2026 R1 Sun - Newcastle 28-18 North Qld @ Vegas

[butchmcdick]

Look on the bright side you have Tigers at Leichhardt in two weeks to get your season back on track.

Nah mate your new winger will arse f**k us dry

I havent seen any progress in two seasons

Im sure ming the merciless is a great bloke. Hell he can come over on weekends and f**k my sister but he isn't a first grade coach

Our backs are still as dysfunctional as Prince Andew at a girls boarding school

We can't just keep sticking our finger up our arses like Fonze and just go eeeehhh pretending things are heading in the right direction. The time to make the hard decision was after our season finished last year. Instead we did nothing and seem shocked we got the same result

 

[butchmcdick]

Nah man, Trump will have opened us up to games in Iran now that he's winning hearts and minds.

Welcome to our middle east round with games in Palestine, Baghdad and Tehran

Blow that whistle ref blow

 

[butchmcdick]

Was waiting for Ponga to hold up an invisible trophy.

In a disabled toilet toilet i hear he's a champ

 

[Bobby DIGital]

Taulagi is a wanker.

Payten won't last until round 15.

 

[Tiger5150]

Nah mate your new winger will arse f**k us dry

I havent seen any progress in two seasons

Im sure ming the merciless is a great bloke. Hell he can come over on weekends and f**k my sister but he isn't a first grade coach

In my perfect world, Ming gets the rissole from NQ this year and comes for an assistants gig under Benji. Dream Team.

 

[butchmcdick]

In my perfect world, Ming gets the rissole from NQ this year and comes for an assistants gig under Benji. Dream Team.

Mate we looked at Newcastle who came last last season and thought you know what ? We are going to hire their assistant coach in Blake green. That is just what we need to make us a force in the NRL

We also recruited a defensive coach from the f**king super league, a comp knowm for its punishing defence. Couple all this with pretty much having the same team yet again this season i am genuinely f**ked at to why anyone thinks we will be better this year than we were last year

 

[nick87]

Unfortunately my fears about Trey Mooney are correct
He's gonna be a hell of a player once he finds his feet properly at NRL level and gets used to the game speed
Would like to his involvement in attack lift a little, he's capable of a lot more than 12 hit ups in 50 minutes but every run was strong, good line speed, stings in defence. Nice offload game.

Ugh. Love Trey, always going to be a fan. Sucks. Should have been a raider for life.

Good win by the knights also, not sure the competition was much chop but Ponga looked good, Brown was solid. Think they'll actually benefit from the Sharpe injury, not that he's not a stud, he is, but i think the side will be better set up with a proper 6-7 set up.
Sharpe is electric though, not sure how it makes sense to fit him in the team but he's gotta be there somewhere.

 

[skeepe]

Unfortunately my fears about Trey Mooney are correct
He's gonna be a hell of a player once he finds his feet properly at NRL level and gets used to the game speed
Would like to his involvement in attack lift a little, he's capable of a lot more than 12 hit ups in 50 minutes but every run was strong, good line speed, stings in defence. Nice offload game.

Ugh. Love Trey, always going to be a fan. Sucks. Should have been a raider for life.

Good win by the knights also, not sure the competition was much chop but Ponga looked good, Brown was solid. Think they'll actually benefit from the Sharpe injury, not that he's not a stud, he is, but i think the side will be better set up with a proper 6-7 set up.
Sharpe is electric though, not sure how it makes sense to fit him in the team but he's gotta be there somewhere.

Fully agree. As much as I love Papa, and I do, I’m not sure Mooney was worth the sacrifice for one more year.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

Fully agree. As much as I love Papa, and I do, I’m not sure Mooney was worth the sacrifice for one more year.

Yeah, he wasn't. But to be honest, Trey should've been prioritized over Mariota and Smithies.

 

[BadnMean]

Unfortunately my fears about Trey Mooney are correct
He's gonna be a hell of a player once he finds his feet properly at NRL level and gets used to the game speed
Would like to his involvement in attack lift a little, he's capable of a lot more than 12 hit ups in 50 minutes but every run was strong, good line speed, stings in defence. Nice offload game.

