Match Discussion: Round 19 vs Sydney @ Sunshine Coast Stadium

[Spot On]

seem to have intent, be fitter & full of energy rather than passive & constantly out on their feet like us, we have no footballers
who instinctively know what to do rather than work to some B.S formula & hope for the best. I read this column
all the time & hear about athletes, stats & lots more crap, athletes might have all the physical attributes you would look for, but no mongrel when the game gets tough & no natural instinct or plan B when the game plan goes south. Stats can say whatever you want them to say, open to anyones interpretation but we haven't had a real
footballer in a long, long time.Think of Ben Kennedy, Buderus, Simpson & Joey, they hated losing with a passion &
although they didn't always have a blinder they never stopped competing rather than going out with a whimper,
what's going on in these blokes heads? & after every game its hugs & cuddles for the opposition, big smiles &
pats on the back. What a load of crap! I struggle to name anyone who has pride in the jumper & am sick of all the
excuses trotted out about the injuries, the spine, the difficult week we had. The buck stops with Obrien, not a coach's bootlace, he puts me to sleep with the monotone press conferences & is cut from the same cloth as Brown & Stone who both also had no clue though probably good intentions. Obrien is an assistant who can carry
out instructions from an ideas man like Bellamy & Robinson, not a head coach who inspires those around him.
I have left my final rant until last, Ponga! the guy is physically gifted, but it ends there. Has no appetite to run the
ball back under pressure, just hand it to some other poor sucker to take a belting. Tonights effort was loiter around
the play the ball going into dummy half & occasionally have a half hearted run & defence consists of the occasional
half intercept but seldom ever puts his body on the line to make a try saving tackle. He is one of those players who's deficiencies & mistakes are swept under the carpet, but any thing positive is embellished to the max.
I will be howled down for these comments, so be it & most will say he is carrying injuries, but so have all the
true greats over the years & that's what makes a true great not an imposter, the ability & determination to rise
above all the crap & adversity thrown at them & still have a red hot go. Its all between the ears & in the chest. Unfortunately none of our current mob seems to have those attributes!

Great first post. Keep it up. Welcome.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I know that the best sides are usually the best defensive sides but I actually think out pedestrian attack is really putting heaps of pressure on out D and having a really negative effect in that department.

One of the major problems that I see is that against some of the better sides this year (and even some of the worse ones) we go for long periods of time without troubling the scoreboard or even without any decent attacking field position. Even in a tight contest (which this was up until half time) this means that if we then let in a try at some stage the players know how much harder it is going to be to get back into the contest and it’s almost like we start to panic in D and before you know it we’ve conceded 4 tries in 20 mins and the game is gone. Which is basically what happened last night.

Ultimately we’re not spending enough time on our opponents’ line or in good field position because the way we attack means we have to get down into that part of the field to actually trouble the opposition or hope they make a mistake in yardage to invite us into that part of the field.

Also we are so poor at getting repeat sets because our preferred option seems to be bomb it into a corner despite the fact that we never get a positive result from it.

Here’s a couple of very simple things that we could be doing that would improve our attack and actually make us a dangerous team.

- Our forwards need to offload the ball more, especially when we are between our 20 and the opposition 20. You can turn a fairly average set into a good set with an offload leading to momentum up the middle. Yet it’s like our forwards are coached not to offload, they just never seem to be looking for it.

- Our support runners are basically non existent. The good sides have bodies in motion and runners at angles but we just go one out and one out again etc etc without anyone even trying to hit a hole or support the guy with the ball.

- Put simply, we just refuse to attack at all unless we’re in the 20m zone. We are actually pretty good at getting momentum up the middle but we then don’t spread it wide early enough and usually we spread it one wide to a second rower who takes a routine hitup.

We just look so poorly coached. I genuinely wonder what we actually do during the week.

 

[slotmachine]

It's been said a few times now, we're playing 2016 league in 2021.

 

[Spot On]

Do you believe we have the ‘footy’ players in the squad to play the style needed Slots?

Simply a change in coaching philosophy needed?

 

[slotmachine]

I think we have the players to be a lot better than we are right now.
Or I hope we do, because we're going to have basically the same group next, plus your best mate Gags, and maybe losing one of our only dynamic players too.

I hope the coach doesn't think he's going to have a perfect run with injuries, disruptions and preparation in 2022.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I think we have the players to be a lot better than we are right now.
Or I hope we do, because we're going to have basically the same group next, plus your best mate Gags, and maybe losing one of our only dynamic players too.

