Knights v Storm Post Match Thread

[Frederick]

Anyone notice how Simpkins kept the Storm back the required 10, but had us at least 13 back each set? :|

 

[cram]

What I did notice was the speed the storm came off their defenisive line and how they were able to slow the play the ball down. They played a much better spoiling game then we did.

 

[antonius]

Perry gave away 2 penalties, dropped the ball on the first tackle, all in about 10 minutes. I'm almost sure Quinn copped a penalty not long ago for exactly the same thing (abusing a touchy) Mullen gets better every game of first grade he plays. If he keeps playing like that Hagan will have to find another spot for Kidley. Top notch game though, we didn't deserve to lose by eight, it was closer than that. How long was Abes on for?It only seemed like 10 minutes.

 

[Jono078]

Abraham didnt seem to run the ball much, but his tackling was quite good and done a couple of nice shots just before he headed off to the bench..

I hope he is in the starting side next week in place of Tanner.. Tanner is just hopeless.

 

[chinorocks]

Storm defence was fantastic. 3 or 4 times we went through with less than 10metres to go and they kept us out with brilliant scrambling. Thats why there on top of the table.

Quinn penalty was a joke. Even if he was yelling at the touchie why come in at that point, my understading was Quinn infringed 3 tackles earlier. Then the try they scored from the penalty contained 2 very questionable passes.

Thaiday's try was touch and go but deserved a look at least.

The penalty against Perry for stripping the ball was an absolute disgrace. The guy dropped it cold, Perrys hands we're a metre away by the time he dropped the ball, no way he stripped it, poor ball control.

Forward passes galore that didn't get called, the most noticeable one being in the lead up to the Storms first try.

Ok enough bitching. Storm totally negated Joeys attack. They rushed up on his kicks, and forced him to run the ball on numerous occasions.

Mullen was fantastic and is the future. Kidley MUST go to centre or the bench when he comes back because dropping Mullen would be a crime.

Thaiday wasn't heavily involved but will be better for the run.

Buderus had his best game in 2 months. Dangerous all day from dummy half.

Abraham looked massive, he's really bulked up, didn't get much time and will no doubt be dropped by supercoach. If I we're coach he'd be back next week but Hages obviously thinks Reyno, Tanner, Lowrie and Brown offer more.

All in all a much improved performance, but we didn't get the points which we desperately need. Should get the Bunnies next week but nothing is certain.

 

[IanG]

Like any footy match giving away penilties and poor ball handling will cost you. I think we played much better this week but we had more than a chance to take the 2 points.

 

[Ben]

Well the boys played extremely well but the Storm were just too good. I don't see them losing another game unless they meet us in the Finals.:sarcasm: Overall our performance was outstanding and if against another team we would've put fifty on them. Our attacking options are extended with Mullen in the team. Mullen can either play second receiver running of Johns, play first receiver letting Johns play wider or put Johns on one side of the ruck and Mullen on the other side to put the opposition defensive line in two minds.

Mullen took alot of pressure of Johns and Mullen controlled the game much better than Johns mostly due to the fact that the Storm were rushing off the line so quickly to shut him down.

Add to that, how many forward passes and offside moments have to occur in a game before the referee acts. Not to mention the grapple tackles, elbows, forarms and face into the turf stuff before the referee actually realises that it is happening. And Simpkins must've been awarding penalties for anything around the neck because Carney got penalised for a similar incident.

From a performance like that, althought we lost, i would like to comment on the positives. Mullen better be the five-eighth when Kidley returns because in two games, Mullen has offered more than Kidley all season. And i think Thaiday should have been awarded a try. The ball went backwards off the hands of Mullen and Thaiday's hands were no where near the ball and he actually toed it forward. If Jeremy Smith was award a try for that Kidwell ball than Thaiday should've been awarded a try at the end.

Abraham was really quiet for his standards but i actually saw him do more in the game than Tanner. He didn't take many hit-ups but was really good in defence. Hardly anything got past him. No point dropping him back to Premier League now because he must be ready if he got selected in First Grade.

