Match Discussion: Round 4 vs Dragons @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[K-Man]

Bellamy gets this squad a premiership.

McGuire, Siebold, even crusty old Bennett are 4-0 with it.

We are 1-3.

Not sure about a premiership, but i basically agree. We should be doing much better. And the results are only one part of that - we should be playing better.

 

[K-Man]

Knights Fans:
Round 3 - Put Ponga at fullback, we NEED Lino at 5/8
Round 4 - Lino has to go!
Fmd it’s painful to listen to.

Worth mentioning too, Klem stormed straight up the tunnel after the game, didn’t shake hands with the opposition and didn’t wave to the kids that were yelling out to him. He was proper pi$$ed off

And he should be. I don't think enough of them are pissed off, especially at the start of the game. We need to start next week like it's a Grand Final - nothing less. It's our season on the line.

Will we? I highly doubt it.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

I knew that big f**k off dragon out the front was a bad omen

 

[newyboy]

Apart from Pearce and Ponga, the whole backline is not up to scratch.

Eddie Lee is a myth.

 

[perverse]

That game really showcased the problem. It's coaching.

The Dragons had a huge amount more motion in attack, yet had lots more in the tank at the end of the game. We were one out all game, and the attacking plan was literally give it to Ponga and wait for him to do something.

Hard to argue with this. I've really tried to not judge Brown until he had the cattle... but it has come up previously in discussion that maybe Brown just can't coach over the past 12-18 months. If he can't get this squad winning then his days will be numbered.

Pearce needs to find form if we're going anywhere at all this year too, and fast. Our spine was way better last year with the ball in hand, we've gone backwards massively in that area.

 

[Knight Vision]

Browny can also take the blame for our game plan which seems to be 4 hit-ups and a kick.
We matched the dragons tonight in the middle but they would regularly use sweeping backline movements on the 4th and 3rd tackle.

this......we kicked early on a number of occasions as well and totally wasted a tackle and an extra 10 mtrs. The times we did run onto the ball and use a sweeping backline play we scored a try.

The amount of times we are flat footed getting the ball is really doing my head in and our defense waits for the attack to come to them. Their defense is at speed and in our faces it was the same for the Panthers and Raiders which is the most frustrating thing. We didnt change anything from our previous 2 losses

 

[Zoidberg]

Only got to see the last 15mins as I was working, and from what I’ve read on here it was more of the same. Defence obviously sticking strong but lost in attack.
Seems like last year we utilised the backs more because we didn’t have the forward pack to make a dent, this year we’ve got the forwards so we’ve forgotten to use our potent backline.

 

[Knight Vision]

Worth mentioning too, Klem stormed straight up the tunnel after the game, didn’t shake hands with the opposition and didn’t wave to the kids that were yelling out to him. He was proper pi$$ed off

they dont look like a happy or confident team to be fair.

 

[Knight Vision]

lost in attack.

very very large understatement.....embarrassingly so

 

[Old dog]

We didn’t get outplayed we beat ourselves, poor options, poor kicks, not enough variation in attack. We didn’t click in the halves, 5/8 is very poor option, don’t like Watson except as a 14 so what of Mann. Lino is ordinary which means you perform ordinary. We need a 5/8, making Lamb a good option. What we have is not good in a good team, was Lamb worse in a bad team. Watson was promised the position as an incentive to sign but has shown little, sure injured but not showing. Is this poor judgement of talent by coach etc.
Would we be worse of with Lamb and Cogger than Lino and Watson even withou considering the $$$$’s

 

[Apey]

Unbelievable how much we're wasting Ramien. Pearce's organisation and control of this team has been completely non-existent in 2019. We'd be 4/4 with a top 8 half.

If not for Ponga tonight we'd have lost 12 - 0. While I don't think it's time to panic I honestly can't imagine how we'd score points without him which is the scariest part. Yeah he shat the bed late in the game but without him we would have had a duck egg.

They should have let us die after Tinkler and let me die a sane man.

 

[perverse]

Unbelievable how much we're wasting Ramien. Pearce's organisation and control of this team has been completely non-existent in 2019. We'd be 4/4 with a top 8 half.

