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Match Discussion: Round 11 vs Titans @ Cbus Super Stadium

Who will win? Round 11: Titans v Knights

  • Draw after Golden Point

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Newcastle Knights 13+

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    4
  • Poll closed .

Spot On

Coach
Messages
13,897
Our defence isn't as bad as the overreact types claim, cut out the silly mistakes, dropped ball out from kick off and scrum loss against the feed and we are in there zone attacking not defending, the longer you defend the more likely fatigue and errors, bad reads enter, cut those out and suddenly we seem to be defending better. If you reverse those two very bad errors then they become fatigued, make mistakes and even in attack look slow, it is a big turnaround.


I don't know which ladder you are looking at but we have conceded the most points of all the NRL teams and nearly twice as much as some of the teams in the top 8. Just unbelievable not even halfway through the season. Imagine how bad it will be at the end of R25.

You can't blame a few dropped balls on that gross, ugly, hard, cold fact.

I've been writing in this forum every week since round 2 that we have major issues with defensive technique, pattern and line speed not to mention aggression in any form with and without the ball.

Make no mistake OD our defence is absolute crap and getting worse.

The coach needs to do something about it ASAP not sell the line that they are young and only 40 to 50 gamers.
 
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Haffa

Guest
Messages
15,881
I don't know which ladder you are looking at but we have conceded the most points of all the NRL teams and nearly twice as much as some of the teams in the top 8. Just unbelievable not even halfway through the season. Imagine how bad it will be at the end of R25.

You can't blame a few dropped balls on that gross, ugly, hard cold fact.

I've been writing in this forum every week since round 2 that we have major issues with defensive technique, pattern and line speed not to mention aggression in any form with and without the ball.

Make no mistake OD our defence is absolute crap and getting worse.

The coach needs to do something about it ASAP not sell the line that they are young and only 40 to 50 gamers.
Yep. I went to the Roosters Broncos game last night and sat in the second level. I had the benefit of not giving a shit about the result so was able to watch the defensive patterns (I was also watching the way the refs policed the 10 or 15 when Sutton was in control). They were both far superior to anything we presented today. Good players will always find a way through especially with pace out wide, but we are allowing people to walk through the middle or our wide on an over lap because we have no idea how to defend it.
 

Spot On

Coach
Messages
13,897
Too often in the middle of the park we stand and wait for the ball carrier to rip into our line, we have 3 defenders who grab hold up high but still allow offloads and generally allow the player a heap of post contact metres as we find it hard to get him on the ground and rarely on his back. One example today was 3 defenders on Nathan Peats and they were trying to put him to the ground and couldn't. WTF????????

Most of the time the 3rd defender is not getting back into the line because we can't dominate in the tackle and we allow the ball to be played too quickly and we end up continually going backwards.

Itis the exact opposite when we have the ball with only Herman and maybe Fitz hitting the line with any force and gaining decent post contact metres. The twins get to the line after what seems to be a walking pace and submit to the most feeble defenders falling to the ground and taking an age to play the ball. It's pathetic how weak they seem for their size. They rarely fight in the tackle. No offloads, very little leg drive, very little fight. Why???

Jai Arrow would need a bulldozer to get him to the ground but our blokes look like a sniper has shot them when they get near the defensive line.

And that is just one example of many poor parts to our defensive problems.

The Sione problem I believe can't be fixed. He's just bloody terrible at reading basic play.
 

Knightmare

Coach
Messages
10,716
Beaten Manly twice, Brisbane, Canberra and the Tigers. With the exception of the Tigers, the other 3 teams are poor or inconsistent sides. 5 wins so far this year by a combined total of just 12 points. The most dominant performance was the win against the Broncos- and even then there were only 5 points margin at the end.

Inexperience in some positions hurts this team and the defence at times is rubbish, but what gives the opposition the biggest leg-up is lack of respect for the football in possession. Stupid errors from the likes of SKD and Saifiti week after week either close to our line or early in the tackle count are constantly ruining chances to pull out a gap, and instead give the opposition another chance at getting back into the contest. At this stage it's fortunate there are still matches against NQ, Canterbury and Parramatta to come, but more than a winning, there needs to be a controlled, dominant performance from this team to give them the confidence to get out to a lead and take control of it from there.

Not the worst team this season (3 or 4 sides are definitely worse) but arguably they're most frustrating to date- although Raiders fans would argue for that mantle with us.
 
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Mr_Knightside

Juniors
Messages
2,155
I don't know if I've ever been as angry as that after a game. I'm still trying to cool down right now.

It honestly seems like it's our job to play shit teams into form. The Titans had lost 5 straight and have looked really poor and we just handed the game to them on a platter.

I can't believe what I just watched, we are absolutely dreaming if we are still talking about top 8. At this point the only thing keeping us away from another spoon is how bad the Cowboys, Eels and Bulldogs have been and we haven't even played them yet so I wouldn't be surprised if they beat us too.

With 20 minutes to play we had it in he bag and should have iced that game. Any top 8 team probably puts another couple of tries on them too just to really shut the door but instead we concede 15 unanswered points.

