Knights v Raiders Post Match Thread

[astrogirl]

Yeah me too Fred! To be fair to Smith, the ball was a bit in front of him so he was probably a bit off balance plus there was the heavy rain of course...

 

[Frederick]

Just on that, considering how heavy the rain was, I was surprised at the lack of knock-on's. I was expecting a dropped ball on just about every set of six.

Also, you had to feel sorry for those poor souls sitting on the hills, and in the lower tier of the Eastern stand.

 

[jamesgould]

Considering the Knights were running into the rain for most of the second half, very happy with the win. Joey was fantastic - it's the best I've seen him play in a club game since the match against the Dragons. Carney seems to be picking up, as well. Agreed about Brown at hooker, though. Wonder when Thaiday will be back at fullback - he is proving to be more of a loss than I expected, when he was ruled out.

Thaiday has two more games out, he'll be back after our bye. Can anyone still dispute he's the number one fullback in the club? We have really missed him.

Great performance tonight, considering we were coming off a tough game the week before, and Canberra were fired up after their abysmal showing vs Cronulla last week. Top of the ladder after 11 rounds - just think - this time last year we were already out of the running for the semis!!!

 

[aqua_duck]

I thought Tighe had a great game, he's a great ball runner, would really like to see him at centre with his pace, fend, etc. Isn't easy to tackle for a guy who's less than 85Kg

 

[Misanthrope]

I was relatively happy with the performance given the conditions and the lack of our usual back-row combination. The defensive workload that Buderus, Simpson, and Newton generally take on wasn't matched today. We really missed their metreage too.

I thought Mullen was a real start for us - it's the first time his injection has really felt like it had a genuine impact on the game. Tighe showed he was well and truly ready for a return to the top side (which he never should have left) and Davico, Smith, and Perry stood up to continue our boom year in the front row. When you consider we have the above three as well as Woolnough and Tolar competing for spots - it's a far cry from years gone by.

Chris Bailey also looked good out there, and obviously Carney, Matt Gidley, and Joey shone.

 

[Gene Krupa]

I thought Brown was disappointing at hooker.

Seriously, Brown was abysmal!

 

[CycloneSteve]

We can play a whole lot better than we played tonight. However in saying that, two competition points anywhere is very handy. Solid performance all round the park by the boys, and full credit must go to the Raiders. Their defence was very good. Big game next Friday night. Happy to be sitting in first spot though

Yeah the two points IS good but you also need to look at the performance and how it will stack up in the coming weeks. We have two tough games coming up against the Dragons then the Bulldogs so our performance is going to have to be a lot better than the past few weeks.

:crazy: P.S. I put this in coz its just so darn funny.

 

[Johns Magic]

3 line-breaks and 164 metres last night shows why Tighe should be in the side.

 

[Johns Magic]

Wasn't Carney's 3rd try beautiful to watch, with all our playmakers involved.

Johns, cut-out to Mullen, cut-out to Kidley, cut-out to Gidley, long ball to Carney, TRY-TIME!

Mullen was fantastic last night, he really outshone Todd Carney, and he got alot more dominant in his kicking game.

 

[Ben]

Sounds like we played pretty well. I couldn't see it because The Da Vinci code had preference over a Knights and Raiders game. I wonder if there is going to be a replay today?

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

Well i really enjoyed the game even sitting in the rain on the hill.Craig smith is just a marvel and josh perry had some good runs.Tighe and Mullen are the future of this club.Was kinda worried about Johns being out there in unstable conditions but we needed him.
I trhought the defence was good except for the first try and reynoldson went well for a return game.
How unlucky is seage
Solid performance
Who would have thought that we would be in First spot after the cows got us.
Funny Game this footy...LAUGHING!

 

[Frederick]

Sounds like we played pretty well. I couldn't see it because The Da Vinci code had preference over a Knights and Raiders game. I wonder if there is going to be a replay today?

Check my videos thread later tonight. Either that, or wait for the replay on FOX tomorrow at 11:30am

 

[strewth_mate]

One of Carney's tries was a perfect Matt Gidley special, and Carney spent heaps of time saying thanks to Gidley after scoring. He is finally learning to wait patiently for the pass when Gidley has the ball. In his early games he was trying to do something tricky instead of just waiting for Gids to do all the work.

I reckon he could have just about been up for 4 when Matt did some great work to get outside his man and his arm free, but Carney was way in front of where he should have been with the line pretty much open. And again in the second half they almost got in on his side... He wasn't tested in defence or under the high ball as much as usual this time though, so I'm still not convinced of that aspect, but he did have a great game.

I actually though Riley did a half decent job yesterday, gave pretty good service and a couple of interesting runs from dummy half. Didn't see much of his defence, or the game, but what I saw didn't seem that bad. Correct/flame me if I'm wrong ;-)

And good to see Mullen get his hands on the ball this time. Most of it was spent moving it out wide, but he put a couple of clever kicks in, especially one that could have easily been a try to Gidley had he not been off balance and dove on the ball. Still resulted in a dropout though. And he made a rather brilliant run from dummy half I remember seeing.

From what I saw we looked alright, not too flash but at least we're moving the ball a bit more now. Still need to aim up in defence and move up on the ball player, but both sides did incredibly well to keep it a good game given the stupid weather. We were running into the wind, which means into the rain, which was very heavy at stages, and the only time I really saw it affect us was Smith returning the ball from a dropout... poor guy looked like he was squinting like buggery...

 

[Jobdog]

Worst to first - so far so good

 

[Frederick]

I reckon he could have just about been up for 4 when Matt did some great work to get outside his man and his arm free, but Carney was way in front of where he should have been with the line pretty much open. And again in the second half they almost got in on his side... He wasn't tested in defence or under the high ball as much as usual this time though, so I'm still not convinced of that aspect, but he did have a great game.

