Match Discussion: Round 24 vs Titans @ Hunter Stadium

[Glendale]

With the wee exception of Mullen and Jez, seniority at the Knights means phone it in and get rich.

If what Browny is doing now doesn't fix that sort of attitude up, then nothing ever will.

 

[Zoidberg]

Take out the first 20 and the score line was close. Titans didn't play their best, we have nothing in attack. Hokko put in about 2 kicks all game and fell off about 20 tackles.

 

[Sydney Knight]

If only we had a winger with the combination of Uates power kick returns and dummy half runs and Elliot's ability under the high ball.

 

[Johns Magic]

I think he could be so much better than he is. I suspect he will show it playing off the bench for a strong club.

He has shown his true colours though at our club IMO. Yes we are a rabble. Have a dig anyway. Blokes with 9-5 jobs who turn up on a weekend and play park footy put in effort, I don't get why professionals seem selective. You would think instinctive competitiveness would kick in at least.

 

[Johns Magic]

If only we had a winger with the combination of Uates power kick returns and dummy half runs and Elliot's ability under the high ball.

Ah, McManus...

 

[perverse]

If only we had a winger with the combination of Uates power kick returns and dummy half runs and Elliot's ability under the high ball.

And Jimmys defense. We'd then have a player worth what we pay our outside backs.

 

[Glendale]

Ok so there were some encouraging signs today in amongst players like Sims and Hodkinson who clearly don't even care.

-The Saifitis will be absolute guns one day. They already are showing our other forwards up.
- Pearsall played pretty solid I thought. Randell did ok when moved to halves as well.
- Ross Dog- again.
- Gagai had a real good go.
- Elliot is playing well. He's beginning to grow on me. Very solid under the high ball and scores tries. I don't reckon he's a starter if we want to be good, but if he's our backup winger the we're doing ok.
- Josh King is playing before his time, but I reckon this experience will really help him. He will to another level when he goes full-time.

Same old problems though. Periods where we lose our heads and our defence gets downright embarrising. It only lasted 20 minutes today though, Saifitis and Paea were able to turn the tide and we stayed with them for the rest of the game.

And then there the attack... It's not the other 16 players fault Hodkinson is terrible. Not only does he lack in skill but he also doesn't care and doesn't try. Tyler Randell and Will Pearsall looked better then he did. Embarrising.

 

[Apey]

Saw Joey running past me out of the stadium at full time. Highlight of the day.

Anyway today I at least remembered Gagai still plays for us. We look like we could have 30 sets in the opposition's 20 and probably still not score unless they just got bored and let us over (aka our try last week) or the defence collectively fell over.

 

[Joel-22]

That loss is completely on Hokko and Pearsall (more so Hokko). Hokko couldn't organise a f**k in a brothel. He'd have to be the worst half to ever play SOO

King was average.

I thought that was Jake Saifiti's best game for us. The game changed when we hooked Mataora and King and brought on the Saifitis. Both could be anything. If they played for a better club the media would be busting nuts over them

 

[Joel-22]

I also thought Sims was f**king shithouse today

 

[Sydney Knight]

Is there another website with player stats besides NRLStats.com?

Sometimes their numbers seem a bit all over the shop?

They have Jacob running for over 200 mtrs and Daniel running for 80 something. Surely they've given Jacob some of Daniels stats?

 

[Knight76]

I was happier with todays game than any recently. We were out of the game after the first 20 but the boys didnt fall in a heap and tried for the remainder of the game.

We gave the game away repeatedly giving away penalties on our 30 - 40 at the end of their sets. That just invites them to score. We have a hard enough time keeping teams out without giving away great field position.

Hodkinson lost the toss and elected to take advantage of the strong wind in the first half. We squandered that with the penalties.

The second half they had the benefit of the wind so it was always going to be a struggle for us to get good field position.

Our attack is non existant and that is on hodkinson and browny.

Good though to see a bunch of players come out to the fences to sign autographs and pose for pics after the game. I had a chat with Levi and he said this was his last game for the year. He is having the surgery Monday i think he said. Ross apologised for the loss.

I hope the players continue this engagement with the fans even when winning again. Players I saw out at the fences were Ross, Gags, Paea, Mamo, Levi and Barnett. Tyrone Roberts came to the south end also as well as about 5 other titans over the western grandstand side signing autographs etc.

