Knights v Manly Post Match Thread.

[antonius]

For all your after game chat.

 

[Missa]

woooohooooooooooo we win yet again....shame its not the start of the season.....im looking forward to watching it on fox tonight.

 

[Stranger]

Cant wait for the game to start on fox!

 

[Jobdog]

Should have been at least 26-14, the try which was disallowed to Milton in the second half was a deadset try. It would appear as though u can't try and contest a high ball anymore, because the defending team are allowed a free take on the ball............... Joey was pretty ordinary in the first half, came good in the second half though. His kicking game in the last 2 weeks has been pretty ordinary, but he makes up for it with his running game, which is a sign of the great player he is.

We started like a house on fire, 8-0 after about 10 minutes, then all of a sudden we went back into our shells and played, quite frankly, terrible. Dustin copped a hell of a spray from Joey after he missed the tackle on Brett Stewart on the stroke of halftime. The second half was an improved effort and to keep Manly scoreless was quite a pleasing aspect of our win. On the downside, Matt Gidley is gone for the year, re-did his troublesome groin injury and Simmo appeared to have a gash on his nose. They're going to be sore boys tomorrow. Time now for the Warriors over the ditch next week.

 

[~bedsy~]

I have lost my voice again. :lol:
It was a good hard fought out win. I agree with Joey being off in the first half.

My dad and bro are going home very sad boys tonight.

 

[roopy]

Kurt gave us so many more options when he came on.
He spilled the ball about three times, so he didn't have a very happy game, but his long passing etc had Manly really worried.

Simmo was the best forward on the field by heaps - and Bedsy stood up Kennedy beautifully a few times.

Milton is starting to look at home in firstgrade.

Tighe is also starting to look like he belongs in the top team.

 

[rock_on_knights]

I didn't get too watch the match, but a wins a win so YAY 4 IN A ROW!!!

 

[IanG]

Well knocking off the enemy was what made that match all the sweeter. Whoooooooo Hooooooooo
What a crowd too, glad that it was Knights supporters making the most noise for a change.

 

[MrCharisma]

Such a good game

 

[antonius]

Have to agree with Roopy on the comments re Tighe, and Thaiday. Really tough game I thought. Cooper made one blooper, but apart from that I thought it was his best game in the top grade yet, at times he was like another forward out there, I'd be interested to see his metres gained, and hit ups. the game was a real arm wrestle for a while there, but the boys toughed it out, and I thought Manly looked tired in the end. Brad Tighe is starting to live up to his promise, and is becoming quite a handfull in attack running off Johns. Buderus I thought was our best, he made some really telling runs from dummy half, and really got Manly on the backfoot with them. Simmo was great, and Woolnough had his best game in some time, (he is starting to get some nice offloads in his game) Milton was unlucky not to get a double, the call for the second one, where Quinn (I think it was) was deemed to have interfered with the defending fullback was pretty ordinary IMO, he was attempting to get the ball, not playing the man. It was a good win, and what a great crowd we had! We got there just before the members gates opened and people were lined up back to the main road and along it. Now for the Worriers.

 

[Alex28]

A solid win - 4 from 4 which is great for the morale of the younger players that went 13 without a win.

A few thoughts:

* Johns really had a pretty ordinary game but even his ordinary game keeps the team in the game - shows the mark of the man but also shows how much we rely on him;
* Trent Salkeld is not at NRL standard - his defence is awful and while he is a decent finisher, I have no doubt Thaiday or Cooper can do what he does, only with some maturity and thought.
* I am stoked at the progress of Brad Tighe - I thought he had a great game and working with Johns since he's come back has done wonders for his confidence and game. I just don't know where we slot him into the top 17 next year (unless Kidley is picked at 5/8 and Mullen stays in Premier League). No doubt with injuries and the like he'll get numerous runs in Firsts next year;
* Thaiday again had a great game and is a great fit in the centres - has a much better running game than Carmont, his defence is much better with other players around him rather than one-on-one at fullback, and is doing great running off Johns and Tighe/Kidley. He should be our other centre next year - hands down.
* The forwards had an honest game today - nothing flashy, but they stood up to the Manly forwards and won the battle. They kept Kennedy and Watmough quiet - that was half the battle today. Simpson had another great game - the guy is hard as hell. Smith had a solid game given he was virtually knocked out early in the game.
* Danny Buderus...what can you say about the guy. We are not a one man team - that sort of stuff is an insult to how important Danny is to the team. 110 metres but every time he runs from dummy half he makes great metres. He was my stand out today - outstanding.
* Kurt Gidley did add something today - his passing game looked very good but his ball handling was very rusty (something that comes with game time obviously). Obviously he will slot straight into 5/8 but we have a potential problem in the future in regards to what do we do with Jarrod Mullen?
* The Gidley brothers really have become our new MacDougall brothers...spending far too much time off the field injured. Lets hope USTEP can do miracles with these two.

