Good read
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/...ics-to-nail-knights-five-eighth-spot/?cs=2503
JULY 8 2020 - 9:00PM
Even Andrew Johns got it wrong as Kurt Mann makes Knights No6 jersey his own
Kurt Mann is not the type to say 'I told you so'.
Probably doesn't ever think that way either. Deep down though, you'd have to think there must be a part of him, however miniscule, that is taking just a little bit of satisfaction out of proving plenty of arm-chair critics wrong.
And yes, there were a lot of us. A lot of us who doubted he was the man for the job, so to speak. A lot of us who thought if Kurt Mann was the answer to the Knights' problems at five-eighth this season, someone was not asking the right questions.
Well, we can all take solace from the fact we weren't on our lonesome. We were all members of a larger contingent of doubters who had an opinion on it, a group that included no less than the Eighth Immortal Andrew Johns.
You see, Johns had the same doubts as the rest of us. He wasn't convinced Mann was going to be the answer either. And not too many know more about halves play in the NRL than he does.
So don't feel aggrieved by your poor judgement if you are a Knights fan. Instead, rejoice in the fact Mann has been more than up to the challenge and coach Adam O'Brien knew exactly what he was doing when he arrived in Newcastle for the first time and gave him a crack.
You see, it was O'Brien who dismissed out of hand the club's need to chase a five-eighth for this season despite being told by every man and his dog exactly that when he first got here.
Mann's form in the number 6 jersey this season has proven to be a revelation and he has rewarded coach Adam O'Brien's faith in him.
O'Brien knew he had options in the likes of Mann, Connor Watson, Mason Lino and youngster Phoenix Crossland.
He also knew he wasn't going to allow the number six jersey to be handed around willy nilly from player to player like it was last season, something that ultimately affected the form of halfback Mitchell Pearce.
It's why in his first meeting with Mann over a coffee last November, O'Brien told the 27-year-old former Melbourne Storm and St George Illawarra Dragons utility that he no longer saw him as a utility.
The Knights coach told him he wanted him to concentrate on making the five-eighth spot his own during the pre-season and promised that's where he would train. O'Brien than went about simplifying the role to take the pressure off.
"I didn't want him to be someone he wasn't," O'Brien explained.
"I knew Kurt. I knew him from our time together in Melbourne. I knew he was tough and I knew he could defend. He was already a long way there and I didn't want him to feel like he had to reinvent the wheel."
Mann, who has been consistently among the Knights best since the resumption in the competition, says the support of the coaching staff and senior players Mitchell Pearce and Andrew McCullough has made his fulltime transition to five-eighth easier.
In the past, he has been a self-confessed over-thinker on the field, which to some degree is a by-product of being shunted around in a variety of positions during his career.
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Last season under former coach Nathan Brown, he was brought to the club as a potential back-up hooker but ended up playing five different positions without ever really excelling in any of them.
O'Brien's arrival changed all that.
"My job's been simplified by the coaching staff here with Ads [O'Brien] and Willie [Peters]," he said.
"They have kept it really simple for me and I think it's something that works. I did the whole pre-season and got to focus on one position and wasn't moved around. If you want consistency, you have to be training consistently in the one position.
"I think I'm still a long way from where I want to be and where the coaches want me to be. There is still a lot of room for improvement and the more time I spend playing alongside Pearcey and Kalyn and Macca now, the better we'll get."
Right from the start, Pearce was a big supporter of Mann playing at six. They have become close mates.
"He's a lovable sort of bloke, he's easy to get along with and has a lot of experience which is something I really like," Mann says of his halves partner and skipper.
"Whenever I've got a question or whenever I'm over-thinking something, he is usually good to talk to about it and having Macca here now as well, there's another player with a whole lot of experience.
"I'm a big over-thinker myself and having those sort of players around, they are really good to steady me."
