Match Discussion: Round 11 vs Roosters @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[League Unlimited News]

NRL 2019 - Round 11
Newcastle Knights v Sydney Roosters
McDonald Jones Stadium, New Lambton (TICKETS)
Friday 24 May 2019

Gates 5:30pm / Canterbury Cup 5:40pm / NRL 7:55pm

1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Edrick Lee 3. Hymel Hunt 4. Jesse Ramien 5. Shaun Kenny-Dowall 6. Connor Watson 7. Mitchell Pearce 8. David Klemmer 9. Danny Levi 10. Daniel Saifiti 11. Lachlan Fitzgibbon 12. Mitchell Barnett 13. Tim Glasby
Interchange: 14. Kurt Mann 15. Herman Ese'ese 16. James Gavet 17. Sione Mata'utia 18. Josh King 19. Pasami Saulo 20. Jamie Buhrer 21. Mason Lino

1. James Tedesco 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Latrell Mitchell 4. Joseph Manu 5. Matt Ikuvalu 6. Luke Keary 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 9. Victor Radley 10. Siosiua Taukeiaho 11. Boyd Cordner 12. Angus Crichton 13. Isaac Liu
Interchange: 14. Nat Butcher 15. Zane Tetevano 16. Sitili Tupouniua 17. Mitchell Aubusson 18. Lindsay Collins 19. Ryan Hall 20. Josh Curran 21. Brock Lamb

Referees: Ben Cummins, Peter Gough
Sideline Officials: Belinda Sharpe, Michael Wise
Video Referees: Steve Chiddy, Bryan Norrie

Feeder club info
Knights: Newcastle Knights (NSWRL: Canterbury Cup, Jersey Flegg Cup U20s)
Roosters: North Sydney Bears (NSWRL: Canterbury Cup), Sydney Roosters (NSWRL: Jersey Flegg Cup U20s)
Match information for all competitions via https://leagueunlimited.com/quick-links​​​

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

I hope Klemmer destroys this f**kwit

 

[Yosh]

In form Pearce is in, he will get three try assists, two tries and 500 kick metres. We will win by 14.

 

[Silent Knight]

I smell an ambush.

 

[Knight Vision]

I smell an ambush.

yeh they just got beat this weekend and will be in the mood for a rumble. Our forwards will need to be at their angriest and be prepared to get down and dirty.

 

[Knight76]

Our forwards will need to be at their angriest

Well that rules Dsaf out.

 

[Knight Vision]

Well that rules Dsaf out.

some good old Roy Masters face slapping before the game is what D saf needs. Had some good moments today though.

 

[Zoidberg]

It kinda annoyed me when the Broncos beat the chooks this past round, I could see they were getting closer to a loss and hoping they saved it for us. Still, it means they will be more switched on and even more of a test for us to see where we are at.

 

[Haffa]

A high profile win on our first channel 9 game (I’ll still watch on Kayo) this year would be beyond brilliant.

 

[Frederick]

A high profile win on our first channel 9 game (I’ll still watch on Kayo) this year would be beyond brilliant.

Isn't it our second? Didn't we have a 4pm Sunday game on Anzac round?

 

[Haffa]

Isn't it our second? Didn't we have a 4pm Sunday game on Anzac round?

Yep, you're right. I'll roll with first friday night on 9 instead.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

The next 3 games are going to be season defining for us. We can’t afford to go 0-3 against Roosters, Souffs and Storm. If we can win one of these 3 games I’ll take that as a pass mark, 2 would be great and 3 would be a wet dream. Realistically the Roosters game is our best chance because we’re at home and playing in a decent Friday night time slot for once so there should be a massive crowd there to support the boys.

Also over the past decade whenever we’ve come up against one of these top sides it’s usually on the back of some really inconsistent form and we tend to get smashed because we just don’t have the confidence or belief that we’re going to win. Whereas this time we’re actually coming into it with a 4 match winning run and they’ve all been pretty strong wins as well so the confidence should be up. It’s a massive challenge to play these 3 sides consecutively but if we’re able to get up over the Roosters which is bound to be a physical match then we’ve then got the bye which will come at the right time so the boys get a break and a chance to freshen up before we take on the other two.

Realistically this is the best chance that we’ve got to beat these sides because we’re actually taking them on at a time when we’re in form. It might sound strange but I’m sort of glad that our season has gone the way it has so far. I know that we’re 5-5 and could easily be 7-3 or even 8-2 if we’d been switched on a bit earlier but I’d rather that we put 4 consecutive wins on the board rather than go win-loss-win-loss-win-loss etc because at least it shows that we’ve learned some big lessons from the way we played over those first 6 rounds and it seems like the team has a good understanding of what they need to do consistently to be a quality NRL team. Replicating that against the top sides is our big test now, hopefully we see the boys produce their best.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

I'm calling it now, Pearce field goal to beat his old club.

