'14 // R3 // Mon // Storm 28-20 Knights // AAMI

[Noname36]

You take out the years of his career wasted under Steve Price and his career is very much the same quality as those guys. Boyd is too scared to see how he can go without Bennett.

People can hate on Sowie all they want. But right now he has won 2/2 games with Panthers, has 4 try assists, a 40/20, has had damn near pinpoint kicking with every kick he has put in and came up with the match winning play against Bulldogs.

He plays against Storm, and we have the extra 2 points in us to win that game. His kicking game is equal to any player, and is as good as ever. His little chip kick and cgase, regather and pinpoint kick for Simmons was an epic play letdown by a slow winger. Still nailed both kicks.

Enjoy sitting equal last with no wins though. Our only loss came without our 5/8, just as all the Knights losses have. But apparently thats not comparable because you biased fans only rate other teams players based on their worst games. Instead of their best like you do your own fellas.

Settle down. Nobody said that Soward was shit. People are just disagreeing that Penrith losing one half, one that they've had for a couple of games isn't the same as the Knights losing the two blokes that their side has been built around for seasons for a period of time.

 

[LESStar58]

He WAS put in a dangerous pKnight. He made it worse for himself trying to milk it and get the definite penalty. But the Storm player lifting put him at a bad abgle which deserved to be penalised.

Knights did the same tackle a few times to Storm, and that was Smiths argument. Although he shouldnt need to bend his neck and get in a bad position to get the penalty. But unfortunately refs are hesitant to blow penalties when players dont milk it and make the illegal plays hard to ignore.

Penalty sufficient, McLean on report and will get off (he's got no record) but why the soap opera from Fox Sports. What? Is it the first time someone was stretchered off?

Plenty in here have said as much; there were plenty of dangerous throws in that game from both teams but this one just went a lot worse than it should have.

Gidley and Scott are a disgrace. I'd be filthy if i was a Knights fan.

 

[Swarzey]

You take out the years of his career wasted under Steve Price and his career is very much the same quality as those guys. Boyd is too scared to see how he can go without Bennett.

People can hate on Sowie all they want. But right now he has won 2/2 games with Panthers, has 4 try assists, a 40/20, has had damn near pinpoint kicking with every kick he has put in and came up with the match winning play against Bulldogs.

He plays against Storm, and we have the extra 2 points in us to win that game. His kicking game is equal to any player, and is as good as ever. His little chip kick and cgase, regather and pinpoint kick for Simmons was an epic play letdown by a slow winger. Still nailed both kicks.

Enjoy sitting equal last with no wins though. Our only loss came without our 5/8, just as all the Knights losses have. But apparently thats not comparable because you biased fans only rate other teams players based on their worst games. Instead of their best like you do your own fellas.

Jesus, pull your head out of your arse eh? Absolute delusional garbage.

 

[meercat]

Gidley and Scott are a disgrace. I'd be filthy if i was a Knights fan.

Absolutely, some terrible brain snaps from these two and its not just isolated to this game, the discipline in the team is nothing like what most would expect from a Bennett coached team, no idea why, but giving away 15 penalties is nowhere near good enough, people can blame the refs all they want, but if you don't get in the position to give one away, they can't be blown.

 

[perverse]

mxlegend - for us losing Boyd and Mullen at the same is like losing 2 Sowards... except they're also a combination together (greater together than the sum of their parts) and are our key playmakers that have been palying together for a few years - and in Mullens case the club has been built around him for nearly 10 years... so I can see why some of our blokes are a bit reluctant to concede that they are equal situations.

Tyrone has been holding his head high and doing admirably. Dobson is barely scraping by with a pass mark.

Having said all of this, none of it is the reason why we lost tonight. Gidley and to a lesser extent Akuila cost us the most tonight.

 

[Swarzey]

Gidley and Scott are a disgrace. I'd be filthy if i was a Knights fan.

Gidley? pissed. Scott? Not so much. His penalties are something that did hurt the team, but his effort in both attack and defence was enough to make me overlook it. Gidley's penalties hurt the team each time.

I still rate him as one of, if not the best, buy for the club since Bennett came in. He leads our defence and that's what kept tonight's difference to 8. His value shows in the grit and leadership.

 

[perverse]

Yeah, Scott is alright in my books. No-one minds a grub on their team if they're a quality grub.

Gidley.. well yeah, we're all pretty embarassed about it at this point.

 

[Apey]

Unsure if Tommy Smith is a smokey for dumbest poster on the forum or is trolling. I suppose that's the case with all the all time LU greats though.

 

[mxlegend99]

Jesus, pull your head out of your arse eh? Absolute delusional garbage.

No delusional is the Knights fans thinking every players is the equivalent of the best in their position.

Prior to round 1 BJ and Gagai were being talked up as being superior to any centre combination, and better then Idris and Whare. The back 3 were rightfully being talked up for being as good as any back 3, although Uate is pretty shocking at the moment.

If the expectations of the other players were accurate, losing 2 players wouldn't hurt too much.

 

[Apey]

You're trying to argue that Panthers losing Soward is equivalent to Knights losing Mullen and Boyd. You are objectively wrong. Next.

 

[stormbati]

All this talk about Gagai but tbh Chambers is just as good if not better.
I thought some of the penalties were farcical but Gidley and Scott did some dumb things to cost Newcastle. Gidley's the captain! And Scott is a veteran. Just stupid.

 

[perverse]

You've had Soward for one off season dude. We've built a club around Mullen for a decade.

How can you compare the two? Especially when you throw Boyd in the mix, who is our only other genuine rep quality player if everyone is being honest with themselves.

I'm not trying to say Soward is bad. He's a great player in the right environment and I'm happy to see him playing well again. I'm happy to see the Panthers playing well again, even. Heaps of potential there and I definitely expect them to continue to do well. You know Soward can be a premiership winning half, he's proven... and I think it's going to come together around him nicely again, too.

