Hell Yeah - Post Match Thread

[Frederick]

Most important thing to take out of this was our attitude in defence - according the to the stats on NRL.com, we only made 10 missed tackles this week, and 28 this season overall, which puts us 3rd last in missed tackles. Considering the only teams to have made less missed are the Dragons and Titans with 26 and 23 respectively, and each with a game to play this round, this marked improvement in defence is something to be damn proud of

 

[darkness]

It is going to be a headache for the coach when cross comes back. Who will he drop?? Royal and Tolar have created a great partnership in defence, and who thought you could even have defensive partnerships. Mind you, if cross gets some good games in I think Origin will take him away again, so that might buy the boys more time in the side. Anyway I thought Royal and Tolar once again, laid down a great foundation and probably going through a bit unnoticed in tonights win...

Great win, can't sleep, got work at 4 in the morning. Bugger!!!!

 

[otori]

2-0 start to the season. That's absolutely magnificent. I told you guys Manly would struggle in attack without Monas.

 

[strewth_mate]

Much like last week I thought our execution in attack was pretty poor. We had a buttload of possesion in the first half and it ammounted in f*ck all.

I think this is the biggest concern out of this match - we got the points when it counted but really, with the opportunities we had I would have liked a bit more result. A lot of the time it just seemed to be putting the ball on the chests of people out wide, and while it was clean passing, you can't just hoik the ball out there and expect things to happen. It will be fantastic when we come up against a team that struggles to cover it, but there's something to be said I think to more purposeful attack, especially when we've got a lot of big fast guys that would really do some damage if they're put into holes.

Play the ball faster, get them on a roll, get Buderus some room and let the halves have their pick of willing hole-runners - a couple of little guys with many options should eventually be a very strong and mobile attacking force that will turn just about any defense around.

Now that's off the chest - f**k yes. F**k yes. F**k yes.

Such a tenacious performance really. I'm quite surprised at how well the team is working together so early, and they've got a great level of enthusiasm. Besides some ordinary options, which I would hope are ironed out in due course, there was great willingness in taking the line on (Mullen was dragging them along, looks very strong) and mongrel in defense up until the end with an effective rotation of the forwards.

Don't want to get too romantic about it because there's quite a lot of room for improvement, but that's only really a good thing. Very dramatic finish, really no way we should have lost it.


And Perry finally won us a game.

 

[strewth_mate]

Incidentally - what happened to Ciraldo? Didn't really see him after the first half .

 

[CycloneSteve]

On a funnier note, I think I just saw a tumbleweed blow through the Manly forum.

Great win Knights!! Gutsiest win I have seen in years.

 

[Frederick]

Incidentally - what happened to Ciraldo? Didn't really see him after the first half .

Yeah that puzzled me too. I don't remember seeing him at all in the second half.

 

[Karmawave]

Great effort.

The commitment and effort was tremendous - and thats all we can ever hope for - win or lose - a team that busts their ass for themselves, their coach, and their fans.

Tonight the Knights did, and they showed the qualities last week too.

I love watching the enthusiasm Vuna has for his team mates and fans, and I think Danny Wicks brings much more to the team than a front row forward - he has great effort and brings the team inspiration from his sheer effort, talk and enthusiasm.

Maybe its winning ugly, but its 100% effort, and thats great, and as a fan, thats all we can ever hope for.

Great work boys.

 

[strewth_mate]

Was it Wicks or Paterson that was geeing up the crowd after the second try (or neither)? Got pretty loud in the last 10 minutes :crazy:

Thought Vuna had a bit of an unhappy night tbh, maybe it's just from where I was sitting. Incidentally, it seems so far that there's not much in the way of dummy-half running from our wingers, there were 3 in total last week. Whether or not they're just receiving the ball one out from the ruck and going for a gallop, I dunno, but it seems that our pack is getting back onside fairly quickly to chip in.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

mate, to be honest i think sarge will struggle to work his way back into the side given the way our current lot are playing. it was a genuine battle of the forwards out there tonight and it was our forwards that got us home. but yeah, with simmo and cross in the team the pack looks quite formidable at the moment.

what a great win - it's a completely different team this year. if/when the backline starts clicking and gelling properly we could surprise a fair few more teams.

