Match Discussion: Round 24 vs Cronulla @ PointsBet Stadium, Woolooware / Dharawal

[Zoidberg]

Wait, was that golden point ? I honestly can't even remember

Feels like forever ago

 

[Reflector]

If I remember rightly it's the worst record in the NRL since GP was introduced

Not really surprising when you think about it-

Golden point was introduced in 2003, which coincided with the Knights decline from a near annual top 4 side into pretty much what the club has been ever since. You could only really list two seasons in the 20+ years since where Newcastle looked like a team who had what it took to go all the way in the finals

2006 (Joey's last full season) and 2009 (until Brian Smith was snapped up by a club whose board understand how running a successful football team actually works. Lo and behold, Smith took that side from the wooden spooners to a GF in a single season).

2011, 2020, 2021 by contrast were all a pass-mark at best, a Raideresque week 1 finals exit. 2013 and 2023 were really just the story of peaking for 2 months near the end of each season. Lighting in a bottle. Every other club (bar maybe the Titans) over the past two decades has enjoyed longer periods of being a genuinely good team - even the Tigers.

It also reveals the lack of a real clutch-player since Joey retired. Ponga is getting paid big bucks to be that guy, yet when it's golden point and the opportunity is right there, the ball is going to Crossland on the other side of the ruck to try and snap a match-winning field goal instead of the guy who already slotted one that should've stood were it not for Super Sutton...

 

[Rod]

A few disorganised thoughts...

- McCarthy - shaky start but came good. Already a better option than Maps, which is encouraging. Made a lot of great tackles on Ramien.
- Crossland - worst game since the dark years. Truly shithouse.
- What's happened to Leo? 6 runs for 37 metres... throw in 6 missed tackles and 3 ineffective for good measure. Terrible tonight.
- Friz is a hero without a cape.
- Kalyn still struggling to get involved in matches, has a lot to do with those around him, but for 1.4m - you have to be the man.
- Hetherington is a big dumb idiot, and our second worst offender tonight after Phoenix
- We have no halfback.
- Adam Elliott has been great for us lately and was huge tonight. Didn't do as well as a distributer, but took a lot of tough carries and made good contact in D.
- Brodie Jones is not much of a footballer.
- Challenging kicks is a good thing and we should have been doing it since forever.
- Gags was huge but god he'd want that last linebreak he made back again.

Good points. I'm glad someone brought up Leo, he's had a pretty rough second half of the season actually. I'm sure he'll be fine but certainly noticed the drop off since he was looking like one of the better props in the whole comp.

In terms of the bin, I don't have much of an issue with it in principle. Too often teams get away with doing whatever they want in that situation because 6 agains aren't a huge punishment in the last minute of the half. The problem, like heaps of NRL reffing at the moment, is the inconsistency. Teams like Melbourne and the Roosters get away with murder in those situations without getting a player in the bin (remember earlier this year Crichton lying on Ponga for an eternity after he'd made a break?).

 

[Nuke]

I also thought this as it happened, but then remembered it was this very ground where Scam Smith got marched for the first time ever back in 2018.

Was just glad I watched todays' game on Fox, saved hearing Gus go on about The Bermuda Triangle every 10 minutes...

Gus wasn't actually part of the telecast today, but the girl whose name I've temporarily forgotten just now (the one who filled in for James Bracey on 100% Footy about a month ago or so) must have mentioned the Bermuda Triangle a dozen or so times instead.

 

[Nuke]

Technically that wasn’t golden point…

Ah, good point. 'Extra time', not GP.