Match Discussion: Round 4 vs St Geo Illa @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[Knight Tales]

Watson was magnificent. The less said about the game the better. God hates us.

 

[Frederick]

The set restarts were all early in the count and the dragons were standing offside all game, very obviously coached to do it.

If anything we were disadvantaged, as we got the odd extra tackle but were playing an 8m defensive line all game and he wouldn’t punish them later in the count.

The six again rule can work, but needs to be tweaked to be a penalty if it's deliberately given on the first tackle close to the attacking teams goal line. Six agains in that situation only serve to allow the defense to set themselves, give zero advantage to the attacking team

 

[Reflector]

Yep I agree with you that ‘04 was a massive opportunity that went begging imo. I was at that game against Parra where Joey went down for the season and the rest of the season was just terrible with injuries. From memory we lost Daniel Abraham, Steve Simpson, BK, Tahu, Seage & Mark Hughes all to long term injuries. Probably more than that but they are the big name ones anyway. We’ve just been horribly cursed with injuries for 2 decades now, whereas teams like Melbourne get 3 future immortals playing about 200 games together over a similar length of time.

At what point do fans blame it on an intangible like believing the club is cursed and expecting it to happen every season, as opposed to looking at training, conditioning and match preparation vs. how other clubs operate? It's also worth looking at players who had lengthy stints at other clubs before coming to the Knights or players who left them for lengthy stints elsewhere and seeing if there's a general correlation with them getting injured elsewhere?

 

[Jono078]

At what point do fans blame it on an intangible like believing the club is cursed and expecting it to happen every season, as opposed to looking at training, conditioning and match preparation vs. how other clubs operate? It's also worth looking at players who had lengthy stints at other clubs before coming to the Knights or players who left them for lengthy stints elsewhere and seeing if there's a general correlation with them getting injured elsewhere?

You don’t think any of those things have changed and evolved over the last 20 years?

It’s a curse.

 

[Reflector]

You don’t think any of those things have changed and evolved over the last 20 years?

It’s a curse.

Of course things change and evolve, the same way tactics that get results in the game change and evolve. But is there anything the Knights are doing differently to other clubs when it comes to training and conditioning?

Are there players who have/ had Knights careers punctuated with injuries who had the same kind of stuff happen at the other clubs they played for?

 

[God-King Dean]

Well well well

Well well well well well well well

 

[perverse]

At what point do fans blame it on an intangible like believing the club is cursed and expecting it to happen every season, as opposed to looking at training, conditioning and match preparation vs. how other clubs operate? It's also worth looking at players who had lengthy stints at other clubs before coming to the Knights or players who left them for lengthy stints elsewhere and seeing if there's a general correlation with them getting injured elsewhere?

If I had a nickel for every time someone blamed our strength and conditioning regime for our injury list on LU, I'd have a shitload of nickels.

Don't worry, it's been discussed ad nauseum in the past. We're not really in a position to know either way, but we've been through countless trainers and staff in that time, not to mention changes in ownership, coaching, etc. I find it hard to believe that they've all had the same problems in their systems.

 

[K-Man]

You guys are focusing way too much on who starts and who comes off the bench. Forget that for a moment, assuming Fitz is above Jones in the pecking order and makes the 17 when fit, where do you think he plays when he comes on the field? Almost certainly on the edge because that's where he belongs, and Barnett's versatility means if they're all on the field at the same time it's likely him (not Fitz or Frizell) who moves into the middle. That might only be for part of a match, but it could happen. Arguing that Fitz will not see any first grade, or that when he does it will be as a middle forward because "Barnett is too good" is frankly ridiculous. Barnett is so good he can do both as and when required. Fitz is a mediocre edge backrower, who is better than Jones, and that's where he will play.

Just a little reminder for those who tried to argue that Fitzgibbon would a) not get back into the top 17, b) not play on the left edge with Barnett shifting back to the middle where he has performed well in the past.

Still don't understand how it ever turned into a debate in the first place. But there you go, it took until Round 9.