Match Discussion: Round 14 vs Sea Eagles @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[Knight Vision]

I haven't seen anything from Crossland to suggest he's more than a reserve grader at this point. Yet to be convinced. Randall showed more in one game, for sure.

harsh. He's a kid paying his first games of NRL out of position and played 3 games since last year.

Considering the above he's fine for mine and has some touches of class.

It's easy to forget these young boys are on a journey, plenty of mishaps and mistakes to come as they learn but in the end he could have a good NRL career ahead of him.

 

[Knight Vision]

Barnett is our second best forward after klem. Change my mind

Klemmernator certainly makes the mtrs, I'd almost say Barny is the packs spiritual leader.

Watch for the successive tackles in an important set, or under the pump and blowing who's the guy taking the hit up, the guy in the frame making that important tackle or putting a hit on. Barny is hard as nails.

Barny leads the intent of our pack.

I love Klemm, Dsaf, Ponga, Tuala, Guerra etc but for me it's Barny who represents what Newcastle is or should aspire to be. He's red and blue no doubt.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

Anyone feel that Crossland isn't that good from dummy half? Hooker isn't his natural position and it shows. He just looks a bit lost at times and he's not really adding anything to the table so far.

I would give the rookie a spell and go with a straight swap for Randall next week. He's looked comfortable in FG when given an opportunity and hooker is his primary position. The guy will tackle his backside off too.

I wouldn't have Crossland come into dummy half at all. We've got others that fill in there at times. Green can do a bit now.
Crossland is better roaming in the play. For utility value I'd rather Hoy off the bench but still not into dummy half.

 

[perverse]

harsh. He's a kid paying his first games of NRL out of position and played 3 games since last year.

Considering the above he's fine for mine and has some touches of class.

It's easy to forget these young boys are on a journey, plenty of mishaps and mistakes to come as they learn but in the end he could have a good NRL career ahead of him.

I'm not trying to be harsh, I'm just saying he's shown and offered us nothing in first grade thus far, and I think we have better options at the moment. He hasn't been diabolical, but there's just nothing there of note that we've seen yet. I'm waiting to see what the fuss is about, because we're picking him over better options for mine.

 

[Knight Vision]

I'm not trying to be harsh, I'm just saying he's shown and offered us nothing in first grade thus far, and I think we have better options at the moment. He hasn't been diabolical, but there's just nothing there of note that we've seen yet. I'm waiting to see what the fuss is about, because we're picking him over better options for mine.

I also dont get why Randell isnt getting a run. it does highlight a recruitment deficiency, our top 3 options for dummy are half gone and our specialist hooker in the squad cant get a run?

Somethings not right there

If theyre in the Knights squad they should be first grade ready at a moments notice or why bother wasting a spot in the squad

 

[perverse]

I also dont get why Randell isnt getting a run. it does highlight a recruitment deficiency, our top 3 options for dummy are half gone and our specialist hooker in the squad cant get a run?

Somethings not right there

If theyre in the Knights squad they should be first grade ready at a moments notice or why bother wasting a spot in the squad

I can only deduce that it's looking forward to the future, and O'Brien is putting minutes into the players he thinks are going to serve him later. Obviously that's an assumption though, I'd personally have Randall or Hoy in there based on what we've seen this year.

This is one of those ones it's hard to put a reason to without seeing the boys train day in, day out. Of the 10,080 minutes in a players week, we get to see 80 of them. There's a lot of room for all sorts of reasons in the other 10,000.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

I can only deduce that it's looking forward to the future, and O'Brien is putting minutes into the players he thinks are going to serve him later. Obviously that's an assumption though, I'd personally have Randall or Hoy in there based on what we've seen this year.

This is one of those ones it's hard to put a reason to without seeing the boys train day in, day out. Of the 10,080 minutes in a players week, we get to see 80 of them. There's a lot of room for all sorts of reasons in the other 10,000.

I've heard O'Brien mention he needs to think down the track. For sure they need to be ready to some extent but we need to realise that getting into first grade consistently can be a big step.
I reckon we'll blood players a lot but settle more on a 17 as we get closer to the finals.
We'll then have a backup of a few players with at least a bit of NRL experience.

