Knights team for cowboys game

[imported_Roopy4246]

1. Robbie O'Davis
2. Timana Tahu
3. Matthew Gidley
4. Mark Hughes
5. Adam MacDougall
6. Sean Rudder
7. Andrew Johns ©
8. Steve Simpson
9. Danny Buderus
10. Glenn Grief
11. Julian Bailey
12. Ben Kennedy
13. Bill Peden

1. John Morris
2. Clinton O'Brien
3. Daniel Abraham
4. Josh Perry

An interesting team. Hughes is in for Albert who is out with an ankle injury that he has been carrying for a few weeks. McDougall goes from centre to left wing while Tahu goes from left to right wing. This brings back the two successful combinations of Gidley/Tahu and Hughes/McDougall. Rudder takes over from Kurt Gidley at 5/8. Kurt did alright last week apart from a few serious errors of judgement caused by inexperience, and that is why he must make way for Rudder. This is no time to be introducing a rookie to the team. Kurt will be the starting 5/8 next season but he will play reserve grade for the rest of the year. Johns takes over from Wynne. He might go alright. Billy Peden has had his rest and takes over from Abraham at lock. Abraham has kept a well deserved spot on the bench and will get some game time. Julian Bailey will start in the second row as he did last week. He adds some enthusiasm to the forwards. Steve Simpson is at prop and he is now the man who must perform after the loss of Parsons to injury. Simpson is under pressure but I think he will rise to the occasion, as he has to every challenge put to him this year. Grief takes over from Parsons. Grief was in good form before sustaining a neck injury a few weeks ago. He played first div. to get match fitness last week. O'Brien, Perry, Abraham and Morris are on the bench. O'Brien played first div. last week to help him get some fitness. Perry has lost all confidence and I don't see him getting it back at this stage of the season. Abraham is a very promising forward with a knack for scoring tries and also a goal kicker. Morris is in because Buderus will be short of fitness and will need a rest during the game. This is a must win game for the Knights, not only to keep our spot in the top four, but also because we need to start winning now to get momentum going for the final series. The team is carrying a lot of minor injuries - O'Davis, McDougall, Hughes, Peden, Grief and Buderus are all playing with minor injuries as well as Albert and Parsons on the sidelines. Parsons is the biggest injury worry, he has a bruised sternum and has picked up a static lung infection. He takes a long time to get fit and I think it won't take long for his match fitness to desert him, so I doubt if he will be a real force for the rest of the year.

1. Paul Franze
2. Justin Ryder
3. Anthony Quinn
4. Joshua Smith
5. Andrew Johnson
6. Kurt Gidley
7. James Wynne
8. Daniel Quinn
9. Ben Donaldson ©
10. Troy Fletcher
11. Paul Marquet
12. Kurt Rudder
13. Daniel Smailes

1. Justin White
2. Paul Delaney
3. Scott Coxon
4. Aaron Grainger
5. Chris Tyrie

Several interesting selections. Franze gets a run at fullback and should have a good game. Andrew Johnson gets his first run in first div., he looks to be a good player in the making. Kurt Gidley and Wynne are back in the halves although 17 year old half Chris Tyrie in on the bench, showing that Wynne is just keeping a spot warm for him. Fletcher and Marquet are unlucky to be dropped from first grade, Marquet for the first time this year I think. Scott Coxon is on the bench. Scott is a 27 yo exKnights junior who has played 51 first grade games with Wests and Auckland. He played for Raymond Terrace in the Newcastle comp this year and is trialling for a spot with the Knights for next season. The team looks very good after being decimated for last weeks game by the mass callup to first grade. They lost against the frontruners in the comp last week but have a strong side back and can make a real show against another of the highflyers in first div. in the cowboys.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

Another forward lost to injury early in the game made it hard. Simmo, Josh, Clinton and Fletch all worked hard and looked alright with an extra workload put on them from being one man short.
Joey was in serious pain and it was obvious he didn't want to take too many tackles. That kept him from taking on the line very much, which was a real shame because they were opening up for him when he had a go.
Buderus looked good but spent less than half the game on the field I think.
Rudder and Peden were given a game off to have a rest last week and repayed their coach by both having very big games, they were both involved in everything.
Hughes had a very quiet game for his first game back butmade no mistakes as usual and made the backline look a bit better in defence.
McDougall, Tahu and O'Davis had good games, but the star of the backline was Gidley. He made several great tackles and beat his opposite number, Danny Moore, just about every time in attack. He also re established his great combination with Tahu which was so productive for us last year. Tahu should never come off that wing.
All in all it was a tradesmen like performance from nearly the best team we have to offer againt fairly ordinary opposition.
Parsons will return next week to bolster the forwards a bit, and hopefully Buderus will be able to play a full game - the defence looked good while he was on the field, but we let in a couple of soft tries when he was off.
A special mention for Daniel Abraham who looks to be a fair lump of a lad now, bigger than Fletcher by the look of him, and he made several really good tackles at crucial times.
Kennedy has gone off the boil in the last few weeks and I think he had an ordinary one by his standards.
We won't win finals with that form but the team will start to put it all together next week and be ready for the first of the big games the week after.
The defence needs to find lots of intensity and commitment - a sudden death semi final should bring that out in them.
Joey missed his third straight kick from the sidelines to stop his run at 23 straight.
He will be in serious pain tonight - intercostal injuries feel like a knife in the ribs every time you move, I hope they have a good bed for him up there.