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Match Discussion: Round 10 vs Panthers @ McDonald Jones Stadium

Who will win? Round 10: Knights v Panthers


  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .

Noname36

First Grade
Messages
7,067
Refs didn't lose you the game. You gave up 12 points with the failed pass during the linebreak and the penalty for interfering with the marker. Blaming the refs is an easy excuse.

Anyways I've supported knights in all the games not against us so go Knights and Ponga is an absolute freak in the best way.

I agree - although I thought the refereeing was horrendous it certainly wasn’t the reason we lost.

We need to learn to make smarter choices to overcome any poor referring. That poor pass with the line break was hardly new for us - we have a couple each game. Whenever we make a break we always end up losing the ball because we’re not patient enough to take the tackle when the pass isn’t on. It’s things like that which remind us that we’re still a very young and developing side and I hope it improves.
 

OldPanther

Coach
Messages
13,404
I agree - although I thought the refereeing was horrendous it certainly wasn’t the reason we lost.

We need to learn to make smarter choices to overcome any poor referring. That poor pass with the line break was hardly new for us - we have a couple each game. Whenever we make a break we always end up losing the ball because we’re not patient enough to take the tackle when the pass isn’t on. It’s things like that which remind us that we’re still a very young and developing side and I hope it improves.

I think you'll be right. Will make the 8 if you get Pearce back early enough. Ponga is playing as your 1,6,7 and not doing to badly. Just need that controlling half.
 

Choppy182

Juniors
Messages
88
I think in this game our ruck speed was far too slow, we just get wrestled too easily. I don't know about King. The few games he played last year he was a liability, and his return game certainly didn't fill me with confidence. If he's the young blood coming through our prop talent is very thin, hence the recent recruitment boom toward all off contract forwards at the moment.

In saying that, I think Penrith got a LOT of leniancy in regards to being "onside". We had no time with the ball as a result of that. I'm super happy with our ability to look dangerous when we have good field position, Ponga is just so dynamic! Defiantly need some bigger forwards, we have backline that would have a field day with more time.
 

Mr_Knightside

Juniors
Messages
2,155
As has been pointed out already our engine room is losing us games at the moment. We just aren't controlling the tempo of the game and teams like Penrith, Souths, Dragons, Storm and Roosters have all just rolled through the middle against us without really looking troubled. We've won some games on the back of brilliance from Ponga/Pearce but it's just not enough against teams full of rep quality forwards.

I get that people are frustrated with Dan and Jacob, I am too. But they've had just about the roughest transition into first grade that you could expect a young forward to have, they were basically expected to carry the pack for the last couple of years and even this year our front row stocks are still bare. Most front rowers their age would still be in reserve grade fighting for a call up.

At this stage our only NRL standard prop is Herman. The Saifitis need time in reserves to develop and fight their way back into the team, Lillyman is looking past it and King is still unproven at this level, I'm not even sure who else is pushing from below that tbh.

Ideally if we get Glasby, Wallace and Ah Mau (or maybe Boyd if we can't get one of the others) which is a solid possibility then I would like to see see the Saifitis spend 2019 in reserve grade and build up some confidence with some seasoned (and in form) front rowers ahead of them. Give them no choice but to fight their way into first grade.

Unfortunately there's not a lot we can do until then because they're currently part of our best prop rotation.
 

perverse

Referee
Messages
25,828
Quantity of work is one thing, but Dan needs to work on his quality and consistency. His play the ball takes an eternity and his aggression comes and goes (being generous). More than anything I'd say the frustrating bit is that he's still the same player that he's been since he hit grade. I think it's reasonable to expect him to have improved by now, especially given the toolset at his disposal.

I really think the Saifitis need to be trimmer. They don't look NRL fit. Looking at other props in their size department, they could definitely afford to loose 5 or 10kg and put it back on as muscle.
 

Yosh

Coach
Messages
11,245
Quantity of work is one thing, but Dan needs to work on his quality and consistency. His play the ball takes an eternity and his aggression comes and goes (being generous). More than anything I'd say the frustrating bit is that he's still the same player that he's been since he hit grade. I think it's reasonable to expect him to have improved by now, especially given the toolset at his disposal.

I really think the Saifitis need to be trimmer. They don't look NRL fit. Looking at other props in their size department, they could definitely afford to loose 5 or 10kg and put it back on as muscle.

They have super skinny legs by the looks of it... Maybe more leg work and we'll see an increase in their output?
 

perverse

Referee
Messages
25,828
They have super skinny legs by the looks of it... Maybe more leg work and we'll see an increase in their output?
Wouldn't hurt. They have the frames to be far more intimidating than they are. They just strike me as the kind of blokes who have got this far largely just coasting. If they had the mentality of a Jamie Buhrer, a Herman Ese'ese or a Luke Yates, they would unstoppable.

Unfortunately Brown is still in a position where he kinda has to keep picking at least one of them every week. I think Brown has signaled with his selections this year that he's as unhappy with them as anyone, but still has limited options. If Dan was playing to anything near his potential, he wouldn't be gifting a starting spot to Josh King at the moment, that's for sure.
 

