AOB, we struggle to beat teams in the top 8 and wins against the top 4 are as rare as hen's teeth, we have two of the best attacking weapons in the league (Best & Ponga) and one of the worst if not the worst attacks. If the goal is for the Knights to be a mediocre team then we've nailed it.

Anyway, my original question was would AOB be at risk if the Knights had a bad 2025 and I guess the general feeling is no.
 
mozza said:
Penrith have got an asterisk next to 3 of their 4 in a row because they only won 1 of the Grand Finals 13+.
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I’ll go my grave not counting those other three!!!
Seano said:
Yes, finals are good but it's hard to say we've progressed under AOB, we struggle to beat teams in the top 8 and wins against the top 4 are as rare as hen's teeth, we have two of the best attacking weapons in the league (Best & Ponga) and one of the worst if not the worst attacks. If the goal is for the Knights to be a mediocre team then we've nailed it.

Anyway, my original question was would AOB be at risk if the Knights had a bad 2025 and I guess the general feeling is no.
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I think the main thing is the length of his contract, that says he wouldn’t be under any risk next year, but if he misses out 25 and 26 then there would be. That’s my guess!
 
Hititup said:
Totally agree, James. Nine other clubs would have loved to make the top eight. I get the frustration of not progressing in the finals, but that's where we are at the moment. We have one superstar at the moment, we need at least two more to crack the top four and be in true contention, it's a roster problem not coach.
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Agree. We have a middle of the road roster, a middle of the road coach.. bottom half of the eight is where we are until we can improve the playing squad.
 
R_A said:
Yeah hard pass on all. If I had to pick, Hasler seems to be similar, gets teams up for gameday and performing but similar to Maguire may wear out his welcome short term. But also needs a decent team to get going.
That said it is funny the Titans won one less game with him there. Will see how 2025 goes for the forever cursed Titans.

But since this thread is about halfbacks, who do you guys think would be a good halves coach? (outside of who we have) or a head coach that would possibly improve the halves?
Similar to the effect AOB has had on Phoenix.
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Lol. Crossland plays well, that's AOB affect 😀

Hastings going right off the boil, Gamble as well, ponga struggled etc etc. last season it was halves lotto to see who was going to play in the halves.

Of course, none of this is the AOB affect, that's on the players.

How about letting Dsaf completely bludge his way through seasons and the coach allowing it to happen. Not on AOB either I suppose.

If a player going well is the AOB affect, a player not going well it is fair then to place the responsibility with AOB?
 
I don’t think anyone is under the allusion that AOB is a super coach. But moving the goal posts and not counting the success he has had is illogical.

He’s got a pass mark from me. He’s done a decent job and brought in and improved a number of players. He’s also had some questionable attacking strategies and has made a few dud recruitment options.

It’s not ideal but it’s decent considering what a mess we’ve been since Joey retired.
 
I've always had a few question marks on AOB but he has definitely improved as a coach since the shocking season of 2022.

He has improved and developed quite a few players nicely in the last couple of seasons with all of Best, Lucas, Marzhew, Young, Sharpe, Crossland, Thompson and B Jones.
 
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Kurriboy said:
How about letting Dsaf completely bludge his way through seasons and the coach allowing it to happen. Not on AOB either I suppose.

If a player going well is the AOB affect, a player not going well it is fair then to place the responsibility with AOB?
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He did drop DSaf to the bench tbf, I guess hoping that would fire him up. It didn't, and so he got the O'Sullivan's tap.
 
Celticman98 said:
Knew I forgot a few. Best now a origin player and Lucas of course I think has the potential to play Origin.
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Best was always going to be an Origin player. Hardly AOB great coaching.

Anyway. I'll leave this be. Everyone knows my position on AOB.
 
AOB has been lucky, lucky to have Kalyn Ponga and lucky to have him in Daly M form at the back end of every year. On that alone, you could pick a coach blind folded out of a miscellaneous group of fair candidates and be sure to have achieved at least as much as we have.

It certainly hasn't been the worst 5 years in the clubs history, of course we should be grateful for that. But once Ponga eventually leaves/retires, if we didn't at least get closer to a GF we're going to realise, in retrospect, that we fumbled the **** out of the ace card we'd been sitting on that entire time. Thats my gripe.

And if we're to apply any standard to how AOB's tenure is tracking it should be how much closer we're getting to a title push. And is there anyone on this forum that would argue that we've progressed towards that goal in our outcomes? Are we now a SF or QF team yet? Aside from 2023, we've been a mere fill-in during the finals. And our top 17 has gone backwards since then. It's been 5 years, we've brought some juniors through and our outcomes have remained steady and we're still a way off being a legitimate finals contender.

Some people on the forum are happy with that. Others are not. I think that's the essence in difference of opinion on AOB
 
Les Misérables said:
AOB has been lucky, lucky to have Kalyn Ponga and lucky to have him in Daly M form at the back end of every year. On that alone, you could pick a coach blind folded out of a miscellaneous group of fair candidates and be sure to have achieved at least as much as we have.

It certainly hasn't been the worst 5 years in the clubs history, of course we should be grateful for that. But once Ponga eventually leaves/retires, if we didn't at least get closer to a GF we're going to realise, in retrospect, that we fumbled the **** out of the ace card we'd been sitting on that entire time. Thats my gripe.

And if we're to apply any standard to how AOB's tenure is tracking it should be how much closer we're getting to a title push. And is there anyone on this forum that would argue that we've progressed towards that goal in our outcomes? Are we now a SF or QF team yet? Aside from 2023, we've been a mere fill-in during the finals. And our top 17 has gone backwards since then. It's been 5 years, we've brought some juniors through and our outcomes have remained steady and we're still a way off being a legitimate finals contender.

Some people on the forum are happy with that. Others are not. I think that's the essence in difference of opinion on AOB
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There is an argument if we didn’t have ponga we’d have a better balanced roster
 
Honestly time for AOB to go, I don’t think we are that far off a an actual contender, KP, Best, Gags, Marzhew etc, we need a leader halfback and running 5/8 and maybe one more prop and we should be golden

We showed everyone we can be the most lethal attack in the comp along with a top 3 defensive unit during that run, I think it all comes down to the coach now and I’d give AOB 2025 but if we aren’t a top 6 comfortably I’d be telling him that he can go.
 
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