Match Discussion: Round 11 vs Bulldogs @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[Alex28]

This club has been living off excuses for many years now... enough is enough

Agree, but how does a guy change a culture of excuse which has run for the entire time of existence in a few months?

The Knights have always had an excuse. Even when we won it was in spite of something. It was always against the odds.

AOB is doing his best to do that, but it will take time. Him telling them that they hadn’t earned the right to be complacent is one of the strongest things I’ve seen from a Knights coach in a long time.

 

[Knight76]

Agree, but how does a guy change a culture of excuse which has run for the entire time of existence in a few months?

The Knights have always had an excuse. Even when we won it was in spite of something. It was always against the odds.

AOB is doing his best to do that, but it will take time. Him telling them that they hadn’t earned the right to be complacent is one of the strongest things I’ve seen from a Knights coach in a long time.

Coach takes a hard stance, draws a line in the sand right now, and says anybody not putting in gets dropped I dont care who they are.

If that stance gets him sacked ob will find a role elsewhere.

Oh, and blaming the rain for Pearce kicking game is a lol. He kicks shithouse in all weather.

 

[Old dog]

It’s not the amount of kicks by Pearce but the quality, kick should be to score a try or get ball back from dropout. Too many into opposition players giving no chance for either

 

[Yosh]

Why we even debating this? Pearce sucks in attacking situations. Great defender though. Don't mind him being in the team but I want our number option in attack to be Ponga or Mann. Just want the ball to go to them first and then Pearce.

 

[Tom155]

Perhaps I’m realistic and not being over dramatic?

lol good one, complete opposite of fact & truth but a good one. Your head in the sand attitude is ridiculous.

 

[Apey]

Haha Pearce got comprehensively outkicked and outplayed by Foran and Lewis in the same conditions.

 

[Knight Vision]

Agree, but how does a guy change a culture of excuse which has run for the entire time of existence in a few months?

The culture of a club never remains the same, different players, different coaching staff different owners, different centuries.

Andrew Webster recently completed an article on coaching generations. What's interesting is the comments on how this generation of players react to criticism ( Wok and Goulds comments )

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sp...y-shaped-the-modern-game-20200709-p55adh.html

Anyone seen Pearce's interviews of late? Note how he bristles at even a remote form of critique ? even softball questions from Barry Toohey ? That's an insight into the soft underbelly of our team ..............that is its leader - Mitchell Pearce

 

[Alex28]

lol good one, complete opposite of fact & truth but a good one. Your head in the sand attitude is ridiculous.

Or, am I a bit sick of bitching about the team for the last 17 years, accepting that what we want will not only not happen, but probably wouldn’t work, and just getting on with supporting a team that wants to be better and is showing signs of doing so?

 

[Silent Knight]

Why we even debating this? Pearce sucks in attacking situations. Great defender though. Don't mind him being in the team but I want our number option in attack to be Ponga or Mann. Just want the ball to go to them first and then Pearce.

You’re entitled to your opinion Yosh but the fact of the matter is Ponga and Mann can’t nor shouldn’t be our number one option in attack. Pearce is our first receiver, our highly paid general who is supposed to coordinate our attack in the red zone. He decides who the ball goes to, he’s meant to count the numbers and decide on whether to go left or right, long or short. His main job is to build pressure and set up tries and he’s not doing that. All he was capable of doing yesterday was throwing a flat and predictable pass to Fitzy and kicking the ball straight at defenders and killing off any momentum we were trying to build.

 

[Spot On]

Curious to know - did Cleary and Cherry-Evans play when 60mm fell during the game?

I mean, I might be looking for excuses, but there were some excuses. Over two inches of rain, 2 hookers injured...

Previous round...

Knights - 22 kicks, Pearce took 13 of them.

Penrith - 24 kicks, Cleary made 19 of them.

Manly - 23 kicks and Cherry put the boot to 18 of those.

How on earth are Cherry and Cleary managing to get a kick away when everyone knows they are going to be kicking most of the time??

The excuses for Pearce must stop.

