are our new buys really that much better?

[macavity]

well...?

thats what im left wondering after studying them closely the last little while.


Wicks makes some great runs, but lacks involvement and has major lateral problems. gee, where have I seen that sponginess before....

Houston seems like he has a heap of potential - but are we really that short on backrowers? I can't see him playing up front, doesn't seem to have much leg drive.

Cross looks the goods, but is he hugely better than Wooly? And how much are we paying him?

Naiqama is hard to judge as he has been out for a while, but wasn't in great form for the drags this year.

Taia couldn't crack it at Parra - although admittedly he had a good game last week.

And little doogs? on fire for the buns, hasn't impressed this year.



I think we will be an improved team next year, but im not sure that improvement will come from our new buys (perhaps with the exception of Cross) - I think it will come from the natural improvement of our young guys, particularly our young halves.

we know Smithy likes to have a well balanced squad though, so it will be interesting to see how many of the new guys even start in FG - and who we have playing for Wests or Souths or whoever in the real NRL.

thoughts??

 

[perverse]

at the moment.. i would say no.. they're not that much better.

what they do bring though is untapped potential and improvement... and i think most of our current squad are playing as well as they ever will at the moment.

 

[Jobdog]

I think we've bought "smartly", perhaps haven't gotten the signings some of us may have wanted, but one thing is for certain, we will have a lot of depth next year around Origin time and when and if injuries inevitably occur.

Wicks is still only a young chap and with Smithy cracking the whips around him, I have little doubt that we will see him improve. The same can be said for Houston. Mad Pup may not have set the world on fire, but lets not lose sight of the fact he's only played two games. Not a great amount of players will have a huge impact in their first handful of games at a new club (with, as it seems, the exception of Taia).

Oh and Wes is infinitely better than George.

 

[roopy]

The 'new' players i am excited about for firstgrade next season;

Laban
Ling
Dureau
Uate
Wooden (got a triple for Wests this week)
Natusch
Edwards
Lucas Miller

I don't know how we are going to get game time for those blokes next season because PL as we know it is gone - but they are all looking the goods to me.

 

[strewth_mate]

If we had absolutely no choice but to let a heap of players go, I'd be happy enough with what we've picked up to replace them. However it seems that in some cases, we could have avoided the loss of a few that I personally would have liked to keep.

The players coming in might be fair enough, but whether the suggested price tags justify it (and I don't know what they're on, but I gather they're not particularly small figures), have to wait and see. While he probably came good in the end, I don't want to end up with an influx of Reynoldson 2.0...

 

[jhonny bravo]

If we look at the players we have signed for next year with a vision at the type of style Smith likes play with the team is shaping up very nicely. I think the only player that we have lost that we tried to keep was woolnough as he suits smiths game to a 'T'.

Given that the fowards we have signed Cross, Wicks (to be used like Fui), Houston and Tai siut Attacking style and complement other already in the pack. The backs we have Naiquama, MacDougall (luke) suit the defensive style of up and in Smith employs. That type of defense has not been implemented yet this year as the player we had at the club are suit to Hagan style of defence which is a slide defence. If you watch Parra this year they are stil using Smiths up and in style and Vice Versa for us.

I takes about a year or two to get the team you want and need to have a succesful team. Penrith are in the same boat as us.

Kidley (Burt like)
A McDougall - Up and In
Naiquama - Up and In
Mc Manus - Up and In
L McDougall - Up and In
Mullen - Slide
Walsh - Slide
The Fowards dont need to be mentioned as they can adjust to what the backline does as they dont need to adjust as much as they do.

Smith loves size in his sides and we will have a pretty massive foward pack (front row) witht the backrow potentionally can dominate the comp with Simpson, Patterson and Houston/ Reynoldson. Those in the backrow will ALL be able to play 80 minutes.

Overall Smiths has his own type of player he like to use in his teams and buy and retains accordingly. A Prime example of this is a Daniel Wagon type player who is an average first grader at best but has been in his sides for years and whom become a link type player. The player Smith is grooming for this type of role is Youngy.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Smith has improved every one of our players this season. They are playing smarter and only losing games because of simple errors. That is a sign of a very good football side. The youth factor is the only thing holding us back because of the inexperience involved. In time that will change.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

As far as ability goes, Youngy has it all over Wagon imo.

 

[KniGhTs BaTTLeR]

Smith has improved every one of our players this season. They are playing smarter and only losing games because of simple errors. That is a sign of a very good football side. The youth factor is the only thing holding us back because of the inexperience involved. In time that will change.

With the exception of Mullen, he is playing worst then last year. Never seen someone kick the ball out on the full so much. I know his got alot of pressure but Walsh has taken alot of his shoulders and his still playin crap. The rest of the side has improved alot, especially Kids.

