Match Discussion: Finals Week 2 vs Warriors @ Go Media Stadium, Penrose / Aotearoa

[Old dog]

Up against it giving Jones minutes in a final.
So who would you pick, he is best suited by what we have

 

[Woody90]

Game day!

I know there’s a lot of negatively around our chances, especially since DSaf went down, but at the end of the day we don’t have another replacement than Jones. No point crying about it, team just needs to deal with it. Next man up. Losing Hastings and Fitz isn’t ideal either.

Although we’ve been counted out by most, we’re still a chance to win IMO. We score our points in blitzes. We don’t have to dominate their pack for the entire game. We just need to be able to hold them at bay (backs need to keep helping them out) and if we can get on top of them for even 30 minutes we could score some points

Even if we don’t, it’s been a great season when you consider everything we had to deal with at the start of the year and new combinations. Hopefully making it this far will motivate the boys to keep improving and who knows how much further we can improve with the spine all training together in an off season.

 

[kaynine]

We gon win 13+ boys.

 

[Apey]

I still think we win. Either way, week 2 is a pass mark at worst. Now how do I wait 7 hours?

 

[Knight Tales]

I do not see us losing if we improve on our start. If we start fast then we can really make a dent.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

I don't see us losing full stop

 

[Yosh]

To be honest I'm far less nervous compared to last week. I thought last week was our danger game because of all the pressure on top of the Raiders having tons more finals experience than us. It's the reverse this week and last week's experience will prove invaluable.

Only concern is their middles killing us, leads to us having no field position and being drained the last 15 minutes of the game. If we control the ball and play good field position, I don't see us losing this at all.

It's so good to be part of the finals. We're not here just to make up numbers either. Good time to be alive fellas!!

 

[Apey]

I honestly think Warriors need a bigger form reversal than we do to win this game. They've been sketchy, I think even their fans will tell you that. I think they and the neutrals are hoping a big do-or-die game at home will get them back to where they were. It might, or it might be too much pressure like it almost was for us last week. I'm hoping it's too much pressure and that they're the team making dumb errors this week and not us.

3 hours!

 

[perverse]

We win by hitting them hard early and taking the crowd out of the game. I don't know if we've got it in us, because our starts are almost always very slow.

There's always the chance that KP just blows them off the park by himself too.

I don't like how narrow our path is to victory though. I think if we end up in a set for set grind then SJs class behind what should be a dominant forward pack will be enough for them.

 

[PhilGould]

We win by hitting them hard early and taking the crowd out of the game. I don't know if we've got it in us, because our starts are almost always very slow.

There's always the chance that KP just blows them off the park by himself too.

I don't like how narrow our path is to victory though. I think if we end up in a set for set grind then SJs class behind what should be a dominant forward pack will be enough for them.

We literally lead the comp for tries in the opening 20 minutes

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I don't necessarily agree with people saying that we were always going to lose the forward battle. One of the main reasons that we've done so well over the last 2.5 months is due to our forwards winning the battle. Up until last week, we were clinical in winning the ruck. Our training clearly has a lot to do with this. Compared to previous years, we've been brilliant at landing on our stomachs and getting quick play the balls. When the opposition have had the ball, we rolled them onto their back consistently and also wrapped up the ball so they couldn't offload.

Daniel Saf is a big loss. When his intensity is up, he makes a good impact for us. If Jacob runs hard like he does in SOO, then he is a big plus for us. Thompson had a week off to freshen up recently and has been in great form all year. My mate is a Bulldogs tragic and he believes that Hetherington is one of the fastest props in the comp. If he runs the ball hard, he may make up for some of the loss we'll have from losing Dan Saf. Frizell didn't get a lot of decent ball last week but he and Elliot could also be up for big games today.

I'm very interested to seeing how our forwards aim up today. I for one am not writing them off to do the job.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Yeah I don’t really buy the narrative that our forward pack is just going to get dominated for 80 mins. You don’t win 10 on the trot with a wimpy forward pack. I’m sure the warriors will have periods of dominance but so will we. The start is so important though, we need to be so much more switched on than last week.

 

[Yosh]

30 minutes till kick off!! Excited!!

 

[perverse]

We literally lead the comp for tries in the opening 20 minutes

And we play even better footy after that for mine. We lead the comp for tries scored, period.

 

[Haffa]

Brandy tipping the Warriors.

 

[Zoidberg]

Been busy all morning so haven’t been thinking about the game. Ready now and so nervous.

 

[macavity]

Feel like I’m gunna hurl

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

GO THE f**kING KNIGHTS

 

[K-Man]

Let's GO! Do us proud boys. The longer it stays relatively even, the more confident I will get.

 

[Yosh]

What a time to be alive!!!! Go Knights!!!