For me personally perverse - it's been nothing but tests of faith with Bennett ever since he first arrived here. I can't agree with a lot of what he is doing in regards to team selection and he simply has not got the team he is loyal to firing after 10 weeks and a whole pre season. No if's or but's - that's a fact.
Mullen to 5/8 is the only real positive change i see thus far and that's something us arm chair experts have been calling for 5 years.
It's a complete myth that our defence has improved thus year - we've simply had teams blow far more tries against us then in 2011. But in every key defensive statistic eg missed tackles, metres conceeded etc - we've gone backwards.
Have i got my pitchfork out for Bennett? No. But he has a shitload of work to do and a roster that needs vast improvement in personnel and attitude.
i agree with you on everything except the defence - and not so much because i think our defence is fantastic, it isn't - but there is a definite attitude shift in the playing group and it's prevalent in our goal-line defence. their attitude is correct. execution is quite poor, particularly in the middle of the field. in the middle our defence is getting carved up, but we are giving zero cheap points away this year, regardless of how many tackles we need to make on our own line. there's a sense of fortitude that hasn't been there in a long time. there is a stat that shows that, too... it's our points conceded. given how bad our other defensive stats look, it's remarkable we've had so few points scored against us this year. it's encouraging to me that their attitude is still good. our scramble on our goal-line is fantastic and blokes are showing up for each other time after time. we shouldn't be in those positions in the first place, and we're letting them get up our end just way, way too easy (and a part of that is certainly poor defence), but credit where it is due... we're not giving away many soft tries.
after checking the ladder, we've conceded the 4th least points in the NRL. that's a pretty decent sign for a team that, as you said, is struggling to defend well. that's just pure attitude and determination. i'm not sure i remember a time where a Knights team has displayed such mental fortitude. you'd have to wind back to '97 or something.
it doesn't mean a lot when you're failing in so many other areas... but it's something we can build on. it's an important attribute to have, and one that doesn't come easy.
i think a lot of Stone haters have to start giving credit where it was due, too. he got a lot more out of a roster that looked a lot less. i've had to defend the poor bloke tooth and nail around here, but the way this year is going really only reaffirms what i already believe regarding Stone - that's he's good. he was able to polish an absolute turd up quite a bit.