 

[Glendale]

Some interesting stuff to come out of the presser.

Firstly, Gagai was there instead of Hodko... Secondly, Browny mentioned how Tyrone Roberts was the fifth highest paid Knight on the field today and then was asked wether there was a plan to stop paying players to play against us and he answered back: 'We've got a plan in place which I'm not going to tell you what it is' with a big old cheeky grin on his face. Good to see he also pointed out that some highly paid players let us down big time in that first 20 minutes, obviously referring to Hodko and Sims.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

I hardly saw Hokko all game.

Every attacking set we had I can't remember us running any set play other than an inside ball. No block plays, nothing. We never try to create an overlap. Our halves should be combining with mamo and gagai to create set pieces but we never see anything at all.

Do we have any set plays? We have a nucleus there to be able to create something but we don't. Why?

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Some interesting stuff to come out of the presser.

Firstly, Gagai was there instead of Hodko... Secondly, Browny mentioned how Tyrone Roberts was the fifth highest paid Knight on the field today and then was asked wether there was a plan to stop paying players to play against us and he answered back: 'We've got a plan in place which I'm not going to tell you what it is' with a big old cheeky grin on his face. Good to see he also pointed out that some highly paid players let us down big time in that first 20 minutes, obviously referring to Hodko and Sims.

All you can do these days is laugh. It's not surprising that Tyrone is the 5th highest paid Knights player out there.

This club is an absolute basket case. How matt Gidley can still just sit there as CEO is beyond me.

 

[Sydney Knight]

Some interesting stuff to come out of the presser.

Firstly, Gagai was there instead of Hodko... Secondly, Browny mentioned how Tyrone Roberts was the fifth highest paid Knight on the field today and then was asked wether there was a plan to stop paying players to play against us and he answered back: 'We've got a plan in place which I'm not going to tell you what it is' with a big old cheeky grin on his face. Good to see he also pointed out that some highly paid players let us down big time in that first 20 minutes, obviously referring to Hodko and Sims.

That plan part was interesting?

He mentioned 3 players in particular with high numbers obviously forwards that didn't aim up early.

He didn't seem to impressed with Barnett's first half and talked about him needing to be more consistent.

 

[macavity]

All you can do these days is laugh. It's not surprising that Tyrone is the 5th highest paid Knights player out there.

This club is an absolute basket case. How matt Gidley can still just sit there as CEO is beyond me.

He is a sitting duck - not much action on the surface, but paddling like mad underneath to stay afloat.

Every time I have dealt with him he has been impressive and I can tell you he has the off-field stuff going in the right direction. I don't envy him, I reckon he has the hardest job in Rugby League.

 

[Glendale]

I hardly saw Hokko all game.

Every attacking set we had I can't remember us running any set play other than an inside ball. No block plays, nothing. We never try to create an overlap. Our halves should be combining with mamo and gagai to create set pieces but we never see anything at all.

Do we have any set plays? We have a nucleus there to be able to create something but we don't. Why?

Exactly. We simply don't have the cattle and there's no getting past that fact, but Brown's coaching this season has so far left a lot to be desired. We're 24 rounds in and there's hardly been much improvement. Our attack couldn't bust through a paper bag and as you said, we might not be very talented but we do have the tools to be better then what we are in that department. And then there's the defence, which was supposedly the big focus in the offseason... Enough said. I get the feeling like he's trying to go with a really simple game plan that the young guys can easily understand and follow, but they can't even do that.

He gets a free ride and I like what he's doing in regards to fixing the salary cap mess and we've also been unlucky with injuries this year, but there's absolutely no denying that Brown's first season here is a big fat FAIL for on field performance. By now I would have expected us to be a much improved footy side who is starting to gell together and compete in every game. Now it's looking like we won't get there until atleast back end of 2017.

 

[Glendale]

He is a sitting duck - not much action on the surface, but paddling like mad underneath to stay afloat.

Every time I have dealt with him he has been impressive and I can tell you he has the off-field stuff going in the right direction. I don't envy him, I reckon he has the hardest job in Rugby League.

Are you referring to Brown or Gidley?

 

[macavity]

Are you referring to Brown or Gidley?

Gidley. Never dealt with Brown.