Knights to win title

[imported_Roopy4246]

The Flegg title that is.

The Flegg comp has been changed to an under 19 comp this year, which will greatly benefit the knights who have traditionally fielded a younger squad than most other teams.
The Knights have also appointed a new coach in former country firsts coach Rip Taylor. Rip has won many premierships in country football including titles with Lakes United in Newcastle (several times), Wyong on the central coast and also titles on the mid north coast (can't remember the team). He was the coach of the country team that toured France and England a few months ago.
All Rip's contacts in country football has led to several great prospects signing up with the Knights Flegg side for the coming season.

The squad is;
<ul> [*]Ryan Badger [*]Riley Brown [*]Ashley Cooper [*]David Cox [*]Michael Doggett [*]Robert Duffy [*]Chris Everingham [*]Damien Frize [*]Josh Houlison [*]Nathan McLoughlin [*]Luke Mercer [*]Todd Mulville [*]Murray Parker [*]Mitchell Parsons [*]Scott Perrin [*]Chad Solman [*]Brad Tighe [*]Dane Tilse [*]Brad Wallace [*]Matthew White [*]Ryan Wood [*]Brendan Worth [*]Michael Young [*]Blake Tremain-Canon [*]Michael Shultz [/list] I have to say that this isvery different squad from last season. Rip has had a free hand to either keep players or bring in new ones, and he has come up with over half the squad as players new to the Knights I think. Of the ones I know, Luke Mercer went away with the schoolboys team this season and i think he could be a firstgrade centre before the year is out, Brad Tighe was in just about every rep side going as a 5/8 in season 2001 but was injured most of 2002, Brad Wallace was the schoolboys halfback and is very good by all accounts, Michael Young played a lot of first div last season and is a very good fullback of the Peachey kind and Blake Tremain-Canon is a winger from Broken Hill who is supposed to be Darren Albert fast. So far the Flegg side has played and won two trials against Parra and Penrith. By all reports they looked very strong in the forwards, which is what you would expect from a Taylor coached team.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

The Knights Flegg side won their latest trial game against the Central Coast Rip (it doesn't stand for rest in peace, but it should) by 68-0.
Standouts for the Knights were prop Mathew White, hooker Brad Wallace who scored 4 tries and 5/8 Brad Tighe who is back to his ball playing best after the dissappointments of last season.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

BTW, the Central Coast Rip are a side that are in the Flegg and Ball comps this season.
It is a good thing that they are in, but I think their first season will be a very long one.

 

[ozbash]

are those 2 comps fully pro ?

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

Ozbash,
They are junior comps. The S.G. Ball comp is for under 17 year olds and nearly all the kids go to school still. I think over half of the Knights Ball team go to Hunter Sports High.
The Flegg team is made up of uni students, kids living at home with their parents and guys on scholarships with the Knights. Many country kids are put up by families in Newcastle.
The Flegg side train just as much as the full time professional players and they would all be hoping to make a career in football.

One of the big problems in Newcastle football is that many of the guys who don't go on from the Flegg team drop out of football altogether rather than playing in the Newcastle comp. I think a lot of talent is wasted because of that. Many of those guys couldmature a bit later and make it back to the very top of the game.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

After a bye in the first round of the Flegg comp the Knights had a whoping 54-4 win over last seasons minor premiers, the Dragons. Standout player for the Knights was lock Riley Brown with three tries.
Ali has pointed out that Cronulla fancy themselves this year as well, and they have had very good results in the first two rounds.

An interesting point has been raised about the Flegg boys after their comp is finished this season. The Newcastle Boys will either move up to the premier div team or drop back to Newcastle district teams. The standard of the Newcastle teams would be about the same or slightly higher than Flegg, so the boys will have a good season of learning the game. Coach Taylor has a great working knowledge of the Newcastle district comp, so he can supervise all the boys for the entire season.

 

[Bailey]

Yeah the Knights nursey is looking as strong as ever

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

<span>Forget the Flegg side.
I went to watch the young guys at Lyall Peacock oval in toronto take on the North sydney side.
The SG Ball side went mad and scored 76-14. Young Scott Dureau is a magician. He was in everything from the kickoff, and made the team look like they could play firstgrade tomorrow (a bit of a lie, but not much). Apart from Dureau, the entire forward pack, including all the reserves, look like they have firstgrade written all over them. The best forward was Sam Wooden, but Daniel Vuk and Kade Snowden weren't far behind. Wooden is actually a waste in the forwards because he has steps that Fred Astaire would envy once Dureau puts him through a gap, which he did time after time. The Norths fullback must be having nightmares about which way Wooden is going to step around him next. I was half expecting to see him run through his legs the next time, he stepped him every other possible way, sometimes twice in the same run i think.
The north Sydney side won their first game of the season and lost their second game by 40 points to the sharks, who are favourites to take out the title, so they are no mugs, and they actually played alright. It was just that our guys played fantastic. Some of the backline moves were like the firstgrade side of 2001 all over again.
I had to leave at halftime in the Flegg game. We were up 16-0 at halftime, and the Flegg forwards were looking good against a strong norths pack.</span>
<span></span>