I hope the coach doesn't think he's going to have a perfect run with injuries, disruptions and preparation in 2022.

It’s pretty obvious that the coach is trying to improve the squad, but whether he’s doing it by going after the right players I’m not sure. Gags is definitely an upgrade on Mann/Tuala at Centre but we’re still chasing Finucane which feels like less of an upgrade and more of the same. Personally I think they’re going for him more from a space of leadership ability rather than player ability.

 

[Jono078]

It’s pretty obvious that the coach is trying to improve the squad, but whether he’s doing it by going after the right players I’m not sure. Gags is definitely an upgrade on Mann/Tuala at Centre but we’re still chasing Finucane which feels like less of an upgrade and more of the same. Personally I think they’re going for him more from a space of leadership ability rather than player ability.

I think I’ve come to the conclusion it doesn’t really matter who we sign if we are not a well coached side.

there’s only so much a Gagai or Finucane can bring. But if we still look unorganized and can’t finish sets well and don’t have any decoy runners or ability to draw and pass, then what is Finucane really going to do for us?

is Finucane going to make the team train harder? If that’s the case then I say look at Kurt Mann. By all accounts he is a great trainer…

our biggest signings will be in the coaching ranks this off season.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Just on a few of the players imo.

DSaf, JSaf and King all did a good job in the middle.

Watson was causing problems the whole time he was on and should probably start more often.

Phoenix Crossland was absolutely invisible. I thought he had made some progress earlier in the year when he got a few starts on the trot but he’s gone back to being completely un-involved which isn’t how it works if you want to be a halfback.

Dom Young is just a raw kid who is going to be a work in progress for the next couple of years. I look forward to what he does next year after another full pre season. Obviously he’s still got some errors in his game and doesn’t seem to have much match awareness at this stage but I think it’s time to give him a spell and bring Toa in for another go.

Clifford was at least getting his hands on the ball but he wasn’t great either. I’m surprised he didn’t try a variety of kicks but he was relying on the massive bomb up into the wind which didn’t work.

Pretty much everyone else was pretty meh. Ponga wasn’t involved especially on kick returns but maybe understandable given he was injured.

Such a shame as the game was there for the taking, even at half time we were right in the contest.

 

[Spot On]

Just on a few of the players imo.

DSaf, JSaf and King all did a good job in the middle.

Watson was causing problems the whole time he was on and should probably start more often.

Phoenix Crossland was absolutely invisible. I thought he had made some progress earlier in the year when he got a few starts on the trot but he’s gone back to being completely un-involved which isn’t how it works if you want to be a halfback.

Dom Young is just a raw kid who is going to be a work in progress for the next couple of years. I look forward to what he does next year after another full pre season. Obviously he’s still got some errors in his game and doesn’t seem to have much match awareness at this stage but I think it’s time to give him a spell and bring Toa in for another go.

Clifford was at least getting his hands on the ball but he wasn’t great either. I’m surprised he didn’t try a variety of kicks but he was relying on the massive bomb up into the wind which didn’t work.

Pretty much everyone else was pretty meh. Ponga wasn’t involved especially on kick returns but maybe understandable given he was injured.

Such a shame as the game was there for the taking, even at half time we were right in the contest.

Crossland - 27 tackles, 0 misses. Not totally invisible.

No idea what the problem is in attack though. Seems a few weeks in and Clifford is slowly becoming a standard Knights half too.

 

[Old dog]

Crossland has only played 1 game since start of June, missed a few injured then returned for game against Storm, not a good run in for a young and inexperienced half.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Crossland has only played 1 game since start of June, missed a few injured then returned for game against Storm, not a good run in for a young and inexperienced half.

Whilst I agree that there are some factors there, none of that stops him from calling for the ball.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Our biggest issue is the lack of early set punch we get out of our back 5. Aside from Hunt we have either smaller guys who get monstered or tall young guys who need more time in the gym

All the successful teams have wingers and centres who make good yardage and get quick play the balls (To'o, Sivo, Ikavalu, Olam, JAC) coming out of their own end. It puts them on the front foot and creates space for their halves.

Its a huge difference

 

[Yosh]

The stats show that this year the teams that make the most metres with their outside backs, are the teams who are coming 1st to 4th. Basically the more metres your outside backs make, the more games you win.

Can get the reference if you guys want.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Crossland - 27 tackles, 0 misses. Not totally invisible.

No idea what the problem is in attack though. Seems a few weeks in and Clifford is slowly becoming a standard Knights half too.

He defended well, I’ll give him that.