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Match Discussion: Round 15 vs Warriors @ McDonald Jones Stadium

Who will win? Round 15: Newcastle v Warriors

  • Newcastle Knights 13+

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • Newcastle Knights 1-12

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Draw after Golden Point

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Warriors 1-12

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Warriors 13+

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    3
  • Poll closed .

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,787
Hard to tell until they are all on the park together. The only non-spine player might be Dan, but we have other quality props in the squad to pick up the slack.
 
Messages
3,673
Wouldn't mind a solid debate on this forum about who our 3 most important players are.

Ponga - despite some flaws that bother me on occasions, this is undeniable.
Pearce - once again there are clear flaws but it's the intangibles that are important with what he brings to the team

Who's next? Is it Clifford? Is it one of the captains?
Brailey has to be in the mix. For years we've had complaints about our 9 and now he has made it his own and consistently plays well.
 
Messages
1,939
Wouldn't mind a solid debate on this forum about who our 3 most important players are.

Ponga - despite some flaws that bother me on occasions, this is undeniable.
Pearce - once again there are clear flaws but it's the intangibles that are important with what he brings to the team

Who's next? Is it Clifford? Is it one of the captains?
Both Saifitis are up there. Without them we don't make much impact in the middle.
 

Knight76

Juniors
Messages
2,044
My top3 most important players to the result are Ponga, Clifford and Brailey.

Pearce would be 4th.

Based on the effect on our chances of winning if they were out. Ponga is top of the heap as he is where our points come from simple as that, Clifford next as his kicking game is well beyond anything Pearce, or any other half, can achieve. Without that we struggle in the arm wrestle, and Brailey for his service.
 

perverse

Referee
Messages
25,982
ponga
brailey
clifford or pearce
It's pretty much this for me as well. Ponga speaks for himself, Brailey's service game alone can't be replaced, let alone his defence in the middle and his effort area stuff. Clifford and Pearce I can't split - Cliffords kicking game has added a whole new dimension to the team - but we definitely looked like we knew what we were doing again against the Warriors (even if our game plan is just generally basic and lacking, we stuck to it), and it's not hard to see Pearces effect in that area. He makes us look more like a team and less like a group of lost individuals. His effort and intensity is always first class, too. Clifford (or another half) will hopefully be able to provide that in time, but for now Pearce is miles our best in those departments. The early signs with Pearce and Clifford are actually very promising to me, where one lacks - the other excels. Only 1 game so far, but they seem like good foils for each other.

I mean it doesn't seem like a newsflash that our spine are our most important players. Our quality in the forwards means we can generally cover losses there well enough that it doesn't devastate our chances of winning. Our outside backs pretty much all suck bar Hunt and I guess Best, although he's having a horrid case of 2nd year syndrome, not to mention his ongoing and persistent injury worries.
 

Yosh

Coach
Messages
11,320
I think with Best it's a case of our halves not getting him any good ball in space. Opposition teams know that once Best gets a bit of momentum he is super hard to stop, so they shut him down immediately or as he is getting the ball.

There is also no other threat down that side. Fitz and Musgrove were never going to be any danger with the ball in hand. Once we get Ponga back and Best is fit again, I have no doubt Best will start killing it.

I have been thinking about the TPJ thing a while now. If we want to get the best out of Best, maybe we need to sign TPJ and park him on our left side. TPJ and Best running off Ponga is going to be a danger to any side in the competition.
 

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,787
It’s so frustrating to watch Best play game after game and having zero impact through no fault of his own. You’d think the coaching staff would be thinking of creative ways to get him involved as much as possible.

Why couldn’t he slot into fullback when the opposition are kicking from inside their own half? Imagine him returning the ball with a 10-20m head of steam, rather than being gang tackled by 4 forwards on the 2nd tackle.

I have a footy IQ of around 58, so not sure why a coaching staff full of supposedly very intelligent people can’t think of a single way.
 

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