Ugh. Love Trey, always going to be a fan. Sucks. Should have been a raider for life.

Good win by the knights also, not sure the competition was much chop but Ponga looked good, Brown was solid. Think they'll actually benefit from the Sharpe injury, not that he's not a stud, he is, but i think the side will be better set up with a proper 6-7 set up.
Sharpe is electric though, not sure how it makes sense to fit him in the team but he's gotta be there somewhere.

We knew Trey was going to be good. Seems to have more aggro than Mariota (which a pack needs). Can't keep em all.

Smith is the logical choice for Knights 7. Sharpe can be winger or centre or #14.

Good but is he a better #7 than Smith? A better #6 than Brown? Is Brown an actual #7? Nope? Then he's got to play somewhere else.

 

[Woody90]

Mate we looked at Newcastle who came last last season and thought you know what ? We are going to hire their assistant coach in Blake green. That is just what we need to make us a force in the NRL

We also recruited a defensive coach from the f**king super league, a comp knowm for its punishing defence. Couple all this with pretty much having the same team yet again this season i am genuinely f**ked at to why anyone thinks we will be better this year than we were last year

As a Knights fan, I was shocked seeing both Green and AOB get jobs so quickly…especially the Dogs employing AOB as their attack coach.

Overall I was pretty happy with that win. We were never going to be great in R1 given where we’ve come from without huge personnel changes, and the spine literally having zero runs together even in training due to injuries, but the improvement was still obvious. I know the cowboys are struggling, but we legit couldn’t beat anyone at the end of last year so I’ll take it.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Good win by the knights also, not sure the competition was much chop but Ponga looked good, Brown was solid. Think they'll actually benefit from the Sharpe injury, not that he's not a stud, he is, but i think the side will be better set up with a proper 6-7 set up.
Sharpe is electric though, not sure how it makes sense to fit him in the team but he's gotta be there somewhere.

The plan was to have Ponga play "7" in attack with Brown and Sharpe running at 5/8s either side of the ruck. Unorthodox but it was humming until Sharpe got busted. When Smith came on the attack stalled until he warmed into just playing the same roll on the left

Im unsure if we'll be better starting Smith. Prior to rd1 its what I thought would be best but 20min into yesterdays game I was turned around on the idea.

P.S. Thanks for Trey too. Happy to take him off your hands

 

[Big Pete]

What a way to get the monkey off the back for the Knights. After nine straight losses, it would be difficult to keep a lid on. Easily the best attacking performance since 2024 and there were some great signs. The highlight was the defensive set that saw Drinkwater (?) bundled into touch. The vision of Ponga going off was so cathartic and to see the joy on the boys faces was uplifting.

There were still some nervous moments and they made some very ordinary mistakes. That's to be expected with so much inexperience and new combinations and there well and truly in with a shot against Manly.

Just holding my breath for Sharpe. One of the best movers in the game and it seems like the media have only just woken up to him.

I thought the Cowboys showed decent resilience. Newcastle came out of the blocks in both halves, but the Cowboys kept their composure and gave themselves every chance to win. In the end Newcastle had too big a buffer for the Cowboys style and the strike players for the Cowboys didn't have their best games. That passage where they kept offloading the ball only for Clifford to throw it forward was so frustrating.

The Cowboys should be a tough uncompromising team that plays flat and pressures the defence to come in-field. Instead we had Drinkwater lolly-gagging around and nobody had the presence of mind to rescue the set with a hard carry. The forward pass from Clifford was the result it deserved.

On the flip-side I'm happy with what I saw from Luki, he was sorely missed last year. I think Mahoney is a good fit and if he can get some more support runners coming with him off those Taumalolo and Lodge carries that could be a weapon around the half-way line.

It seems like Cowboys fans are off Payten and they're ready for the next chapter. I'm curious what you hope to get out of this season? What players do you think deserve an opportunity and what steps can they make towards a premiership tilt?