To be honest I can't see this changing any time soon, any team who gets a set of six on our line is just about guaranteed to walk away with a converted try at the end of it. Our defensive performances this season just don't show that any progress has been made over the last few years at all. We are at least good to watch in attack this year but it doesn't mean much when we concede close to 30 points per game on average.

Based on what I've seen this year there should be a bunch of guys put on notice who just seem to continuously let us down every week, it's not like it's always the same couple of guys but more like 5 or 6 who between them seem to lose us a lot of games.

Below is what I would like to see next year with our current squad of players, the positions I have left blank are for current players who need to spend next year in reserve grade until they improve or be moved on. Obviously these are positions where I think we should look for replacements. As you can see our front row and bench both need a dramatic overhaul.

1. Ponga
2.
3. Moga
4. Ramien
5. SKD
6. Watson
7. Pearce
8. Ese'ese
9. Griffin
10.
11. Fitzgibbon
12. Barnett
13. Guerra

14. Glasby
15.
16.
17.
 

Yosh

Coach
Messages
11,245
Not the end of the season but.... big big but...

Ponga is good... SO GOOD but aren't using him well enough since Pearce went down. I literally can't see how a player like Lamb got to play first grade. I just don't see it.... What does he offer? I haven't seen a decent pass or run or kick or tackle from him that justifies how he managed to find himself in the NRL. The best kick all night was from Fitzgibbon on some random fifth tackle play. Lamb did get us some points with his goal kicking but his play is just terrible... What is he good at?

Watson looks okay. However, he is as one dimensional as it comes. He gets the ball and NEVER passes. He will run, whatever tackle it is, and is always stuck on that right hand side. Sione has some bad defense but how can he attack if he never gets any ball. I think in a system with Pearce and Ponga play making and Watson turning up on the left and right to run the ball or support play could be dangerous but with Lamb and Watson we look soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo one dimensional... How can he expect to be a NRL standard five-eighth with no play making and kicking game?

That knock on by Saifiti was unforgivable... I don't know if he should play first grade again this year.. If Ese'ese dropped that after his amazing performance, I could find a way to forgive him but that knock on, at that moment in the game... Didn't he give some interview this week about stepping up? I know every player makes a mistake here and there but that mistake was just unforgivable.

We had 2 extra men but could not do anything with it... I am a huge fan of Brownie but surely some work needs to be done at practice where we work some plays that might work against a team down on players. Especially this season as nearly every game has a sin bin... I can't believe we conceded with a man down.... How fu*king frustrating was this game...

Sorry for the rant... I just caught the game (I live in South Korea and watch the games when I can online) but that just ruined my night. Just totally ruined my weekend. I don't think I can wake up tomorrow unless I talk about some positives.

I like Ken Sio. He ain't nothing special but does well for the team. I don't see what Ross really offers (unless it is enthusiasm) but I hope Ken sees some more time in the team.

Ponga is wonderful. He makes the games worth watching, win or lose. He scored a great try and needs to see more ball during the game. Lamb needs to make it his mission to give the ball to Ponga as much as possible. Watson too.

How good is Ese'ese? How much momentum change did he bring when he came on. We need at least one more partner for this guy who does as much good work as he does. We lose so much when Ese'ese goes off for a rest.

Was pretty impressed with Barnett today. I think he needs to do more for the team this season but today was pretty solid. I don't see why we need to keep switching Barnett, Gurrera and Fitzy around. Fitzy has been so damaging on the left, why don't we keep him there?

Sober night lads... Probably my longest post ever (I've had a couple as well) but I hope that's as bad as the season gets regardless of where we finish on the ladder. I can't see how we can play much worse. Can't wait for Raimen and Glasby next year because I don't want to see Jacob play for us again. I know I'm being harsh but that drop was unacceptable...
 

slotmachine

First Grade
Messages
7,152
Did losing the scrum against the feed make Sione let all those tries in? Or Ross get palmed off into next week?
 

Spot On

Coach
Messages
13,897
Honestly, I know it hurts depth but losing those two does not make us any worse. Cogger in for Lamb, f**king anyone else that has ever played in the middle for Jacob.
 
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Spot On

Coach
Messages
13,897
So far we have very few from our juniors that are any good. They all seem bloody ordinary. Look as though they go backwards not progress into decent NRL players.

WTF is wrong with the joint?
 

BuderusIsaBeast

Juniors
Messages
554
The most disappointing game in a long time. A few positives in Ponga, Barnett and Ese’ese. But for the most part we were awful.

I would personally drop Ross, D Saifiti and King. Plus injured Lamb and J Saifiti that’s 5 new faces. For mine Denniss in to the centres, Cogger back in the halves. Ese’ese and Lillyman starting props. With Buhrer, Heighington and I would give a debut to Pasami Saulo.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence Cogger and Denniss were pulled from reserve grade.
 

BuderusIsaBeast

Juniors
Messages
554
You're dropping Ross and not sione? Lol.

I would if we had the depth. I’m not even sure Denniss is first grade standard. I don’t think Tom Hughes has a top 30 contract so not sure if they can pick him and the same question applies. We could put Guerra in the centres but we lack forward depth aswell.

For mine Sione offers more with the ball atm. They have both been terrible in defence
 

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