Bird in Newcastle for lunch with Browny

[Hardcore_Fan]

Looks the same. Minimal improvement at best. Nothing major.

 

[TooheysNew]

Sorry mate, thought I'd included that. 29.33 v 26.16

So an average scoreline of 29-15 to 26-17.

A 20% improvement in the number of missed tackles per game
~10% better both ways on points

No Mullen. No Kostjasyn. No Pythian. No Pauli Pauli. That's four of our top 17 not there.

More errors, but that's the only stat that's gone backwards.

 

[Johns Magic]

It definitely feels to me like we're better this year than last and I think we are grittier now, but those stats don't support it so much.

I'm still sticking with my gut and think we have improved a lot.

Last year we were playing with an inflated salary cap as well. This year we know we are a mile under and it does feel like we are 3 signings away from being a legit team.

 

[perverse]

Those numbers look about smack on where I'd expect them. Minor improvement. If we can improve our numbers this much every year - we might make the 2027 finals.

I think you've hit the nail on the head JM re: the cap. We haven't gone forward much on the field, but the cap situation is miles better. Not sure I call that improvement as a team, but the club is better positioned.

There has been a culture change at the club, but I can see the wheels falling off at some point if we can't get a win or two, and I can't see where it's going to come from. Have we done enough to convince players that we want that they aren't moving to a basket case? Not sure. I hope so.

What blows me away is that with the attitude improvement they've had (and that's something I would describe as huge) - that it's resulted in so little difference in results thus far. I've rarely seen a team try to hard and fail so consistently. That makes me raise an eyebrow.

 

[Knight76]

The thing is we knew we weren't going to make much ground as a team this season, the aim was to make the ground as a club and I think we have done that. Our salary cap position is outstanding at the moment, and the club has a good vibe going.

If we caught a few breaks on injuries to Kosty and Pythian, Mullen gone and Pauli. None of these have been with us all year save Pythian in some of game 1. Thats quite a slab of talent right there gone.

If we had all hands on deck I think we would have gotten some more wins on the board.

It's frustrating to only have 1 win again so far, but we are making improvements.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Those numbers look about smack on where I'd expect them. Minor improvement. If we can improve our numbers this much every year - we might make the 2027 finals.

I think you've hit the nail on the head JM re: the cap. We haven't gone forward much on the field, but the cap situation is miles better. Not sure I call that improvement as a team, but the club is better positioned.

There has been a culture change at the club, but I can see the wheels falling off at some point if we can't get a win or two, and I can't see where it's going to come from. Have we done enough to convince players that we want that they aren't moving to a basket case? Not sure. I hope so.

What blows me away is that with the attitude improvement they've had (and that's something I would describe as huge) - that it's resulted in so little difference in results thus far. I've rarely seen a team try to hard and fail so consistently. That makes me raise an eyebrow.

It's really strange isn't it, we've had seasons where we've finished 10-12 on the ladder and we've won plenty of games that we shouldn't have and the attitude was shit all year. Yet this year we're having a red hot go but still losing every week. Obviously the calibre of player we have now compared to back then is very different but it's frustrating as a fan not seeing any tangible results for all that effort so I can't imagine how the players must feel after every game when we go down as gallant losers again and again.

If we haven't won another game in the next 2-3 weeks I'll have grave concerns about the moral of the team not to mention our prospects of actually signing any half decent players will plummet.

 

[perverse]

It's really strange isn't it, we've had seasons where we've finished 10-12 on the ladder and we've won plenty of games that we shouldn't have and the attitude was shit all year. Yet this year we're having a red hot go but still losing every week. Obviously the calibre of player we have now compared to back then is very different but it's frustrating as a fan not seeing any tangible results for all that effort so I can't imagine how the players must feel after every game when we go down as gallant losers again and again.

If we haven't won another game in the next 2-3 weeks I'll have grave concerns about the moral of the team not to mention our prospects of actually signing any half decent players will plummet.

Yep, exactly mate. It's bizarre, and it's concerning. I keep thinking like, how bad do you have to be to put in so much effort and still fail? And what's that going to look like if the effort wanes?

It's horrible to think about... but let's face it - we're the Newcastle Knights - horrible is our bread and butter.

 

[Glendale]

What blows me away is that with the attitude improvement they've had (and that's something I would describe as huge) - that it's resulted in so little difference in results thus far. I've rarely seen a team try to hard and fail so consistently. That makes me raise an eyebrow.

It's because this team is a NSW Cup team playing in firstgrade. It's the same team we had last year just with a bit more experience. In the game we won we had to complete 95% of our sets just to win. And even then we were playing the team only slightly better then us, with a lot of injuries, and the game was still in the balance with 10 minutes to go. The boys are trying to push shit up hill, they just aren't good enough to win games at this level. But they are controlling the only thing they can control, and that's that they give a serious red hot f**king go every week.

As has been mentioned, I have no doubt that we'd have atleast 1-2 more wins to orur name if we had Mullen, Kostjasyn, Phythian, Pauli, Buhrer on the field since the start.