If anything, a million dollar half should be kicking more.

 

[aqua_duck]

Previous round...

Knights - 22 kicks, Pearce took 13 of them.

Penrith - 24 kicks, Cleary made 19 of them.

Manly - 23 kicks and Cherry put the boot to 18 of those.

How on earth are Cherry and Cleary managing to get a kick away when everyone knows they ate doing the bulk of the kicking??? Much more thsn Pearce.

The excuses for Pearce must stop.

If anything, a million dollar half should be kicking more.

Yep and if it was just yesterday, it's a skill thing, he's never had a great short kicking game even at the roosters, it's just gotten worse now

 

[Alex28]

Previous round...

Knights - 22 kicks, Pearce took 13 of them.

Penrith - 24 kicks, Cleary made 19 of them.

Manly - 23 kicks and Cherry put the boot to 18 of those.

How on earth are Cherry and Cleary managing to get a kick away when everyone knows they ate doing the bulk of the kicking??? Much more thsn Pearce.

The excuses for Pearce must stop.

If anything, a million dollar half should be kicking more.

* not a million dollar half.

 

[Spot On]

* not a million dollar half.

Agreed. Not worth half that (pardon the pun).

You seemed to have overlooked last week's kicking numbers ... and it wasn't wet.

 

[Alex28]

Agreed. Not worth half that (pardon the pun).

You seemed to have overlooked last week's kicking numbers ... and it wasn't wet.

The game we won? Cool.

We are about to re-sign him for another few years, so get used to more bitching and whinging!

 

[Spot On]

The problem is the defence knows if they target Pearce on the 5th, 90% of the time they shut us down. We aren’t getting it to Mann, Ponga gets it occasionally but not regularly, our Hooker options aren’t good enough to make a play. That’s why Pearce continuously kicked into players legs on the 5th yesterday - the opposition knew that’s all we had.

We need someone better at 6 to help him. All good halfbacks have another option beside him to give him some space to do his thing.

Again, as pointed out above, Pearce is not kicking nearly as much as Cleary and Cherry. It is definitely NOT 90% of the time. Barely 50%.

 

[Burwood]

Are players somehow coached defensively how to make the opposition halfback kick it into their legs rather than allowing the ball to find space? Is this some magic tactic that only works on Pearce and not other players in the NRL?

Not sure if it was mentioned previously, but Ponga went from one extreme to another in the game yesterday. He’s been criticised at times this year for not running the ball enough on returns, and against the Bulldogs he ran for 190m+ in the first half alone. He looked completely gassed in the 2nd half.

 

[Knight Vision]

The game we won? Cool.

We are about to re-sign him for another few years, so get used to more bitching and whinging!

I've got nothing against signing him. He's still one of the better halves in the competition .....he just isnt the man ( alone) to lead us to the promised premiership land.

As I've said before the Rorters knew to put another half alongside him. So should we.

This "running 5/8 " idea is all fine and dandy when it's a flat track and the rub is going our way.

When it isnt we are getting found out big time.

 

[Spot On]

The player needed at 5/8 is not going to cone cheaply. He must be quality will all the skills needed to support Pearce ie run, pass, kick, vision, create, defend. Not a part timer, not a rookie but a genuine 5/8.

Now unless Crosslands is an absolute gun, we are going to pay big dollars for the player we need to partner Pearce and compliment him and his attacking shortcomings ie lack of vision, passing game, short kicking, footy smarts.

Would we have the cash for that type of purchase or do we go back to giving Ponga another crack there under O'Brien and put Hoy to 1?

 

[slotmachine]

I don't get the attraction with hoy tbh.
Might end up an ok player but seems to be an energy guy like Watson or Mann rather than particularly classy

What's his role long term? 14 if Watson can't stay healthy?

 

[Yosh]

I don't get the attraction with hoy tbh.
Might end up an ok player but seems to be an energy guy like Watson or Mann rather than particularly classy

What's his role long term? 14 if Watson can't stay healthy?

I thought he was a fullback? The Storm do great at creating utility players, perhaps Obi is trying to do the same?