Watched some good hard footy in a trial between the Knights and Manly at Dora creek on saturday. And boy was it hot.
Knights won the the Matts whilst manly won the SG ball.
The Sg Ball was a cracker, hard and tough as expected. Manly won with 6 tries to 5. Knights played without Brodie Jones, Tom Starling, Brendan Ohagan, Jayden Butterfirled, Will Sheeley and See Kali. Thought that the two front rowers in (8) Pasami Saulo and (10) luke Casson were very good whilst Second rower (11) Luke marks showed plenty of heart and aggression, something the rest of the knights lacked. The Number 9 was also a real terrier and impressed.
There were some very dissapointing performances from some of the senior players that were expected to lead. Will only get better once they have made their final cut and get their best players on the field. I think they would have done Manly if they had their best team on.
I was supprised how tough manly were, especially the forwards. They were really agressive in defense and had plenty of the intimidation factor. (7) Cade Cust lead the side around well and their front rower (8) Jaiden Tarrant really unsettled the knights with his stinging defense. He was probably the pick of the forwards on the ground. Manlys whole forward pack was impressive. Bill Bainbridge in second row and Brad Parker in centre also caused the knights plenty of headaches out wide. Bonny Hopoate and (21) Fredi Sione were also notable performers.
Interestingy enough both Sione and Tarrant are Newcastle juniors whilst Cust is from Scone.
This looks a lot better manly team than what they have dished up in the past, if they can keep their best performers on the park then with the draw they have they should deffinately be in the finals.
Both team definately need more game time and have plenty of improvements to make, the knights especially. Overall was a cracker and very enjoyable game.