I actually though Riley did a half decent job yesterday, gave pretty good service and a couple of interesting runs from dummy half. Didn't see much of his defence, or the game, but what I saw didn't seem that bad. Correct/flame me if I'm wrong ;-)

And good to see Mullen get his hands on the ball this time. Most of it was spent moving it out wide, but he put a couple of clever kicks in, especially one that could have easily been a try to Gidley had he not been off balance and dove on the ball. Still resulted in a dropout though. And he made a rather brilliant run from dummy half I remember seeing.

From what I saw we looked alright, not too flash but at least we're moving the ball a bit more now. Still need to aim up in defence and move up on the ball player, but both sides did incredibly well to keep it a good game given the stupid weather. We were running into the wind, which means into the rain, which was very heavy at stages, and the only time I really saw it affect us was Smith returning the ball from a dropout... poor guy looked like he was squinting like buggery...

Sure seemed to see a fair bit for someone who's supposed to be working there

 

[Johns Magic]

Thought Seage had a fair game, nothing to write home about.

Carney was very good. He's learned the art of Matt Gidley, and those three tries were gifts as a result. What I love about him is that if there's half a chance, he'll tuck the ball under the arm and go full throttle at the tryline, rather than hesitate. Very strong and made plenty of metres, and he was catching Phil Graham when he made that break yesterday, and Graham is FAST.

Gidley was good in attack, but defensively he looked out of sorts yesterday. Misread Phil Graham's try completely.

Carmont, meh. It seems this season that his defence has improved two-fold, but now in attack he isn't anywhere near as dangerous. I'd rather see Tighe in the number 4 jersey to be honest.

Tighe was awesome. He really knows how to slice through gaps, and he was strong yesterday. Watching him last night made me realise how much I miss him.

Kidley was alright.

Johns had a typical match of late, never really standing out but at the same time doing all the little things right. He is a genius, and the greatest mastermind in the game today.

Woolnough had a better game, fair few metres up the middle, but really he should remain a benchie.

Brown's distribution was good, but otherwise he offered nothing. No dummy half metres to speak of.

Smith was, well...Smith.

Reynoldson wasn't great, he'll take a week or two to get back in form one would imagine. Didn't do much wrong mind you.

Lowrie was awesome in attack, plenty of metres, played a very Clint-Newton type role. He's improved a hell of a lot this season.

Tanner had his best game to date, topping the tackle count and making 80-odd metres. He's no Steve Simpson, but he certainly took on a bit of his workload last night.

Davico was "solid", but he still needs to get more involved in attack.

Perry was awesome. He is so strong, when he gets tackled he keeps driving for an extra 3 or 4 metres before he gets taken down. Played with vigour yesterday, and I think his injection into the game gave Johns more room and saw us begin to get on top. Great to see him back.

Mullen had his best game yet. Didn't look afraid to take the kicking workload off Joey, and we had alot more spark when he came on. We looked alot more dangerous out wide when he came on.

Bailey did an admirable job in the centres, he was thrown in the deep end, but came out unscathed. Good effort.

 

[strewth_mate]

Sure seemed to see a fair bit for someone who's supposed to be working there

Haha I thought that myself... to be fair though, everyone was like :crazy: away from the rain in the second half, so not a great deal to do ;-)

 

[Doctor]

I was surprised at how well the Raiders played. To limit us to one legitimate try in the first half is a pretty solid effort from the boys in green. The Raiders fans should be pretty happy with their side, although they probably dropped away a bit as it became clear they would struggle to win.

One thing the Raiders fans have every right to be cranky about is the forward pass from Kurt Gidley. I remember a pass a season or two ago where it went that far forward I think the defence just stopped trying... only to discover the referee had no intention of blowing his whistle. Last night's effort was atrocious -- pretty shoddy work if you ask me. How the referee missed it I don't know, but the two touchies? I'm very cranky for the Raiders fans (I'll stop over in their forum and tell them this) -- it was literally 5 metres forward, with Kurt having passed it halway between the metre lines and Carney catching it right on the line. Did it cost the Raiders the game? It's a big call if someone says it did. I'd suggest that the score would have been tight in the last 15-20 minutes had we not had that momentum from back in the 30th minute. It might have won us the game, if only for the momentum that it gave us.

Both sides defended pretty well I thought, with the only exception being the truck-sized hole we left for the Raiders first try. The Raiders players must have had bad breath or had egg for breakfast... our boys sure gave them plenty of room. Thankfully the rest of the defensive effort was fairly solid in general.

I'm not too unhappy with our effort, especially without some of our better forwards. Craig Smith, Adam Woolnough and Riley Brown all stood up. I thought we performed solidly, albeit not exceptionally. It's a fair effort because the Raiders played well and the rain was driving into the Knights' eyes in the second half.

 

[gumbi]

Winning ugly always feels good. You know your year is going well when you string together 4 wins in a row like we have. None have been ultra impressive, but we are doing little things right. this is that time of year when you can really strat to feel your season building towards something off the back of gutsy wins like last night.

Team morale must also be high, to win that game with only 15 blokes in the second half and a backline that had 3 guys playing out of position is a top effort.

Top of the table even though we are not playing our best footy - can't ask for anything more.

On Canberra - how good was there defence. Full marks to them, they really muscled up and showed a lot of character. They are a much better side then people give them credit for.

 

[Master Vippo]

Sounds like a great game. Didnt get to see it unfortunately. When Seage got injured, did Kidley push to FB and Mullen to 5/8? It sounds like it was a good move? Do you think thats what the starting side will be next week, or isnt Seage's injury that bad?