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

The Knights Flegg side won by 32-4.
I only watched the first half of the game because I had to go to work, but I was really impressed by the work Michael Young was putting in at fullback. It seemed like he was taking every opportunity he could to impress the people who will be decideing if he finishes off the season in premier div or drops back to newcastle district football after Flegg ends. I think he made his point, he looked a class above the rest of the players on the field.
The Bears had their usual strong forward pack and I thought it was a great tussle for the first half between the two packs, with the class of the Knights half combination, Robert Duffy and Brad Tighe, being the reason the Knights were getting the better of the scoreboard.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

I went to the Knights v Parra junior games yesterday.
Both games were very hard fought.
Parra won the Ball game after going up 24 -0 by halftime and holding on to win 24-14 at fulltime. The Knights came at them hard in the second half, but Parra had too much of a start.

The Flegg game was almost a mirror reverse of the Ball game. The Knights rattled up a 26 - 0 lead by halftime and looked set to post a cricket score, but Parra really turned on the tuff stuff in the second half. The Knights finally ran out 32-12 winners, but the game was a lot harder than the scoreline indicates.

The Knights Flegg side remains undefeated through the trial games and the first four games of the season, including a trial win and a comp win over Parra.

One funny aspect of the day was that Parra was attacking the southern end of the ground the first half of the Ball game and scored 24 unanswered points, then the Knights attacked the southern end and scored 14 unanswered points. In the Flegg game the Knights got first go at the southern end and rattled up 26 unanswered points, than Parra scored the next 12 attacking the southern end, before the Knights scored the one and only try at the northern end just before fulltime. All in all 76 points were scored at the southern end, and the last 6 points of the day at the northern end.

 

[El Duque]

Looked at the score in the Premier League trial and it says Parra won 64-12

 

[imported_justme]

Not this year Roopy, no Knights teams have got through tothe semis in eitherof the junior comps. Jersey Flegg Quarter Finals
Bulldogs 38 def Newcastle 12
Parramatta 20 def Canberra 14
Balmain 28 def Western Suburbs 20
Sharks 34 def Illawarra 16 Jersey Flegg Semi Finals Next Week:
Sharks vs Parramatta
Bulldogs vs Balmain SG Ball Quarter Finals
Parramatta 34 def Western Suburbs 8
Manly 32 def Newcastle 22
Canberra 30 def Bulldogs 22 S G Ball Semi Finals Next Week:
Parramatta vs Manly
Penrith vs Canberra

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

Nevermind,
We did unearth some wonderful young players.
The Ball side had their own little injury crises, but were a bit short of the standard of a few other sides.

The Flegg side were competitive with every side they played except for Canterbury, who gave them a real hiding in the competition proper. The quarter final game against Canterbury was one I don't want to think about because the decision must have been made beforehand that we couldn't win, because they put many of the best players up to Premier League. I think they should have put players from the Newcastle comp into Premier League to cover the high injury toll, rather then run up the white flag in Flegg. The young guys deserved to at least give it their best shot, even if they were playing a side that had outplayed them earlier in the season.

 

[imported_justme]

Could an Eel's fanplease confirm which of Parra's junior teams is being coached by Jason Taylor. I think it is the Ball side but am not sure. If it is he is building up a pretty impresive record as their attack/defence ratio for the season was outstanding.

<table cellspacing=1 cellpadding=2 width=440 bgcolor=#d1d1cb border=0> <tbody> <tr> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff colspan=2><span>Team</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>P</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>W</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>L</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>D</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>B</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>For</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>Against</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>Diff</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>Pts</span></td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff><span>Margin%</span></td></tr> <tr> <td valign=top align=right bgcolor=#ffffff>1.</td> <td valign=top bgcolor=#ffffff>Parramatta</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>9</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>8</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>0</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>0</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>1</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>316</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>78</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>238</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>18</td> <td valign=top align=middle bgcolor=#ffffff>405.13</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

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[El Duque]

What a surprise that the Roosters name is absent in all grades.

They'll just wait for other clubs to do all the work. Is their any point to their existence?

 

[imported_justme]

Yes JT is the coach of the SG Ball team.
Thanks for that Bronco. I wonder if Smith will keep JT around if he continues on with that success rate, may consider him a threat.

 

[El Duque]

I think JT could make a great coach if not rushed and given time.

Who would've thought a team trained by JT would have great defence??

 

[imported_justme]

Who would've thought a team trained by JT would have great defence
You don't need to be good at something to be able to coach it, like I tell my kids, don't do what I do, do as I say.

 

[imported_Roopy4246]

I've always thought guys who were nearly good enough, but just fell short, make the best coaches. They have seen the top of the mountain, but the only way they can get there is on the back of someone else.
Blokes who were out and out champions themselves often don't have the fire burning anymore.

Footnote - I know all about guys like Bobby Fulton and many others who were great players and great coaches. This is just a general principal and should not be seen as specific in every case.