Knights team for Dragons game

[imported_Roopy4246]

1. Robbie O'Davis
2. Darren Albert
3. Matthew Gidley
4. Adam MacDougall
5. Timana Tahu
6. Kurt Gidley
7. James Wynne
8. Steve Simpson
9. John Morris
10. Matt Parsons
11. Julian Bailey
12. Ben Kennedy ©
13. Daniel Abraham

1. Troy Fletcher
2. Paul Marquet
3. Sean Rudder
4. Josh Perry
5. Mark Hughes

Whoo Hoo - Michael Hagan has been reading my mind - Steve Simpson to prop, Fletcher on to the bench, Bailey into the second row, Daniel Abraham to lock, but most importantly - Kurt Gidley gets his first game in first grade. Mark Hughes will possibly replace Robbie O by kickoff. Steve Simpson is a natural prop. He is a hardworking tackler and runs the ball up hard. He is getting bigger and stronger as the season goes on and, at 21, he has his best years ahead of him. Fletcher is a great clubman and has a lot of heart. He will not lie down as some of our guys did last week. Bailey has impressed me more as a centre, but he is an experienced second rower and he will work hard in the position. Abraham - who is 6'2" and about 100kg, was switched to the forwards 5 weeks ago in first div and has scored 6 or 7 tries, including a hat trick last week, from lock or second row. He is a very safe tackler and can obviously sniff out a try. Kurt Gidley is the 18 yo brother of Matt. He started the year in Flegg and went to first div about 10 weeks ago. He has scored 20 tries in his 19 games so far this season and has class written all over him. Ben Kennedy is the captain for the first time in the absence of Billy Peden, who is out with an ankle injury. This team will play with a lot of heart. Blokes like Abraham, Kurt Gidley, Steve Simpson and Troy Fletcher can all book themselves a spot in our finals campaign with a great performance, and they will be giving it all they have. James Wynne has played 130 lower grade games in his career, most for Illawarra, and he will be trying to show he has something to offer as a first grader while he has the chance. Wynne and Kurt Gidley had quite an understanding going in first div. Ben Kennedy will want to win his first, and maybe last, game as captain. Michael Hagan has put the questions to all the players. Everyone will have to put in to earn a shot at a finals berth. No one can rest on his laurels for the rest of the season. That's the way it should be. Grief, O'Brien, Peden, Rudder and Perry will have to put in big games to get theirplace back.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

First division team

1. Matthew Petersen
2. Justin Ryder
3. Anthony Quinn
4. Joshua Smith
5. Neil Sweeney
6. Clarrie Moran
7. Chris Tyrie
8. Clinton O'Brien
9. Ben Donaldson ©
10. Glenn Grief
11. Kurt Rudder
12. Paul Delaney
13. Daniel Smailes

1. Justin White
2. Daniel Quinn
3. Aaron Grainger
4. Blake Mueller

The team is almost unrecognisable as the team that has won its last 8 straight. The halves are the 17 yo Chris Tyrie and Clarrie Moran. Tyrie is having his second game in first div. and Moran his first. They have a great combination from Flegg and will stear the side around the ground like veterans I'm sure. Grief and O'Brien have one chance to play in the finals series, and that is to go out and stamp themselves all over this game. They will both be pulling out big games. The backline is very young but very classy. This team is playing the team on top of the table and have a lot to prove. Grief and O'Brien will have a lot to prove.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

Flegg side

1. Shaun Skuthorpe
2. Andrew Johnson
3. Darryl Gordon
4. Paul Franze
5. Gavin Quinn
6. Brad Tighe
7. Luke Dureau
8. Trent Estatheo
9. Luke Quigley ©
10. Matthew Kennedy
11. Anthony Tupou
12. Dean Basham
13. Regan Tanner

1. Greg Bird
2. Adam Woolnough
3. Michael Gill
4. Daniel Tolar
5. Michael Small
6. Trent Robinson
7. Todd Mulville

Despite the disruptions in the higher grades, this looks like the best side in Flegg for a while. The forwards look really strong with Esatheo, Kennedy, Woolnough and Basham all stars of the future. Greg Bird is back from combined high schools rep duties and he and Franze get to show us what they have before moving to Cronulla next season. Brad Tighe gets a start at 5/8 and he is perhaps the most promising junior at the club. I think this team will win easily and may go on to win the grandfinal if they can stay together for the rest of the season. This looks a very well balanced side.

 

[imported_Lord Ted]

roopy,
formidable looking team.If the Dragons are not to psyched by this Smith caper(and it is designed to do that) and they play as well as they did last week it will,indeed be a beaut game of league.Of course personally speaking, I hope your mob bring their Wests-Tigers tackling.
Sunday was the best the Dragons have played since '99,if they improve on that and get a decent run with the ref,you are in strife.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

Lord Ted,
I don't know if this team has been named to win. I think the coach is blooding some guys who will play a big part in our plans for next season (Kurt Gidley, Abraham, Simpson at Prop) and sending a big message to the guys who have not been trying hard enough in recent weeks (Grief, O'Brien, Perry).
Guys like Kurt Gidley, Abraham and Fletcher can earn a spot in our semis campaign by playing the games of their lives in this game, and I think it will be their grandfinals now.
Saints could start favourites but will have to produce a good game to get over a side that will be putting in the big ones.

 

[Willow]

Lord Ted:
"...if they improve on that and get a decent run with the ref,you are in strife."

Hate to break news.... one word: Billy

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

What a dilema for Billy. He will have tochoose which team he hates more.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

A slightly disappointing result, but pretty predictable I suppose. Saints looked very good at times and will be a real handfull for the rest of the season. If we draw them in the finals our best side will still have their hands full.
Never mind, the A team is back next week and our run to the finals can begin.
The most worrying thing was Parsons and Albert both going off and staying off. Hopefully it was just caution on the part of Hagan to not risk them when it wasn't necessary. Parsons has a sternum injury and a fractured sternum would be the end of his season, but hopefully its just a bruise and they didn't want it to get worse. Albert went into the game with a foot injury and may have made it worse. He can sit out next week with the return of Hughes.
Of the new guys and positional changes - Simpson had a fair game at prop and I think his future lies in that position because of our lack of depth there.
Bailey played well at second row but I think he is a better centre.
Abraham looks to have made the transition to the forwards well and may keep a spot in the side on the bench next week.
Fletcher did a fair job for an old fella. He seems to have lost some of the size he worked so hard to put on in the offseason.
Morris tried hard but is no Buderus and will lose his spot next week.
Kurt Gidley had some good moments and some bad moments. He was confident enough to try things but is not used to the first grade pace and several things he did mucked up bigtime. I think he will make way for Rudder next week, but he is a certain firstgrader next year and can only improve from this outing.
James Wynne has made the most of his chances and I hope someone picks him up for next year.
All in all this was a good pointer to our future chances for next year. All the young guys looked to have a future.
Next week we will have Johns, Buderus, Rudder, Peden, Hughes, Grief and O'Brien back at the expence of Wynne, Morris, Kurt Gidley, and whichever of the forwards are out injured.