I wouldnt say it was a strong performance. In truth, the Knights looked ordinary in attack and sloppy at times in defence. I lost count of the amount of offloads the Cowboys managed
a statistic that can be addressed by better tackling technique (one man to take the legs, and the other to wrap up the ball). Its an area that most teams capitalise on, but rarely more than the Cowboys. We can ill-afford to let such a trend continue.
Remarkably, what we lacked in the first half was exactly what the presence of Johns was supposed to compensate for: attacking options and flair. Ive been saying for a few weeks that the Knights are making the metres to get within striking distance, but are struggling to get over the line. Poor kicks, poor passing and good defence have been enough to ensure weve struggled to cross the white line. Johns, in all fairness to him, looked scrappy in the first half. It was only in the second half that we began to see him return to a normal standard.
Ironically, we came back into the game not by capitalising on good metres, but actually as a result of line-breaks that came without warning. Mullens two tries came without previous pressure applied on the Cowboys he did well, taking nothing from him, but these were bounce-of-the-ball type tries
fortunate that they went our way.
I still have serious concerns about the amount of errors and penalties the Knights give away through their more experienced players. Perry and Price have for a long time concerned me. Now were finding Tanner, Lowrie and others are also struggling.
Buderus was outstanding, and Mullen showed why he ought to be considered our number one choice at 5/8. Carmont and Tighe were patchy, all the more reason for the Gidley brothers to be our centres combination when and if we get back to full fitness.
It was a scrappy sort of game, but probably the most pleasing thing is that we did all our good work against the odds in the second half, against the wind, against a top 4 side and without many of our top players. They began to show some heart towards the end there, which is pleasing. Still many areas to work on though.