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,769
https://www.theherald.com.au/story/...-the-dirt-on-his-own-form-this-season/?cs=306

Towering Knights prop Daniel Saifiti was hoping 2018 would be his breakout season in the NRL.


He wanted to start dominating rival teams and take another step forward in his development under coach Nathan Brown.

Instead, by his own admission, the 121kg prop has “gone backwards” and been left frustrated and disappointed with, as he puts it, his failure to make a major impact during the opening 10 rounds of the competition.

With the Knights looking to bounce back from two straight defeats at home when they meet the Titans on the Gold Coast on Saturday, a brutally honest Saifiti told the Newcastle Herald he expected far more from himself.

“I’m not happy. I feel like I was playing much better last year,” a candid Saifiti said.

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Daniel Saifiti charges into the Manly defence


“I wanted to be ahead of where I was last year but it is just not happening. I probably just thought I could pick up from that and then build on it but it just hasn’t happened.

“If anything, I’ve gone backwards.”

“I’ve sat down with Browny and we both agree that I should be ahead of where I am in my development. It’s up to me to get myself up to where I want to be and where I should be.”

Saifiti, who has only just turned 22, was expected to be one of the chief beneficiaries, along with twin brother Jacob, of the club’s decision to sign experienced veteran props Chris Heighington and Jacob Lillyman.

But after coming through an off-season shoulder reconstruction and missing plenty of pre-season training, it has taken Saifiti longer than expected to get into stride.

“It’s probably a mindset thing as well,” he said.

“Maybe, I’ve been guilty of taking a bit of a back seat with a few older frontrowers coming in.


“Last year, I tried to lead the pack and I’ve probably been guilty of letting the other boys do it. I need a bit more aggression and I need to be the one leading this team again. But I’ve rarely done it this year.”

Saifiti, who is his own harshest critic, made 23 tackles and ran for 131 metres from 16 runs off the bench against Penrith last weekend.

In anyone’s language, he’s put in a pretty decent shift.

But he said his errors with the football undid all the good work.

“To drop it cold like that is not what I’m about,”he said.

“I don’t think I have ever done that before. When I’m playing well, I can bring some impact to the team and I just haven’t done that this year.

“I’m confident I can do it – I just need to go out there and believe I can be the strongest runner on the field.”

Saifiti says he is not fazed by the club’s pursuit of frontrowers to strengthen the roster next season and sees the pending signing of Melbourne Storm prop Tim Glasby as something that will inspired him.

“It’s massive. Me coming through personally, I probably haven’t had that star frontrower coming through to really look up to,” he said.

r0_0_4017_2473_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

Tim Glasby


“He’s worked hard at Melbourne and if he does sign here, I’m going to be stoked with the signing. He’s definitely a player I look up to and can learn a lot from.

“It’s definitely motivating that someone who played Origin last year is coming here. He obviously sees something promising here and to have that, it’s going to inspire me to hopefully play beside him next year.”

Aside from improving his own personal performance against a Titans pack that will include another Knights recruitment target in Jarrod Wallace, Saifiti believes defence holds the key to a Knights victory.

“Our defence in the middle has not been up to scratch. Neither has our line speed and we have to improve on that,”he said.

“If we can tighten up in the middle, we trust Lamby [Brock Lamb] and Connor [Watson] and Kalyn [Ponga] to get the job done for us in attack.

“We feel at our best, we can match most forward packs but we are going to have to really aim up this week to beat them.”

Meanwhile, coach Brown said the club was still in the market for frontrowers even with the impending signing of Glasby and is not panicking despite admitting the market is getting smaller.

“What I do know is if you’ve got money and you’ve got a club moving forward, the good players will eventually come and that was proven last year,” he said.

“We are certainly not going to go and all of a sudden undo the work that’s been done to help us move forward and spend the money in the wrong areas to try and get a kill.”

It's good to see Saifiti making the right sounds- he just needs to work on a couple of key areas and hopefully he'll surpass his 2017 form before too long.
 

Spot On

Coach
Messages
13,897
The poor form of the Saifiti's, Daniel in particular, is being massively over exaggerated IMO.

Dan has come out and said the opposite PG. Said he and Brown had a sit down and talked about why his development is well behind where it should be.

He knows he's been pretty poor this year so far.
 

perverse

Referee
Messages
25,828
Well there you go, sometimes I am actually on the money. lol. Good to know Brown is on him about it.
 

Still Nutty

Juniors
Messages
867
Ok - that gives me some belief that there is still a capacity for him to lift his ceiling...but talking the talk is one thing, we need him to start walking the talk.

I won't expect a major turn around in 1 week but if he can show progressive improvement on what he has been dishing up, I'll be happy to see him given opportunities to continue in first grade.

Again ,it seems Brownie is doing all the right things with trying to get the best out of the squad - the fact that he chooses to do it largely behind closed doors and not make it a public spectacle illustrates why he is also really respected by the playing group for his man management, etc.
 

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