If not for Ponga tonight we'd have lost 12 - 0. While I don't think it's time to panic I honestly can't imagine how we'd score points without him which is the scariest part. Yeah he shat the bed late in the game but without him we would have had a duck egg.

They should have let us die after Tinkler and let me die a sane man.

Yeah, I have no idea how we score points if it isn't through Ponga's hands.

 

[Apey]

Not denying tonight's result is partly on Brown's shoulders but even whilst bagging Pearce in my previous post, I completely forgot that he got stripped right under the posts which led to 6 points. He has always been pathetic at field goals so his attempts were not surprising. That midfield bomb at the end of our 7 tackle set though? He was a 0/10 tonight, he was that bad.

He was very solid for us last year. This year he's looked like Origin Pearce.

 

[Yosh]

How good is our roster? Individually we got some awesome players.

Our whole forward pack looks so strong. Sure Fitzy, Levi and Sione haven't been great this year but we aren't being pushed around anymore.

Symbolic maybe but in seasons past we would have let a former player like Korbin Sims run amok against us. However, we smashed him so hard, his arm broke. Then Klemmer then bullied the other Sims into submission. Love it. How good has Glasby been also? Was worried he was gonna be anotjer Storm flop but has been great.

Ramien needs more ball. I haven't seen him dominated in a tackle yet. Always knocks over an opponent or two before getting pulled down. He is the best centre I have seen in a Knights jersey in a decade at least. Let's use him.

Pearce has been terrible. Hopefully it's just bad form and he picks it up over the coming weeks. Ponga is a godsend. Let him do whatever he wants.

I know we have lost three games but we haven't been flogged yet. In seasons gone by, we had teams just run us over. It seems like this season we are shooting ourselves in the foot more than anything. I'm sure we will turn it around and finish the season strong.

 

[Knight Vision]

I know we have lost three games but we haven't been flogged yet. In seasons gone by, we had teams just run us over.

this is a HUGE positive. We've played terribly for 3 games , without any organization, urgency or aggression and still only just lost by narrow margins. If we can pick up our act we'll go good.

 

[aqua_duck]

I don't think you can compare to previous years, we had some historically bad years so to say at least it's not as bad as that isn't saying much especially given the roster we've assembled.
What I'm most disappointed and concerned about is the coaching and game plan, our attack is abysmal, let's ignore the Ponga to 5/8th/fullback stuff and just look at our game plan and structure, it's not far off under 10s level. Outside of those two brilliant pieces of play from Ponga no one even looked close to making a line break.

 

[Knight Vision]

Outside of those two brilliant pieces of play from Ponga no one even looked close to making a line break.

hard to make a line break from a standing start, our attack is currently worse than our spoon years.

 

[Spot On]

That game really showcased the problem. It's coaching.

The Dragons had a huge amount more motion in attack, yet had lots more in the tank at the end of the game. We were one out all game, and the attacking plan was literally give it to Ponga and wait for him to do something.

You must be a protected species in our great forum Mac.

The mere suggestion of any such thing in last week's game day thread had people throwing knives at those with similar thoughts. It was interpreted as BROWN MUST BE SACKED NOW.

But you are dead right. Only those with the painted on Newcastle eyes are failing to see the problems with this side.

Some will interpret this as BROWN MUST BE SACKED NOW. Well, if we keep losing I'd say the owners will be doing just that. We'd need at least 13 wins from here to get close to 8th spot wouldn't we?

I still think we have a few players who are not up to scratch as well.

 

[Alex28]

Ponga needs to wear some responsibility for the silly kick on the first tackle near the end of the game. We could've won it then but for that kick. Youthful exhuberance, sure. But surely he knew it was the wrong thing to do.

Not pinning the loss on him at all, but he needs to learn to pick his moments to try miracle plays better. 1st tackle, 20 out from their line with the game on the line is not it

Agree. I’m all for youthful exuberance, but not from a guy asking us for $1M+ a season. I want games won.

 

[Alex28]

Watson hasn't had a run at 5/8 this year. Lino isn't it.

Our backrow is a real weakness this year. I desperately want both to succeed but Fitzy has been invisible and Sione has been terrible.

Once Connor gets a go at 5/8 and is actually kept there, he’ll kill it.