 

[PhilGould]

To be fair Randall was only signed as a development player for this year, only got brought into the top squad due to injuries

 

[Old dog]

Think Crossland will be better when he plays as a half and not hooker, he lacks game time in 9 in any grade. Better with Randall at 14 and Crossland used if injuries occur in half’s. Using Randall at 14/9 gives options of using Mann elsewhere or resting him. Don’t like 3 middles on bench, Jones is better option than King. Don’t want Barnett moved to 2nd row if injury he is our best 13.
For all the worry during game we came up a winner and are now in a strong position to challenge for top 4 with little or no risk of dropping out of 8.

 

[AusKnightRKO]

Bear in mind Lleyton Hewitt was world no.1 for quite some time. I don’t think Mann will ever be considered as one of the NRL’s best players but I get what you’re saying haha.

Funny that you say that actually, I’m a big tennis fan and Hewitt is one of my favourite all time players for that reason, massively over-achieved in his career based on his natural ability but always had a dig and had a habit of winning when he has no right to.

Mann could very well end up being a 150-200 game NRL player which really highlights how tough he is.

It was really hard to find someone who is successful yet not exactly over skilled.

lleyton just came to mind, as a lot of his wins was through pure will to win, that win against Marcus Bag at the Aus open in the early hours was amazing as well.

 

[Zoidberg]

I do understand the Crossland thinking. We want some one on the bench who, if all is going well injury wise, can come on and find gaps in the middle in a tired defence. Watson’s specialty. We probably don’t have another player that does that as well. Phoenix showed some signs of that a few weeks back in his first game of the year but hasn’t really done it again. I don’t think Randall is better off the bench as we need that spark, the quick scooty player who can also fill other positions in the backs in case of injuries.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

I do understand the Crossland thinking. We want some one on the bench who, if all is going well injury wise, can come on and find gaps in the middle in a tired defence. Watson’s specialty. We probably don’t have another player that does that as well.

Sasagi could but i don't know if he'd be ready for first grade yet...

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

Re Crosslands, it's a big call but I'd sooner see him at 6 and Green at 7. I just don't see what Pearce offers right now. I feel he is a liability in many aspects and he should pay for it. How slow and lost he looked during the intercept play really highlights where he's at right now imo.

 

[mozza91]

Re Crosslands, it's a big call but I'd sooner see him at 6 and Green at 7. I just don't see what Pearce offers right now. I feel he is a liability in many aspects and he should pay for it. How slow and lost he looked during the intercept play really highlights where he's at right now imo.

Yeah taking an intercept in our half, up by
2 with 3 minutes left was a terrible play.

 

[Yosh]

Just caught up from page 3 of the thread and it reads like the inner dialougue of a self loathing sociopath serial killer with daddy issues. Up down, up down, jubilation to suicidal in an instant haha.

Good to get the win. Was terrible as always but least got the win. Two or three less forward passes, a repeat set or two and we win that by 30.

We seem to make very little errors, force the opposition to make mistakes but can't capitalize at all. Against the Storm or Roosters, you make a mistake in your half or give away a bad penalty and they'll score or get a repeat set 9/10 times.

 

[Alex28]

harsh. He's a kid paying his first games of NRL out of position and played 3 games since last year.

Unrealistic expectations really is par for the course here to be fair.

 

[Yosh]

On a side note, Jake Trbojevic is a gun. Simply amazing. Barnett was passing a bit today, threw an absolute hospital pass to Jacob (owes him a few beers for that one) but was trying to play make as our lock. Hopefully we see it continue to develop because it's a dangerous weapon for a middle forward to ball play these day.

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

Yeah taking an intercept in our half, up by
2 with 3 minutes left was a terrible play.

It was a good play indeed but a better/in form player turns it into a try. The bloke just has zero vision and looks panicked most of the time imo.

 

[Alex28]

It was a good play indeed but a better/in form player turns it into a try. The bloke just has zero vision and looks panicked most of the time imo.

He didn’t need to do anything dumb at that time. He needed to hold onto the ball and get as far down the field as he could. A couple of minutes and 5 more plays to soak the time up.

I’m glad he didn’t try anything other than that.

He played fine today, and we won the game. That’s still not enough for some of you.

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

He didn’t need to do anything dumb at that time. He needed to hold onto the ball and get as far down the field as he could. A couple of minutes and 5 more plays to soak the time up.

I’m glad he didn’t try anything other than that.

He played fine today, and we won the game. That’s still not enough for some of you.

I'm just looking for areas for improvement. Not happy to rest on laurels, particularly when we don't play even close to our potential. Given the situation, Manly were the better side and probably deserved to win today.

I didn't like the way we went away from the attacking depth of last week. Realistically, we should have won this game by a comfortable margin.