Do we have a shortage of good juniors?

[roopy]

I read in one of the Sunday papers today that Michael Hagan has told the Knights squad that they will have to improve to stay contenders next year. The same article said that un-named club officials were worried that we have little junior depth at the moment.

I disagree. I think we have the best depth in the forwards that I have ever seen at the club with about 20 good prospects ranging all the way from 16 yo Nic Andriessen to 22 yo Adam Woolnough, with every age and size in between.

Our Hookers are brilliant. (Quigley, Ennis, Parker, Sainty)

We have four halfbacks who have played rep football (Tyrie, Brad Wallace, Duffy, Burraston) and another who should (Dureau).

The only place we have a problem IMO is in the backs.

 

[Doctor]

I agree, but in saying that I do base a lot of what I know on what you outline on this forum roopy.

In saying that though - the playmaking areas seem healthy - K.Gidley has shown he is ready to slot into a role there, likewise we have Ennis, Quigley, Tyrie etc all producing form with potential.

The forwards, particularly Woolnough, look to be improving and strong. It's a shame that Woolnough and Estatheo, and Newton etc were injured for much of the season because they're the next players behind our regulars in the starting side. And as you mention there are some good young forwards emerging in lower grades.

But, as you've mentioned, our backline seems our weakest area. This comes as a surprise because I remember just two years ago being told that the opposite was true - we had too many backs and not enough forwards. The argument from just two or more years ago was that we were capable of scoring plenty of tries, but didn't have the personnel (i.e. forwards) to get us into the field position necessary for launching a backline raid on the opposition.

Now it seems having lost MacDougall, Albert, etc, and not seeing anyone of great potential coming through into First Grade, it doesn't look as good for the future - but by no means is it time to spend up big elsewhere.

The juniors are there, you've got capable guys already mentioned, and a decent fullback in Michael Young - while there is no superstars emerging, the Knights have never based their backline on a superstar. We don't turn to a Sailor or a Meninga, or a Blacklock, Wesser etc to produce a try from nothing.

Decent backs given good ball by Johns or Gidley has proven successful over the years.

I think we're on a firm foundation - the juniors are there but some just haven't cracked first grade yet - next year we'll see the likes of Ennis, Young and co emerge and perhaps we'll then see a transition period.

 

[roopy]

I remember just two years ago being told that the opposite was true - we had too many backs and not enough forwards. The argument from just two or more years ago was that we were capable of scoring plenty of tries, but didn't have the personnel (i.e. forwards) to get us into the field position necessary for launching a backline raid on the opposition.

It's funny how things have changed so quickly. In 2001 we had a bunch of no-name forwards in reserves like Donaldson, Kurt Rudder, Dan Quinn etc etc, while our backs included Kurt Gidley, John Morris, Anthony Quinn, Matt Petersen, Paul Franze, Neil Sweeney, Josh smith and even Daniel Abraham, who was pushed into the forwards because of the strength of our backs (thank God). All those backs have gone on to play firstgrade and the first four have all turned into stars, while the forwards from that year are just about all playing in the real NRL. Also in 2001 we had some pretty handy Aboriginal guys like Daryl Gordon, Brad Tighe, Clarrie Moran, Brett Skulthorpe and a few others in Flegg, who all seemed to drop out for some reason. Daryl Gordon won the Brian Carlson award in 2001 (same award as Kade Snowden this year), but was gone in early 2002.
2001 also saw the first of our current crop of forwards start to come through in Flegg. We had Esatheo, Woolnough, Matt Kennedy, Quigley, Lowrie, Mueller, Jaques etc all playing the house down.
Since that time the forwards have been improving every year and the backs have been going backwards (excuse the pun).

 

[Danish Moo Cow]

The problem isn't really the talent available, we always have the players in the area that could make it. The real problem is recruiting. There's at least half a dozen players in the local competition that could make it to first grade for at least some NRL clubs, and they've just been totally missed. Then there's the problem of poachers and of course the salary cap that will have to force players out.

If those problems aren't big enough, you've got someone at the Knights signing Ryder over Franze.

I'm not too confident in the first grade quality of the fringe players here at the moment. Abraham made it, Woolnough will make it, Kurt Gidley is still 50/50 having not cemented a spot in 3 seasons of first grade, Quinn should get the wing officially next year full-time.

Maybe the Knights are just guilty of bringing on too many youngsters at the same time. Two a season would be the development ideal, but injuries made 5 or 6 that needed blooding at once, maybe it wasn't just the players that weren't ready, but the coaching staff didn't get the time to deal with them all properly.

 

[roopy]

....... but injuries made 5 or 6 that needed blooding at once, maybe it wasn't just the players that weren't ready, but the coaching staff didn't get the time to deal with them all properly.

I disagree that it was injuries that meant we needed to blood all the young players this season. We used 30 players in the top grade this season, which is just on the high side of average, and totally forseeable considering our high rep numbers.
The coaching staff were well aware that they would have to use many young guys this year. At the end of last season they let go players who had firstgrade games last year in O'Brien, Bailey, Wynne, Sweeney, O'Doherty, Dan Quinn, Morris and Peden, so they were well aware that they had to expect to use debutants to cover for those 8 guys, which is why 10 debutants is about par for the course.
I'm glad to see we will go into next year with just about all the good players we developed this year, plus a few we have bought, and a few good prospects.
In hindsight, I wish they would have let one or two of the young guys go and kept Billy Peden for this season. He would have made a big difference - but that was then and this is now, so it is all good for next season IMO.