I'm not really happy with the signings we've got but there wasn't really much on offer so I guess we did alright. Smith has a plan and his plans are usually pretty good. 2009 premiers I reckon.

 

[knights7]

I Don't think they are great but they are better then some players...we need help out in the centres...Maybe put Houston out in the centres...He plays out near there most of the time anyway.

 

[Pika]

Hey roopy, in regards to PL, or a second tier competition, on ABC radio a few weeks ago it was mentioned that every NRL club has commtied to a side in the Jim Beam Cup for next year except Canberra, who is using a QLD Cup side as a feeder.

Do you know what Newcastle are doing?

 

[jhonny bravo]

I reckon you will see us as minor premiers next year with the balance and depth the side will have. If you line up the players we have got rid of for the players we have signed i think you will be suprised.
Woolnough - Cross = Cross
Naiquama - Tighe = Naiquama
Newton/ Tanner - Houston = Houston
Perry - Wicks = About even but a change of scenery for Perry could see him finally live up to potential as one of the top line prop in the game, same goes for Wicks.
Tanner - Tai = Tai
L McDougall - Carmont = McDougall

Along with younger players coming through the side is shaping up very nicely

 

[Newie is God's Country]

With the exception of Mullen, he is playing worst then last year. Never seen someone kick the ball out on the full so much. I know his got alot of pressure but Walsh has taken alot of his shoulders and his still playin crap. The rest of the side has improved alot, especially Kids.

I'm not really happy with the signings we've got but there wasn't really much on offer so I guess we did alright. Smith has a plan and his plans are usually pretty good. 2009 premiers I reckon.

Can't argue with that assessment. Realistically I think Mullen will come out ready to fire for 2008. Too much pressure on him for a 20 year old. It is ridiculous really. Whoever picked him for origin put unfair pressure on him and it has started to affect his former happy go lucky style of footy. He is still for mine the future of this club and if we let him go we will rue it big time.

 

[jhonny bravo]

Hey roopy, in regards to PL, or a second tier competition, on ABC radio a few weeks ago it was mentioned that every NRL club has commtied to a side in the Jim Beam Cup for next year except Canberra, who is using a QLD Cup side as a feeder.

Do you know what Newcastle are doing?

I know I am not roppy. :?
The Jim Beam cup will theoretically become the third teir comp after what has been proposed as a revamped version of the old NSWRL reserve grade comp with Auckland included. They are renaming this comp as it will not be played in conjunction with the NRL only on occassions with team like ours. Sydney teams will use old grounds like Henson Park, Belmore sports ground and the like to get that old style feeling back.

The teams in the Jim Beam Cup will not be able to compete with NRL backed sides so to give them a chance of winning a comp they are keeping this. The Salary Cap will be structured in a way that so these so called reserved grade team dont become stacked they give each team a quota of the amount of NRL signed players they can have outside of there NRL squad and Toyota Cup squads. There is also talk of this comp being used as a reserve grade for both the NRL and Toyota Squads with a limit from each side to be used.

I hope this explains things

 

[Pika]

Thanks.

Will the Knight be represented directly, or will we enlist a feeder club?

 

[jhonny bravo]

Thanks.

Will the Knight be represented directly, or will we enlist a feeder club?

Yes we will be under the Knights banner but other teams will be enlising feeder teams either existine ones like newton with the roosters; but the some teams like the sharks are looking for a feeder team. Should be able to get a list of the teams by the end of the week

 

[Jobdog]

As was mentioned in another thread, Mullo's confidence is pretty much shattered at the moment. There is no doubt that he's not playing his best and I feel that has a lot to do with Origin and perhaps he wasn't quite ready for it. Imo the reason why he was chosen was because there was little to no interest in this years Origin series this side of the border. Once the origin series has finished, I reckon we'll start to see Mullo overcome this low confidence barrier and he'll be right for the rest of the season.

 

[Pika]

Yes we will be under the Knights banner but other teams will be enlising feeder teams either existine ones like newton with the roosters; but the some teams like the sharks are looking for a feeder team. Should be able to get a list of the teams by the end of the week

Homework!

Thanks mate.

 

[macavity]

as much as I hate them, would it make sense to play under the Wests banner?


or - a curly one - how about resurrecting the Pumpkin Pickers and playing the reggies games out at Maitland - sure would give that growing region more of a Knights identity....

 

[Pika]

as much as I hate them, would it make sense to play under the Wests banner?


or - a curly one - how about resurrecting the Pumpkin Pickers and playing the reggies games out at Maitland - sure would give that growing region more of a Knights identity....

Wests might be right, but I doubt Maitland would ahve the funds to play every second game in Sydney.