F Yeah!!!

[bulldog]

One hell of a game to start the season, congrats, hope Joey isn't too badly hurt.

 

[Jobdog]

Who were the stars in the 38-18 win? I think Newton, Tighe and White will get one more chance to impress before getting dropped back to PL.

Brown was arguably the best player on ground just ahead of Taufua. Karawana was solid, without being spectacular. Snowden did a few good things, as did Uate. Walsh was carried off with what looked like a lower leg fracture/break. Hunt was good off the bench as well.

 

[Burwood]

Brown was arguably the best player on ground just ahead of Taufua. Karawana was solid, without being spectacular. Snowden did a few good things, as did Uate. Walsh was carried off with what looked like a lower leg fracture/break. Hunt was good off the bench as well.

Cheers. Hopefully Taufua may see himself in the top grade very shortly if he keeps performing well.

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

IMHO it wasn't a send off offence. Probably see him back for round 4 or 5.

If a swinging arm to the head..high..and the player is knocked out for 2 minutes from a hit to the side of the head..then what is a send off offence?...Idiot:crazy:

 

[Frederick]

Excuse #4 - "Archer is blind"

True. He missed at least 4 forward passes from the Dogs, 2 of which were in the lead up to tries

 

[Burwood]

If a swinging arm to the head..high..and the player is knocked out for 2 minutes from a hit to the side of the head..then what is a send off offence?...Idiot:crazy:

Where was the malice in the tackle? The simple fact that Johns was hurt in the tackle does not warrant the player being sent off.

 

[BG]

I'm not sure how many times Smith has had to play against a 12 man side in the opening rounds. If a team is down a player it makes sense to make better use of the situation and spread the ball- not continually hit it up the middle.

That's one way of looking at it. Here's another:

Knight's completions: 30/37 (81%)
Bulldog's completions: 24/36 (66%)

Controlling possession and having the little guys continually darting around the ruck at the big guys isn't a bad tactic when they're a man down. And the fact is, it worked a treat in the second half.

I think that without Andrew John's on the field, suddenly telling the guys to throw it around just because the other team were down a player could have come unstuck big time.

 

[Johns Magic]

Who were the stars in the 38-18 win? I think Newton, Tighe and White will get one more chance to impress before getting dropped back to PL.

I thought Tighe looked OK today, besides that soft tackle they scored on. Who would replace him?

 

[General Knight]

No, I thought he was average in PL today. Was a turnstyle in defence on one occasion which led directly to a Dogs try. In a few weeks he'll be ready, but not just yet. I've got a lot of time for Polglase

Lol, after being smashed so many times I'm surprised Polglase was still standing at the end of the game. Tough as nails for a fella his size. Just what we need.

 

[BG]

I thought Tighe looked OK today, besides that soft tackle they scored on. Who would replace him?

Sooner or later Thaiday is going to push for a spot in the backline. Polglase looks like he might challenge for a spot as well. And hopefully Uate will come into the mix later in the season. However Smithy juggles the positions, Tighe is likely to get squeezed out. Of course, at different stages injuries are likely to be making the selection decisions rather than the coach.

 

[Burwood]

I thought Tighe looked OK today, besides that soft tackle they scored on. Who would replace him?

Not too sure yet- have to see how the guys in Premier League breathing down his neck go. I just expected a bit more from Tighe since this was his shot at the big time again. He seemed to go missing for most of that match.

 

[Johns Magic]

Not too sure yet- have to see how the guys in Premier League breathing down his neck go. I just expected a bit more from Tighe since this was his shot at the big time again. He seemed to go missing for most of that match.

It wasn't an outside back's game. McManus in the last 20 minutes was the only guy from 1-5 to show anything in attack.

 

[BG]

No, I thought he was average in PL today. Was a turnstyle in defence on one occasion which led directly to a Dogs try. In a few weeks he'll be ready, but not just yet.

And this is where Smithy deserves so much credit. It's so much simpler for a coach to make the obvious decisions. "Thaiday is one of our best, so I better select him."

Smithy doesn't operate like that. He works hard, watches hard and backs his judgement and experience. Obviously what he saw at training and in the trials gave him a feeling that Thaiday wasn't ready to produce his best. In the end, it's a decision that could easily have made the difference between winning and losing.

 

[Frederick]

I thought Doogs had a good game. Didn't see much ball, but when he got it in his hand he ran so strongly. Constantly threatened to break the line.

 

[~bedsy~]

I thought Tighe looked OK today, besides that soft tackle they scored on. Who would replace him?

Yeah so did I.
My heart was racing towards the end, and as per usual my voice is just about gone.
They really came back in the 2nd half, and good on them for it.
It was such an exciting game... I can't think enough to comment on it properly :lol: Plus everyone has already said movst of what happened anyway.
I just heard Rab's say on the footy that it was a concussion for Johns and there will be an update in the news.
I'm on cloud nine right now... and I thought I was going to miss the game because of work, I'm so glad I found a park and got there in time!

 

[Burwood]

It wasn't an outside back's game. McManus in the last 20 minutes was the only guy from 1-5 to show anything in attack.

I was quite impressed with McManus' turnaround in the second half. He got much more involved in the game and went looking for the ball. He had some very good runs from dummy half and helped us get good field position. Like Tighe, MacDougall was also fairly quiet, but had a couple of good runs in the latter stages of the match. Hope he gets a bit more active in the coming weeks because he can be a very damaging ball runner.

 

[Gene Krupa]

Spongey and Woolie stood up in the second half.

 

[Stuzmeister]

Excuse #4 - "Archer is blind"

There were a couple of scrum feeds that baffled me in the first half. One where the young winger from the bulldogs appeared to have knocked on but the feed went to the bulldogs (unless I missed a previous knock on by us). And another one where Polglase appeared to have been knocked out by a bulldog player and the dogs got the feed. (was that one counted as a knock on or 1 on 1 strip or what?)

They just confused the hell out of me at the time. Mainly because I couldn't hear the commentary on the tv.

 

[Stuzmeister]

Oh yeah and first half was frustrating with the constant Bulldogs tries while we reshuffled our lineup.

Loved the second half and keeping them to nil will be a big booster for us, even though it was against 12 men. Although having said that Knights teams in recent past without Joey may as well have been 12 a side anyway so I think the send off just evened the teams out as opposed to us having the advantage.

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

Where was the malice in the tackle? The simple fact that Johns was hurt in the tackle does not warrant the player being sent off.

dont tell me there was no malice..he knew thst he wanted to hit him hard..and he obviously did..desreve to be sent