'13 | R23 | Sun | Knights 10-23 Storm | Hunter

[Apey]

Jeez it's hard to know what to say about that game.

People who didn't actually watch it will complain about the penalty count but it was very well deserved. Our discipline was fantastic (for a change) and Storm were highly ill-disciplined.

Cronk probably should have been binned. I don't know, I was too angry at my team thinking it was a good idea to put an average kick in on the first play with a full set in their half.

I don't think that was the worst call of match by any stretch. Can someone tell me whether that penalty for Storm before half time was for offside or a strip? If it was for offside then I'll have to have another look. If it was for a strip I won't bother posting my thoughts because my post will be deleted. It was blatantly incorrect and borderline *insert word here* if it was for a strip.

I feel like the Knights are a genuine organiser to partner Mullen away from the top 4, or at least another class player somewhere in the team. They had so many chances, but dished up dumb play after dumb play. Mullen is easily our most talented player, he is amazing for us, but he's just about the only one who can genuinely create for us.

Frustrating game, one we should have won but weren't good enough when it mattered to do so.

 

[perverse]

the knights are a decent team, much better than i gave them credit for at the start of the year (they'd be much better with a quality fullback instead of princess darius flicking his skirt around at the back as they do now) but they arent in the same league as the top 4, the gap between 4th and the rest is a gulf the size of north america.

Sums up the competition, really. 5th->8th are there for show this year. I don't think we have a bootee this year. I'm glad the knights have improved this year, but we're still an also-ran.

I've personally had it with Darius and would love for him to f**k right off. Kevin Naiqama could have been much better for us at fullback.

 

[Rod]

However many penalties the Storm received it wasn't enough. Slowest play-the-ball ever. Not even a threat of a bin from the referees despite constant infringing. Once it got to 10-3 or whatever it was the referees were scared to blow any more against the Storm. Can't have too much of a lopsided penalty count for some reason.

We blew a lot of chances on attack which didn't help.

 

[LESStar58]

I'm more interested in seeing what becomes of Newcastle's ball tampering...

 

[stormbati]

Wow! I can't believe some Knights fans on here! Whine whine whine!

 

[macavity]

Storm are a protected species. Any other team would have finished that game 20-3 down in the penalty count, and probably with a few in the bin. Disgraceful reffing.

 

[Evenflow]

People who didn't actually watch it will complain about the penalty count but it was very well deserved. Our discipline was fantastic (for a change) and Storm were highly ill-disciplined.

I agree with that, your blokes were disciplined and we were ill disciplined and more than likely deserved most of the penalties. It's just a bit rich that the usual suspects around here (not you because you're probably the fairest non Storm supporter on here) bitch and moan that Storm get all the calls and are protected species even though it's a penalty count like that.

Once again i'm not saying for a second it was undeserved at all because it was, i'm just saying that the refs do call the penalties on us when they're there as today proved.

 

[mongoose]

Storm are a protected species. Any other team would have finished that game 20-3 down in the penalty count, and probably with a few in the bin. Disgraceful reffing.

you have to be kidding, when has a team ever conceded 20 penalties in a game? 10 - 3 is very lopsided and I cant believe Knights fans think they should have got more... I will say Cronk should have been binned, blatant professional foul.

That left side attack for the knights in the 2nd half looked really out of shape, not sure what was going on there..

 

[Lucas-Con]

Too much wrestling seriously enough with the damn wrestling and holding down bring back one ref keep it that way 2 refs are a joke what do Slater cronk and smith have to do before their sin binned there all dirty grubs.

 

[kia ora storm]

Too much wrestling seriously enough with the damn wrestling and holding down bring back one ref keep it that way 2 refs are a joke what do Slater cronk and smith have to do before their sin binned there all dirty grubs.

5 years too late buddy...thanks for the contribution though.

 

[kia ora storm]

Given the chances they had, what makes you think the knights go on and win it, even if Cronk was binned?
They scarcely looked like cracking the storm

Someone gets it...You have to have some versatility to beat Storm's defence and the Knights had nothing.

 

[Swarzey]

Considering he's someone who is so influential on the field, has such control and a game where Smith plays rather average, it's ridiculous to think we wouldn't have cracked them if Cronk had gone off. Storm would have crumbled without Cronk out there.

Protected species. Gets away with f**king everything.

Edit: They also scored off a Cronk kick within the 10 minutes he would have spent on the sideline. Just saying.

 

[Misanthrope]

the knights are a decent team, much better than i gave them credit for at the start of the year (they'd be much better with a quality fullback instead of princess darius flicking his skirt around at the back as they do now) but they arent in the same league as the top 4, the gap between 4th and the rest is a gulf the size of north america.

I'd go one better and say we need another creator out there. It's all Mullen at the moment. Tyrone is a good individual runner, but he's not an organiser. Buderus isn't a playmaker and never has been. Kurt is a passenger. Boyd plays about five minutes every two rounds.

Gower, for all his age concerns, would have made a hell of a lot of difference out there today. I'd go so far as to say that we could have used Dobson just so it wasn't all on Mullen.

 

[Noname36]

This isn't just from today, but the poor standard of refereeing really is killing my enjoyment for the game. I really cannot believe we've gotten to a place where a guy is sent for throwing a punch but a deliberate professional foul goes unpunished. It's gotten to the stage where I worry more about how my team will be affected by the refereeing rather than the opposition.

 

[Joker's Wild]

The Cronk kick to Slater needs more scrutiny from the refs too. There was no issue with the one they scored off but the 4 times they did it before that, Billy was a good metre infront of Cooper and got involved with the Knights player cleaning it up.

Storm fans cannot seriously argue with any of the penalties blown against them yesterday but they can be very happy with the standard of their teams defence. There is no team in the NRL who is better at working as a unit to plug holes and shut down runners.

The Knights would have come up short regardless imo, however its pretty hard to cop the non-penalties for some of the deliberate tactics that the Storm big 3 get away with. An even playing field seems too much to ask in the NRL these days

 

[B-Hard]

Slater is onside 9/10. When he isn't he always pulls up.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Pfft bullshit. He only pulls up when he is massively offside

The rest of the time the refs let him get away with being in front of Cronk and he knows it.