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

[perverse]

Being one of the very few who goes against the “sky is falling” mentality here, and not scared to voice it, what suggests I am remotely worried about being criticised for it?

If I was worried, I would have left here years ago. I don’t care about not being one of the sheep.

Naw, you're so brave! lol.

I think you're all taking this far too seriously. I made a toothy blowjob joke with my tongue firmly in cheek, and Alex got his panties in a twist (after being the aggressor taking little pot shots at Haffa and Woody earlier in the thread). That's about the sum of it. We are allowed to be cynical after 2 decades of routine failure. Get the stick out of your arse and have fun with it. Dare to have a laugh at yourself.

For a lot of us, the cynicism is a coping mechanism for all the disappointment. I think we all broadly understand this and have fun with it. I don't really understand what this "being challenged" is all about, but it's super cringe.

 

[perverse]

I still think we're more than capable of being a top 6 side every season. The biggest change we need to make is getting rid of AOB.

I've said it for years, but it's Pareto's Law: moving him on will move the needle the most. I'm not saying there's a definite better candidate out there, but there's nothing worse than a coach playing negative football, trying to grind out narrow losses. There's absolutely no advantage in not contesting kicks. Remember when we would always run one-out from the ruck for 75 minutes of the game? He seems to be moving away from that, but I don't want to wait around for him to understand that challenging kicks is beneficial for the team.

We do need a good middle forward. Dan should go, and Leo is rocks and diamonds for some reason. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head, but JWH would have been perfect. I'd also move Frizz into the middle and start him in the front row. KPP to the right and Lucas on the left. Lucas would actually be a great option for the short ball we love to play so much. He has a great step before the line and is an effective hole runner. KPP should be encouraged to use his offloads every time he gets the ball and should be our first target for bombs.

I'm personally a Crossland fan, but a halfback he ain't. Play Gamble on the left and Pryce on the right. Keep the Poms together. Rotate Crossland/Brailey in the middle, and Ponga should get the ball at least twice a set, even when we're coming out of our own end. That should be our first instruction.

We have excellent outside backs in Best, Gagai, Sharpe, and Marzhew, who is awesome out of our own end. McCarthy looked like a great prospect over the weekend as well.

All in all, the club looks set for a big shift in the right direction. Get AOB out of here and put McDermott in charge.

Halfback is the main key... I think the rest is almost academic if we can't fix that. I am encouraged by a lot of things in our squad, but the halves are a massive question mark with no clear solution. Even on the off chance we get Pezet, he's no guarenteed silver bullet either.

A season without endless injuries to key personnel would be pretty cool, too.

 

[perverse]

I see it from both sides. I'm normally an optimist and think we're at least a chance most weeks. If we're mathematically still a chance of making the 8 then I'll still cheer for that over hoping we lose as some sort of punishment or payback on the team.

It's not about payback or punishment, it's about limping over the line to a "pass mark" versus shining a light on issues to actually get them fixed. It's about signing our coach to a 12 month extension versus a 3 year golden handjob for a run of 10 good games.

When we have major issues in the team but paper over the cracks, the problems just fester. It's not about punishment as much as fixing things. I'd very much not like to limp along in that grey space from 7th to 14th for the next 3-5 more years while we still have Ponga. I'd like to succeed - like actually succeed. Like the good old days when we were literally kids.

The rest of your post, agreed wholeheartedly.

 

[Haffa]

I’d settle for a run of form similar to the dogs. Where we look like we are capable of having a genuine crack at the title if the cards fall our way this season with the knowledge that we are bringing in some decent players next season.

Cynicism and being a Knights fan should go hand in hand. If anyone actually took the club seriously anymore they’d be committed by now.

 

[Apey]

Yeah the whole being 'happy about losing' is just a short-term pain for long-term gain thing. Fans like Alex seem ecstatic with the idea of, on average, being a 7th - 10th place side for the rest of our of natural lives. Which is exactly where we continue to dwell if we are content with doing so.

We've been an absolute dire team to watch in 2024. I've left early from multiple games this year, and I'd say I've attended at least 90% of our home games since 2006 (excluding the covid games where nobody could attend). I reckon I'd leave one game a year early on average. We've never played a more boring and negative style of footy, and no doubt that is emphasised by the fact that last year we were one of the most exciting teams to watch.

Outside a few stalwarts (Ponga, Best, Gagai when he's on) and a new kid on the block (Sharpe), I feel like we have very little to look forward to in the near future - which is an all too familiar feeling at this point.

I honestly can't even imagine what kind of lens you would have to be watching our team through to be happy or content with the way they are playing, the way they are coached to play, or even the direction they are heading in.

We aren't making the finals, so thankfully there is only three more weeks of watching us play "rugby league" left this year. I expect 2025 to be just as bad, though, so there's that.