I think we can beat the Rabbitohs if we put on a similar performance. But then again, i thought we could beat Parra after our performance against Manly.

 

[Rod]

If we beat Souths by a healthy margin next week we can get as high as fifth.

 

[Yosh]

Mullen was fantastic and is the future. Kidley MUST go to centre or the bench when he comes back because dropping Mullen would be a crime.

then it looks like hagan is going to gaol...

 

[IanG]

Well 5th wouldn't be too bad
but we need to win from here on in
We have SOuths next week the the roosters the week after. even though the roosters won today they've been going like busteds all season so it's a good chance for us to knock 'em off

 

[macavity]

very very angry we lost that one.

:x

that is all.

 

[strewth_mate]

All of the above, plus a few nice moments: Thaiday taking a gamble and darting extremely quickly under a tackle when returning the ball (when he actually returned it himself), Carney chasing down Slater, and Mullen chasing down -insert name- at the end of the match. And what was with Slater climbing on Carmont's back to take a bomb? Wrong code mate, I thought he would have been penalised if he'd caught it...

We really were in a position to win this match. Melbourne just handled the pressure too well. They shut down Johns like we shut down Orford a couple of weeks ago and we struggled to get a whole lot happening for most of the match. Mullen seemed to be able to handle people rushing up in his face pretty well and he looks good when he runs the ball, and he was also playing first receiver for a lot of the match I thought.

I'm not horribly disappointed that we lost to Melbourne after what was probably a commendable performance from us; it's just that it's under the circumstances of our recent poor form and, though I will stop short of blaming the ref, some calls that would have put a different complexion on the game. Same happened against the Sharks, we could have been sitting pretty right now.

Last year we lost too many games by small margins, games that we were in with a chance up until the final bell, but instead all we see is a 13 match losing streak. This is a game that got away but I think we can take some pride out of the performance. If we were against any other team that wasn't able to slow us down and shut down our attack, I believe we would have won. Melbourne were really very good and did what they had to do particularly well.

 

[chinorocks]

The player Mullen ran down was Steve Turner I believe.

 

[astrogirl]

Thanks for all the comments/opinions guys. I didn't manage to get to the game *again*, and until now all the info I had about the game was from a woman wearing a Knights jacket in the supermarket. I asked if she was at the game and she said "Yes. We lost. At least we didn't disgrace ourselves."

 

[Misanthrope]

"Yes. We lost. At least we didn't disgrace ourselves."

It's kind of depressing when it comes to that, don't you think? I don't want fans to say 'At least we didn't...'. I want them to be as angry and disappointed as we are. When we're settling for eight point losses, it says a lot about morale.

 

[astrogirl]

I agree completely. But I can understand her feelings - it is much better than being flogged, like South Africa were against Aus in the union :|

 

[IanG]

Hey I am disappointed that we lost to the Mexicans. we had chances to win but didnt take 'em. We did play alot better but moral victories aren't worth a crumpet

 

[thuganomics]

Next week we have to smash the Rabbitohs (by at least 20). We need our for and against better because that may be the difference from a spot in the 8 to 9th or 10th spot.

 

[CJKnight]

I am so freaking disappointed we lost that one. IMO Newcastle outplayed Melbourne in the forwards, and our backs were on their game as well.

Perry, Smith, Davico, and Woolnough were all good in the meters department (despite Perry's penalties)

Carney run down that Melbourne winger saving a try. (How fast is he!) Quinn scored 2 quality tries. (Stupid hothead he has on him though.)

And how about MULLEN! What a game from the young lad. I can see Smith's mough drooling from here. Mullen will be his Tim Smith for Newcastle.

Other than the mistakes and penalties WHEN WE WERE IN POSSESSION that caused our downfall. Plus Melbourne did a great job of shutting down the long kicking game.

 

[Frederick]

Mullen will be his Tim Smith for Newcastle.

Fantastic one year, sh*thouse the next? I bloody well hope not!