Great win guys

 

[thuganomics]

Johns wasn't great, but it was his brilliance that won us the match. Buderus was great, great team performance.
Next week with hopefully Perry back, and the inclusion of Newton will really make us look dangerous.

 

[Squishy_Da_Byatch]

It was a great game, never the less, the fact is, is that yes they may have made a couple of bloopers BUT they still pulled off the win

Personally my highlight was when Stewart the pansy stuffed up upon catching one of Joey's bombs I really despise Stewart, thefore i had been waiting ALL night for that to happen and when it did it was the best That lil stuff up put the icing on the cake of a great night

 

[strewth_mate]

One of my favourite moments was Quinn showing up Tezza... from what I remember (probably wrong) he pulled off a tackle that cut him down at one stage, which he didn't like, then monstered him in the same set and loved it. Hill came running out of the line to give Quinn a push when he wasn't involved in a tackle a minute later, but this time Quinn just walked away... Good stuff Tezza!

 

[chinorocks]

A pretty good perfomance considering I thought a few important decisions went against us. Thaiday scored, no doubt about it. I think it was the worst video refereeing decision I've seen in 3 years. Quinn was going for the ball simple as that. I dead set thought it would cost us the game, but Joey turned on the class close to the line and got us home.

Woolnough had his best game of the year. Looked ready and enthusiatic from the start, ran hard, tackled hard. Simmo was great as usual, Tighe is going to prove to be a problem because he's killing it and where the f*ck is he going to play when we're at full strength??? As per usual Buderus was the best player on the field, he is far and away the greatest hooker of all time I don't care what anyone says.

Joeys kicking game wasn't his best, but other than that and a dropped ball I thought he had a solid enough game. We can't expect him to produce an Origin 2 like effort every week. Great to see Kurt back, suddenly the backine depth is looking fantastic for next year.

 

[strewth_mate]

Also if I may add, I started at 9:30 this morning and as I walking in there were a number of people lined up already (that's always the case at home games). 10 minutes later there were more. I went up on a scissor lift to pack some ice 20 minutes later and the line was into the carpark. Over the course of the next 1/2 hour to an hour when I looked the line extended from there, to the end of the main carpark, then looped around and essentially to the road. I've never seen it like that at Marathon. Plus there were lines at the south hill that were similar. I stood and watched them all for a while, it was so good to see.

Even when they started turning people away at 12:30, less than 2 hours after the gates opened, there were people still coming in from everywhere, and all the ticket holders split into 2 lines that each stretched at least 50 or 60 metres. The hills looked as full as ever even for Flegg, and even the corners of the new grandstand filled up for perhaps the first time this year. You know all this, but the crowd was damn impressive. I'm sure the young fellas got a buzz out of running out to packed hills. To quote Thorpey, it was fully sick.

After all that, it's such a relief to win, the crowd was getting a little uneasy at around half time and if we'd walked away unsuccessful there would have been 26,000 (minus Manly) devastated fans. Plus my job would have been so much harder as the boys in the boxes would want to stay behind and get pissed, so I'm happy for that. Basically it's just unheard of that the team coming outright last in the 23rd round would pull their biggest ever crowd (debatable though as that is). Fantastic stuff.

 

[thuganomics]

Woolnough - 18 tackles and none missed, 18 hit-up's for 159m along with 4 offloads. Great effort

 

[strewth_mate]

How did Riley go? Did he add anything?

 

[CycloneSteve]

I didnt get to see the game and only heard snippets on the radio, but I'm so proud of the boys, the way they have not closed up shop for the season. I am already looking forward to season 2006. I seriously think we can win the comp next season...damn I think we could have won it this season had we had some better "luck" in the first half of the season.

 

[chinorocks]

Riley had a pretty solid game.