'12 | R13 | Sun | Broncos 50-24 Knights | Suncorp

[jonno_knights]

What is wrong in Newcastle? Didn't they make the finals last year? Didn't they recruit the best coach in the game and some pretty decent players as well? Yet they've gone a mile backwards.

I guess that what happens when you tell half the playing group that they are no longer wanted.

Hilder, Taia, Fa'aoso, Tuimavave, etc. all had decent patches over the last 3 years for the knights, but dont get any playing time over guys like Cuthbertson, Costigan, Edwards etc. because they are 'locals' or part of Wayne's club.

It can't be that great for team morale.

 

[lockyno1]

Well that was pathetic, take the 2 points and run.

 

[Jason Maher]

I wish my mob could rack up a pathetic win in which we score 50...

 

[user_nat]

Does seem funny to be complaining about a game where we scored 50.
Which is the most we have scored since 09 I believe.

It really was terrible though, Saints would have gone close to 50 today.

 

[lockyno1]

It was horrible though, lets be honest, we should have scored 80, the middle 50 minutes in the game was pretty poor, and defensively it was ordinary. Lets be realistic, Melbourne would not be letting the Knights score 4 tries!

Agreedon the Dragons, although don't give up, I would still expect you to make the 8.

 

[redvforlife]

I wish my mob could rack up a pathetic win in which we score 50...

I just wish we could score 50 full stop.

Even losing after scoring 50 would do me at this stage. At least it would prove we can score

 

[Apey]

lol oh dear

 

[redvforlife]

It was horrible though, lets be honest, we should have scored 80, the middle 50 minutes in the game was pretty poor, and defensively it was ordinary. Lets be realistic, Melbourne would not be letting the Knights score 4 tries!

Agreedon the Dragons, although don't give up, I would still expect you to make the 8.

Melbourne did let them score four tries - in round 5. And three of them were in the last 11 minutes of the game

 

[Big Pete]

Yeah, I feel like a spoilt kid, but seriously this performance today wasn't up to standard.

I was ropeable after the Fa'aoso try.

 

[Patorick]

With all due respect, may just be time for another...

The face of the Knights crisis

By Josh Massoud
The Daily Telegraph
August 23, 2007 12:00AM

The face of the Knights crisis

Heartfelt plea ... the letter angry Knights fan Sarah Matterson, 9, wrote to Newcastle management. Source: The Daily Telegraph

MEET Sarah Matterson, the little girl who captures the disillusionment of Newcastle - Australia's crumbling rugby league stronghold.

After watching Penrith flog her beloved Knights 46-12 on Sunday, the nine-year-old decided to speak up on behalf of Newcastle fans young and old.

With a purple texta, she penned a hand-written plea to club management for the sacking of coach Brian Smith.

"Why has he wreked (sic) our team?" Sarah wrote.

"I reckon you should SACK him because you need to start winning."

Her simple sentiments were widely echoed when The Daily Telegraph visited Newcastle yesterday to gauge the city's reaction to Smith's first year as Knights coach and the controversial non-selection of Kirk Reynoldson.

But Sarah does not live among the other pained supporters. Instead, she was compelled to speak up from Albion Park on the South Coast - almost 400km away from Energy Australia Stadium.

The Year Three pupil watched Sunday's thrashing on television and, without being prompted by her Knights-mad mother Fiona, put pen to paper immediately after the coverage ended.

Ms Matterson posted the letter yesterday and is expecting a response from Newcastle CEO Steve Burraston when he receives it this morning.

"Sarah said, 'Mummy I think I'm going to write a letter to tell them they should do something'," Ms Matterson told The Daily Telegraph.

"I said, 'Okay, if you think that will help then go right ahead and I'll post it for you'.

"She even went onto the Internet to get the Knights' postal address from their website."

Asked why she decided to write the letter Sarah said: "When the game finished I looked at the score.

"They were really high and we were really low.

"That's when I decided to write it."

Sarah said she could hardly bear to watch her team lurch to its seventh straight loss at the hands of the wooden-spoon favourites.

"It hurt my eyes," she added.

"We need to start winning a bit. I want to get people thinking they should sack Brian Smith.

"We need someone who is good at coaching - maybe like the Storm's coach."

Although she lives in the shadows of the state's other steel city - Wollongong - Sarah supports Newcastle because her mum is a Knights member.

Ms Matterson said it was "out of character" for her daughter to write letters.

"She's never done it before," Ms Matterson said.

"She will normally just blow up and then calm down. This time she felt strongly enough and hoped that by doing this she might be able to stop them losing.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...e-knights-crisis/story-e6frexq9-1111114245945

Belt up, Josh.

 

[some11]

50 points disguises crappy defence.

 

[Pugzley]

Score?

 

[adamkungl]

:lol: classic Josh Massoud

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

Sunday Bloody Sunday indeed; The Knights must REALLY hate coming to Brisbane now.

I have to echo sentiments about the Broncos in the middle 50 though. We took the foot off the peddle yet again and it's gotta f**king stop.

 

[ethan tremblay]

i had melbourne 1-12 cheered that home then i had 1-12 brisbane it was a rollercoaster for sure sad happy sad elated than sad lol

 

[azza18]

Yeah, I feel like a spoilt kid, but seriously this performance today wasn't up to standard.

I was ropeable after the Fa'aoso try.

same here. F**king scary game.

They definitely need to fix up the middle 30min, they keep getting giving points up far too easily during that period of time. Some pretty poor defense by some of the forwards. Also, not sure if it was just me, but I thought Copley actually played better then normal today

 

[Jobdog]

Too big, too fast, too strong. Congrats on the win Broncos fans. Where to now for us? I'm not too sure.

 

[Lambretta]

Well that was a f**king doozy wasn't it?

24 nil within about 5 minutes and the Knights looked like they were about to concede 70. Yet they managed to fight back to 26 v 24 and really should have been leading only to capitulate at the end and concede 50.

For 40 minutes in that game the Knights actually looked the better team, but they just fell apart at the end.

Gus was right - when the Knights get going forward and attacking well they become enthusiastic and defend brilliantly as well, but as soon as their attack falters they suddenly start defending poorly. This habit puts them under all sorts of pressure if they go more than 20 minutes without scoring.

 

[renouf]

Fa'aoso wasn't a try anyway, it was a forward pass. It usually happens when teams come to Suncorp, they get away with forward passes which lead to tries.

 

[AuDragon]

Fa'aoso wasn't a try anyway, it was a forward pass. It usually happens when teams come to Suncorp, they get away with forward passes which lead to tries.

Sorry mate, I don't care how forward that pass was or not (I don't think it was anyway), it was unacceptable how a prop strolled through our line untouched to score under the sticks... :x