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
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+.
Click to expand...
Yeah that overrated QB Tom Brady and the patriots who could only win SBs by one score...six asterisk wins there too
 
R_A said:
Yeah that overrated QB Tom Brady and the patriots who could only win SBs by one score...six asterisk wins there too
Click to expand...
The Knights have only won one finals game during AOB's tenure and at no stage have the Knights been close to a title. I'd take a GF win by a field goal but we can't beat a top 4 side during the regular season so I'm not sure that analogy works.
 
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+.
Click to expand...
We won both the 1997 and the 2001 grand finals by 6 points, are you suggesting these premierships should have asterisks against them?
 
Good Times said:
Genuine question: What positives about the team do you credit to AOB?
Click to expand...

Your asking the wrong person for positive impacts from OB.

My view is he has been a training wheels mediocre coach from the start. The team has struggled to make the 8 each season and bundled straight out. Despite having close to the best attacking weapon in the comp.

His play style does not suit the club and directly contributes to the struggling we have done.

He has failed to install the motivation and enthusiasm or intensity required to compete in the NRL and this goes directly against his grinding game plan. Many games we seem to just not care, or play like we just met yesterday. The respect for each 2 points on offer isn't there.

And, he has allowed players to cruise in the NRL for far far too long before taking action. Breeding complacency in the squad. People say but there was no-one to fill the gap, I say drop him regardless even if doing so means losing the next game. Send a message.

OB came here with promise, delivered very little. When Brown left we were on the up towards a middling club, and that's where OB has us treading water. He can't take us further.
 
Brad tighe said:
There is an argument if we didn’t have ponga we’d have a better balanced roster
Click to expand...

That's on the coach not coaching a game plan that suits our squad. Not on the player.

Ponga tries to do everything, the coach needs to get him doing what is best for the team.
 
Seano said:
I was just wondering if AOB would be at risk if the Knights were to have a bad season. Not speculating that he was.

I agree with most that there's no obvious answer as to who would replace him.

The coach I thought the Knights should go for (even though I don't particularly like him) when they were interviewing coaches prior to the 2023 golden run was Flannagan. But that ship has sailed.
Click to expand...
And happily so!
 
Brad tighe said:
There is an argument if we didn’t have ponga we’d have a better balanced roster
Click to expand...
Balanced is one word for it.

No KP no finals, probably no Best. Probably no AOB.

You’d just be relying on Sharpe to be as good as KP. I rate Sharpe very highly but he’s not producing a 2023 run.

Players aren’t signing here now, who’s taking that extra money?

If you think the Knights are irrelevant now, wait till KP leaves.
 
Brad tighe said:
On that Taj Annan has been doing some training at 5/8 and centre as well as wing. Apparently got a huge boot on him similar to Burton he may be an option
Click to expand...
He's an interesting one, isn't he? Really hard to get a read on him outside the club but could end up anywhere.
 
Brad tighe said:
On that Taj Annan has been doing some training at 5/8 and centre as well as wing. Apparently got a huge boot on him similar to Burton he may be an option
Click to expand...

I can't see the Knights signing Hughes or Moses (although I can see the Knights being used by the managers of those players to pump their asking price) so I would prefer to see them develop what they have and spend the money ensuring we don't lose our best prospects rather than add another to the list of recent halves we've speculated on and who didn't work out or where stop gaps: Lino, Clifford, Green, Clune, Milf, Rivett etc

Edit: Unless there really is a diamond in the rough out there but not convinced that TMM or Sexton would be anything more than an addition to that list.
 
The problem I see is we are looking for an elite 7, or one on their way to elite level. Aldi Cleary.

I don't think this team needs that. I mean don't get me wrong it would be great to have but those players tend to get locked up by the powerhouses like Pezet etc.

What this team needs is just a good quality 7 that can steer the team around, get us to where we need to be on certain tackles and have a reliable kicking game, good end of set options to secure repeat sets, put in good attacking kicks.

He doesn't need to be the wizard. We have one of those on the roster.

If Hastings didn't go off the rails we wouldn't be having this thread. We had him and he was adequate for the role.

To add to this we need a running threat at 5/8 and Gamble could have done this.

Then we need KP chiming in like a fullback should be, and getting himself in to good attacking positions that the halfback can exploit.

And a game plan that makes the most of this.

We need to slim down our props which is another reason I was happy to see the back of Dsaf with his frozen ankles. And JSaf can go as well. The game has moved on from that type of prop.

We need agile, faster props. We need to develop a momentum style attack that is built on fast play the balls and fast backs and forwards taking it in to the D line. We need to be shifting the ball early in sets and building off that momentum with that ball running 5/8. We need a smart hooker that knows the game plan, but also knows when he spots some easy pickings up the middle with lazy markers.
 
Adam Clune didn't get a fair shot at proving himself.
He was a very clever organising half, but through injuries and taking time to fit into our system, he didn't really get to show what he was capable of till he was already signed elsewhere and we'd signed Gogs to replace him.
If he had stayed for last year I think we'd already have the halfback we need.
Having said that, he's old and injury prone, so no point trying him again - the horse has bolted.
 
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
Click to expand...
Now dont take this in any way i dont want KP here, but you could argue he was unlucky that he takes so much of our salary cap to keep him. (Even though he did sign the last contract with him - would have been hung if he didnt). But KP unbalances our roster so badly, we absolutely need his brilliance to shine through as we cant afford a 1m halfback.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top