 

[Noname36]

It's really strange isn't it, we've had seasons where we've finished 10-12 on the ladder and we've won plenty of games that we shouldn't have and the attitude was shit all year. Yet this year we're having a red hot go but still losing every week. Obviously the calibre of player we have now compared to back then is very different but it's frustrating as a fan not seeing any tangible results for all that effort so I can't imagine how the players must feel after every game when we go down as gallant losers again and again.

I think you answered your own question there. In those years we had much higher calibre of players in the squad - they had enough talent to win some games but like you said the attitude was shit and they were severely overpaid for what they offered (or didn't) so they had to go.

I'd personally prefer to watch the young blokes having a go rather than the overpaid but underachieving plodders we'd become used to even if it results in a few less wins but some obviously feel differently.

Hodkinson shits me to no end for his pay packet but in previous years our Hodkinson's have been most of the squad rather than the exception. The only other somewhat highly paid players we have now are Gagai and Sione but they're pulling their weight so they don't bother me.

 

[Pedge1971]

Those numbers look about smack on where I'd expect them. Minor improvement. If we can improve our numbers this much every year - we might make the 2027 finals.

I think you've hit the nail on the head JM re: the cap. We haven't gone forward much on the field, but the cap situation is miles better. Not sure I call that improvement as a team, but the club is better positioned.

There has been a culture change at the club, but I can see the wheels falling off at some point if we can't get a win or two, and I can't see where it's going to come from. Have we done enough to convince players that we want that they aren't moving to a basket case? Not sure. I hope so.

What blows me away is that with the attitude improvement they've had (and that's something I would describe as huge) - that it's resulted in so little difference in results thus far. I've rarely seen a team try to hard and fail so consistently. That makes me raise an eyebrow.

We were a lot less consistent last year. Aside from the game we won (Tigers), the draw (Raiders) and the away game against Melbourne we were never in the hunt in the other 5 games last year and the Broncos game was a disaster. Then we really fell away!

I agree we have shown minor improvement and being realistic we will never geat near the middle of the table with the squad we have now let alone top 8. We have to improve our squad.

However, there are at least 10 blokes in our extended squad (including injured players) who do have upside and could lift massively with 3 or 4 genuine quality players around them in the right positions. I honestly feel a fullback, dominant half and front rower and we become a fringe top 8 team.

The challenge is landing these signings. I am frustrated like most but I don't see it as a hopeless case. We were never seriously going to threaten this year though.

 

[macavity]

We have all the cap money in the world, but it means squat when we are seen as career aids and regardless the big teams can pull money out of their arses to sign whoever they want.

Unless something massive and out of our control changes, what we have here is what we will have moving forward - kids and scrubs having a dig but completely outclassed. At least we snuck under everyone's guard to snatch Ponga - we were his first visit did a hell of a sell job.

 

[Sydney Knight]

Sounds like David Bhana has suffered a horrific knee injury. Even reading about it on twitter sounds terrible. Wish him all the best and hope he has a full recovery

 

[Frederick]

Sounds like David Bhana has suffered a horrific knee injury. Even reading about it on twitter sounds terrible. Wish him all the best and hope he has a full recovery

There's a video floating around on twitter. It's worse than Ciraldos. Looks worse than Anderson Silva's too. That'll be his career done

 

[Spot On]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...arent-on-jack-bird-money-20170415-gvlkdd.html


Ahh, as much as Weedler can irritate with his nonsense, this article makes for some wonderful reading.

 

[macavity]

From that article:

Bird wasn't Wayne Bennett's only choice. The Broncos coach made a very sneaky play to try to snatch brilliant young fullback Kalyn Ponga. He was being sold Boyd's fullback position.

Seriously, is Bennett so sour he is trying to screw us? Sounds a bit obsessed.

 

[perverse]

Seriously, is Bennett so sour he is trying to screw us? Sounds a bit obsessed.

Bit hard to discern that, I'd call him senile if he didn't go for Ponga. I still think going after Bird is a f**king weird one, though. I don't think any combination of Bird, Milf and Darbs works particularly well in the halves. All 3 are prolific ball runners, and Darbs can promote the footy ok in a limited capacity on the fringe... but outside of that? Makes no sense.

Milford taking over halfback duties makes the most sense, maybe he has the natural talent to get away with it.

 

[macavity]

Bit hard to discern that, I'd call him senile if he didn't go for Ponga. I still think going after Bird is a f**king weird one, though. I don't think any combination of Bird, Milf and Darbs works particularly well in the halves. All 3 are prolific ball runners, and Darbs can promote the footy ok in a limited capacity on the fringe... but outside of that? Makes no sense.

Milford taking over halfback duties makes the most sense, maybe he has the natural talent to get away with it.

I took that he was trying to convince Ponga to get out of his contract after he had signed with us - certainly written to make you draw that conclusion.

 

[perverse]

I took that he was trying to convince Ponga to get out of his contract after he had signed with us - certainly written to make you draw that conclusion.

Yeah, I dunno. Maybe. I can see how it could be read that way. Might be a bit sour that Gags didn't follow him up there, who knows.