Sargent has played for country and was one of the knights best, if not our best forward from last year. Tolar and royal did ok, but they didn't go well enough to stop our better front rowers from getting back into the starting lineup

 

[strewth_mate]

I think it's worth noting Wes' defense tonight too, from what I could see he was very strong. I believe he also chased down a flyer from the other side of the field. He's going about his business very well so far, looks to be quite a valubable pickup.

 

[Karmawave]

Out of the two front rowers, its Jesse Royal who is likely to be the outside looking in.

I don't think his game is as strong this year as last, and Tolar has outplayed him so far.

 

[Jono078]

8. Cross
9. Buderus
10. Royal
11. Simpson
12. Houston
13. Tolar

Perhaps that may be in Smith's plans for when Cross returns, that leaves out the likes of Taia and Ciraldo.

 

[Dave Q]

A thrilling victory.

Wd errols!

 

[Whats Doing]

Gutiest attitude in defence for years and Smithy can take a lot of credit for this.

Player analysis

Gids - Involvement was good but still a waoory under the high ball
Vuna - Ordinary game and his lack of jumping ability in taking the high ball will cost
use big time.
Lulia - Very raw and dropped more ball than he caught. Shows some promise but
needs to dedvelop this in 2nd grade
Was - Great defensive effort and is proving a very good buy.
McManus- Much more involved thiws week and made some great runs from dummy half
Mullo - Very good in defence and led the team well in attack. His kicking game is still
not on song.
Dureau - Brilliant. What more can you say. A 40/20, try assist and the match winning field
goal. Also his kicking game was spot on.
Taia - Worked hard and played one of his better games
Houston - Great effort and was one of our top forwards again. A genuine powerhouse.
Ciraldo - Very disappointing
Royal - Along with Tolar, laid the platform for the forwards
Bedsy - Inspirational as usual
Tolar - Has been a big improver this year and made some good ground
Hilder - Just a terrier in defence and saver a certain try on the line
Fa"aso - Gantastic game. He adds so much power off the bench in both attack and
defence. I was so pleased he scored that try right on full time after dropping a
sitter a couple of minutes earlier.
Wicks - Knockout decision over Perry.
Paterson - I felt he was quiet again tonight and is not as dominating as last year.
Smithy - Points win over Hasler

 

[KniGhTs BaTTLeR]

I can't believe I bloody missed it. Bloody grandmothers 90th, unbelievable i'll have to wait til Monday for a replay now!.

 

[aqua_duck]

richard fa'aoso could be a real bolter for qld if he keeps this up

 

[Terminator]

Well:
Played for 80 odd minutes.
Perry backed away from Wicks
Team is gelling real quick
Like that dude that scored
Knights have a halfback that has the goods, quite passionate and not scared to have a go!
Wonder how all the Smith knockers are feeling at the moment

The team has gelled quick, quicker than I thought, very rusty start against Canberra, but you can see now the team has alot of confidence.
I agree on the smith knockers, I bet there very quiet now.
I know its only rd.2, but this tream has a lot of potential.
Perry is lucky Cross wasnt out there.

You should change your name, Johns was a great player, the greatest player possibly ever to play rugby league in the world, and he came from our club .
Your only making enemies on here.

 

[Gene Krupa]

Good to have you back Termie.

 

[Frederick]

Most important thing to take out of this was our attitude in defence - according the to the stats on NRL.com, we only made 10 missed tackles this week, and 28 this season overall, which puts us 3rd last in missed tackles. Considering the only teams to have made less missed are the Dragons and Titans with 26 and 23 respectively, and each with a game to play this round, this marked improvement in defence is something to be damn proud of

Appears I've gone off too early. The stats have been revised overnight, and we appear to have made 25 missed last night, for a total of 43, which still puts us at the least missed tackles off all the teams who have played 2 games so far.