Match Discussion: Round 11 vs Bulldogs @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[League Unlimited News]

NRL 2020 - Round 11
Newcastle Knights v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
McDonald Jones Stadium, New Lambton
Sunday 26 July 2020

Kickoff 2:00pm - Fox/Kayo

1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Enari Tuala 3. Tautau Moga 4. Bradman Best 5. Hymel Hunt 6. Kurt Mann 7. Mitchell Pearce 8. David Klemmer 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Jacob Saifiti 11. Lachlan Fitzgibbon 12. Aidan Guerra 13. Herman Ese'ese
Interchange: 14. Connor Watson 15. Mitchell Barnett 16. Pasami Saulo 17. Sione Mata'utia 18. Tex Hoy 19. Josh King 20. Phoenix Crossland 21. Gehamat Shibasaki

1. Nick Meaney 2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 3. Kerrod Holland 4. Jake Averillo 5. Marcelo Montoya 6. Kieran Foran 7. Lachlan Lewis 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Jeremy Marshall-King 10. Dylan Napa 11. Josh Jackson 12. Raymond Faitala-Mariner 13. Luke Thompson
Interchange: 14. Brandon Wakeham 15. Sione Katoa 16. Renouf To'omaga 17. Ofahiki Ogden 19. Dean Britt 20. Reimis Smith 21. Chris Smith 22. Jack Cogger

Referees: Matt Cecchin
Sideline Officials: Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski, Kasey Badger
Video Referees: Steve Chiddy, Bryan Norrie

​

 

[Yosh]

Surely us by 50.

 

[Silent Knight]

No such thing as an easy NRL game. I expect us to run hard and remain committed in defence.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

I expect us to win this and win it well. Hopefully we don't go into the game with the mindset we had against Cowboys..

 

[Rodney Rude]

This game has scarred me from previous encounters. In the last 2 home games against this mob, we have been expected to win and win well but has not been the case going down both times. Infact, we haven’t beaten the Dogs at home since 2013.

If we start well and maintain it we will win easily but if we aren’t on our game they will get us again.

Danger game this one and one we can’t afford to lose given the fact that 20 points will probably be enough to make the 8 this year so games like these we need to take advantage of

 

[Zoidberg]

Yeah, I really hope the cowboys game was a big lesson learnt from us. I guess we haven’t had a game since then when we’ve gone in with the wrong attitude, but we also haven’t had a game since then where we will (no doubt) start as big favourites.

 

[Jono078]

I'll be annoyed if we don't win this 32-6

 

[mozza91]

I'll be annoyed if we don't win this 32-6

What about 52-6?

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

I'll be annoyed if we don't win this 32-6

What about 32-0?

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

They played quite well this week and have showed some improvement. No game in this comp should be viewed as an easy win. Even if we go in determined there could be mental complacency.
We need to approach this knowing how we need to improve and sticking to a game plan with the focus on defence.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

This game has scarred me from previous encounters. In the last 2 home games against this mob, we have been expected to win and win well but has not been the case going down both times. Infact, we haven’t beaten the Dogs at home since 2013.

If we start well and maintain it we will win easily but if we aren’t on our game they will get us again.

Danger game this one and one we can’t afford to lose given the fact that 20 points will probably be enough to make the 8 this year so games like these we need to take advantage of

I feel like the bulldogs have been a bogey side for us for a while now. They are good at turning a game into a bit of a scrap and we’ve definitely proven over and over that we don’t handle expectations very well. Besides the Dogs look pretty hungry for a win at the moment so I expect them to rip in. If we are committed and play for 80 I can see the score blowing out in our favour late in the game and we could win by 20-30 but if we are sloppy and let them drag us into a war then it could get very tight and I could even see them beating us.

 

[Still Nutty]

We need to build on what we did to Souths last week - and that means controlling the game like we did for the first 65 minutes and then going on with it for the last 15.

We showed in that first 60 plus minutes that we are capable of controlling a game, executing a game plan and hanging tough defensively when we need to.

This is where it is up to Obi to get our processes right, so that it is not a need for us to be 'up' for the games we should win - our processes should have us up to consistently deliver our best for EVERY game, no matter the opposition.

That is what the top four teams do consistently and we are definitely being trained via the Bellamy/Robinson school to emulate that - I know we are still a work in progress but our aim should be learning to consistently replicate a proven process and these games will take care of themselves.

For me and this team, our next big lesson is to learn how to control the tempo of a game and this falls largely on Pearce and probably McCullough. The frantic pace we allowed to be played that last 15 against Souths was the biggest learning we need to take out of last week, particularly when we were in possession - our last set of six, to close out that game took 30 seconds before Pearce speared it over the sideline - that is just ridiculous when you are trying to close a game out?!

The best current players at controlling the tempo of a game are DCE and Cam Smith, who is the best I've ever seen and one of the critical reasons why the Storm are consistently a top 4 team - it is not something that comes naturally to Pearce but he needs to develop this to take his game and this team to the next level.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

Toohey has said Josh King is a chance of featuring in this week's game off the bench

https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/...-knights-bench-role-against-bulldogs/?cs=2503

 

[Knight Vision]

NRL Teams video, Noddy's comments are interesting ( starts around 32 min 50 sec ) , "Knights could go on to win the comp"

https://www.nrl.com/tv/shows/nrl-teams/2020/round-11/

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

O'Brien on the game. I reckon Barnett might start.
https://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news/2020/07/25/aob-dogs-prep-possible-changes-dsaf-injury/

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

For me and this team, our next big lesson is to learn how to control the tempo of a game and this falls largely on Pearce and probably McCullough. The frantic pace we allowed to be played that last 15 against Souths was the biggest learning we need to take out of last week, particularly when we were in possession

This is spot on. Ponga even mentioned we needed to 'take a breath'. We were sucked into playing at their tempo in attack and to push things towards the end. We needed to control the game.

 

[Frederick]

Not gonna be a pretty game today...

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

Rain going to benefit the Bulldogs more than us. Suddenly this is a danger game.

 

[Burwood]

Think the rain is a good thing for us- our strength this year has been our middle forwards, most of our line breaks have been from punching through the middle, plus we generally have good ball control and a high completion rate. I think they’ll be more concerned about Ponga and Watson then we’ll be about any of their threats.

The question is, are they clever enough to stick to their strengths and what works best, or are they going to throw the ball around and play dumb footy?

 

[Silent Knight]

Yeah I don’t think we’ve been a flashy team this year. Obi has put a bit of a grind mentality into our squad and I don’t think the rain will affect us as much as it has in the past, knock on wood.

We won’t win by a lot, but if our forward pack does its usual job, that will be enough to get the 2 points.