 

[mxlegend99]

You're trying to argue that Panthers losing Soward is equivalent to Knights losing Mullen and Boyd. You are objectively wrong. Next.

We weren't only missing Soward. We were missing Soeard, Simmons, Manu, Robinson and Grant. Ontop of a ridiculous injury toll to our depth.

Point being you can be missing key players and still stick it to a team. Especially defensively. The injuries to Mullen and Boyd don't excuse some of the weak defence we saw tonight.

If the depth players were as good as Knights fans claimed, injuries wouldn't hurt much at all. Minto was supposedly a gun not so long ago. Mamo is being talked up as better then Uate and Naiqama. But if the players were that good, a couple of injuries aren't a huge drama.

 

[Swarzey]

Your team isn't built around Soward. Understand that Newcastle is built around Mullen.

When you do, then perhaps you'll see how ridiculous you look.

Mullen plays tonight and we win. I'm rather confident of that. Soward plays last round and yeah, perhaps you would of, but that's not something you can sit here and say with such confidence.

 

[perverse]

We weren't only missing Soward. We were missing Soeard, Simmons, Manu, Robinson and Grant. Ontop of a ridiculous injury toll to our depth.

Point being you can be missing key players and still stick it to a team. Especially defensively. The injuries to Mullen and Boyd don't excuse some of the weak defence we saw tonight.

If the depth players were as good as Knights fans claimed, injuries wouldn't hurt much at all. Minto was supposedly a gun not so long ago. Mamo is being talked up as better then Uate and Naiqama. But if the players were that good, a couple of injuries aren't a huge drama.

To be fair, anyone is better than Uate at the moment. My mum could have scored his tries tonight. Mamo is quite young, but may get a chance soon if Aku wants to continue playing like a busted arse.

 

[mxlegend99]

Well after his first try he put in a vintage run and got a penalty. But yeah.. Still a long way from the $500k winger you signed. Why is Minto still in firsts when Mamo is available? If he's the real deal then you won't miss Boyd much if at all.

I just think blaming injuries for weak defence is a cop out if you have competent replacements. Especially when the guys getting a run had wraps on them before hand. Attack suffering is one thing. But defensively they should still be pretty good. Although its the regular first graders sucking anyway. Mullen and Boyd don't fix how useless Gidley played. Or Uate not being his former self.

 

[Mr Angry]

Mullen fully fit is NSW best 6....

He has it all.

Durability has been an issue. He has bulked up.

Carney wears 6, but is a 7.

Take the best player from any side you struggle.

 

[isaiah]

The captain shouldn't be spazzing out no matter what, most other captains would be sensible enough to keep a cool head and not lose it through stupid mistakes like that.

maybe learnt captaincy from a.johns, who also would spazz out at his own teammates

 

[Noname36]

Well after his first try he put in a vintage run and got a penalty. But yeah.. Still a long way from the $500k winger you signed. Why is Minto still in firsts when Mamo is available? If he's the real deal then you won't miss Boyd much if at all.

I just think blaming injuries for weak defence is a cop out if you have competent replacements. Especially when the guys getting a run had wraps on them before hand. Attack suffering is one thing. But defensively they should still be pretty good. Although its the regular first graders sucking anyway. Mullen and Boyd don't fix how useless Gidley played. Or Uate not being his former self.

This is just wrong mate. No other way around it. Did you ever consider that maybe we're missing Mullo defensively? Just because he's a half that doesn't mean we only miss him creating tries. He makes so many crucial tackles for us, tackles that I've unfortunately seen Dobbo miss way too many of. In no universe is Dobbo considered a "competent" defender. If you haven't been able to see it yourself then ask the Canberra fans how bad he is. They warned us. It's a shame because he's very capable of setting up tries but he's a liability in defence.

Boyd too, despite the shit he gets here, is a sensational defensive fullback. You blokes wouldn't have scored some of the tries you did against us if he were back there I can assure you. Same with the next two rounds. Minto has good vision, but I think everyone can see he's purely a half these days and is out of his depth at fullback. The majority of the wraps we gave him was based on what we'd seen of him at halfback. Fullback is a completely different kettle of fish.

 

[Billythekid]

One thing that can't be understated is the role halves play in defense. In the past we have seen it when teams lose Thurston, Mullen even a crappy defender like Benji they can look completely different in the defensive line. It's not just about their defense either (i think Mullens is over-rated) it's just their general influence on the team. I can guarantee that when they play Boyd and Mullen are the ones ordering the team around. That's not so easy to replace especially when you've been building a team around them for years (in Mullens case like a decade).

I just think blaming injuries for weak defence is a cop out if you have competent replacements. Especially when the guys getting a run had wraps on them before hand. Attack suffering is one thing. But defensively they should still be pretty good. Although its the regular first graders sucking anyway. Mullen and Boyd don't fix how useless Gidley played. Or Uate not being his former self.

This is getting way off track of where the original conversation started. Someone said that the knights were looking like bogeys for the wooden spoon after tonight. I said it's hard to judge a team when they're missing their 2 best players (in the 2 most important positions to boot) against the storm of all teams. There entire club has been built around Mullen and his influence. It doesn't matter if he is better than Soward or not, he is more important to the knights than Soward is to the panthers.

Even then i think your misguided. You talk about how hopeless the knights were and how the panthers looked much better. The knights only lost by 8 points and that was with a hugely lopsided penalty count (which i recall you and a few others blaming the loss on last week).

That's ignoring the fact that we were talking about a team getting the wooden spoon. Do you think the panthers are going to go close to the spoon this year? If not then how does them putting in a better performance than the knights mean anything in relation to that conversation?