 

[Swarzey]

If I'm Brown, I'm selling these next three games as the biggest and most important games of not just this season, but in the careers of the younger talent and especially in the careers of Danny Levi, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Sione Mata'utia, Josh King if he's in, anyone who is left standing after the three wooden spoons. This is where they prove that they belong in the NRL, that they can stand up against the best and hold their heads high. This is streak of games is where we prove that the Knights can even just compete against the best and perhaps even beat the best. There's still this underlying expectation that we're not good enough to be in the top 8, let alone having even the slightest chance at the title; we can silence any remaining critic over the next month - that includes myself.

We had a tremendous game against the Roosters last year; one you could argue we could have won had Pearce not been injured. We're riding high on momentum and the Roosters are coming off the back of a loss and also two weeks traveling back and forth between Sydney and Brisbane. We could potentially get the win but I'm not overly concerned about winning, I just want the team to prove to the league that we're no longer afterthoughts.

 

[Knight Vision]

My heart says a win but my head says we will get a wake up call over the next 3 games. Coming up against sides with loads of rep stars and systems that have been in place for years.

Short turn around and the Roosters coming off a loss, Cronks announcement .....

Our 4 game run has been against lower class sides or ones badly out of form.

Maybe the Bunnies will be due a loss after our bye but I dont see us having any chance of beating the Rooster sombrero any time soon unless Wests can muster up a few 3rd parties in the background and we can add to the squad.

 

[Burwood]

This is a danger game for Pearce- players facing their old club can either have a blinder (happened to me in U10s basketball), or try way too hard and overplay their hand.

Is it Ramien up against Latrell? Great audition if he wants to get his name put forward for Origin. Expecting some niggle and a bit of extra feeling from Ramien.

 

[Yosh]

This is a danger game for Pearce- players facing their old club can either have a blinder (happened to me in U10s basketball), or try way too hard and overplay their hand.

Is it Ramien up against Latrell? Great audition if he wants to get his name put forward for Origin. Expecting some niggle and a bit of extra feeling from Ramien.

Ramien will line up against Latrell? That's gonna be juicy. Ramien is one strong boy. They way he can smash opposing centres and drag them out as well. Gonna be a classic even if Ramien doesn't get as much early ball as Latrell.

 

[SamSepi0l]

Realistically we go 0-3 in vs Souths, Roosters and Storm.

Being upset with that is being blinded by fandom.

The competition this year is those 3 vs injuries.
We'll start all games as underdogs and rightly so.
We're expected to lose because they're better teams this year and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Spot On]

Realistically we go 0-3 in vs Souths, Roosters and Storm.

Being upset with that is being blinded by fandom.

The competition this year is those 3 vs injuries.
We'll start all games as underdogs and rightly so.
We're expected to lose because they're better teams this year and there's nothing wrong with that.

Do you believe we should not beat those teams due to difference in playing roster this season??? If so, how many new recruits and which positions do we need to strengthen to beat the top clubs and finish in the top 4???

For the record, Sharks and Manly at full strength will be as formidable as Rabbits, Rooster and Mlb imo. Maybe Brisbane could be added to that list too if they improve on what we saw Friday night.

 

[SamSepi0l]

Do you believe we should not beat those teams due to difference in playing roster this season??? If so, how many new recruits and which positions do we need to strengthen to beat the top clubs and finish in the top 4???

For the record, Sharks and Manly at full strength will be as formidable as Rabbits, Rooster and Mlb imo. Maybe Brisbane could be added to that list too if they improve on what we saw Friday night.

Correct.
I believe those 3 are above any others. A shade above the Raiders who lack a tiny bit of polish in the halves which George Williams is hoped to fix.

I think the Roosters have the best fullback, centre, five eighth and half, potentially best front row too.

I think Souths have on form the second best halves pairing, the best number 9, and a top 3 forward who can play middle and edge as well as on form a top 10 middle in Murray.

As much as it hurts to say, imo, the Storm have the best player in history and a top 5 all time coach. They also have a representative standard 2-6, 8, 10 (Welch), 11 (though down on form) and 13.

I think at our very best we're competitive with the Raiders, Broncos, Manly and Sharks.

I think it's naive to think any team is capable of winning the comp in any year. You can generally narrow it down to 3-4 before a ball is kicked and the rest comes down to injuries. We were never going to win this year and I can't see why we'd think we could.

I would like to see us get to a point where Barnett is a bench player and have strike on an edge.
Levi would also need to continue his career best form. If he can't (and we shouldn't expect he can) then number 9 is the priority.

We're a huge step away from the team of the past few years, but that doesn't put us in top 3-4 bracket.