Newcastle RL trial vs Knights

[League_God]

Player ratings people?

 

[rnb11]

How many tries/ try assists did Henry get? How long was he on the field for?

 

[roopy]

Fiji were clueless when it came to the subtle aspects of the game, and the boys were pulling off moves they haven't got away with since the under 6s - but any of our guys who ran straight at them got their cages rattled, to a point where some of our forwards were doging it rather than get bashed again.
The Fijians will have got as much out of this as they got out of the WC. These guys will all be 50% better players for having trained for months and played in this game, and I saw enough of their fitness, strength and heart to think half of them could make the NRL if they got a dozen games like this every year.

Hard to really give huge wraps to any of our guys because they were so much better than the opposition in skill level.

In the Newcastle trial, for the seconds I liked the work Marlborough did at 5/8, and his work at hooker was good too - and it was great to see Simon Allen in Knights colours again. He did good in the second row, but the guy is a very ordinary looking athlete - like Owen Craigie with skinny legs.
For the firsts, Sinbad Kali was powerful for 20 minutes. I think he has 20 minutes of firstgrade in him on that display, but no more unfortunately.
Dwan went OK at fullback, and both wingers looked tall and fast (never heard of either of them).
Kruize Wilson and Warren Schillings did OK at prop, but neither were as strong as Kali, and Shaun Boss was good for the first 10 minutes, but fell off quickly.
Hooker Mitch Williams (not the centre) is a better ball distributor than Adams, but he doesn't look strong enough for firstgrade.

 

[franklin2323]

Anyone get the lower grade teams?

 

[roopy]

Both sides fielded two complete teams for 40 minutes each.
They both put the weaker side on first.

The only side that really counted was the stronger Centurions side.

All i can remember are;

1 Dwan
2
3 Clacherty
4 Tui
5
6
7
8 Sinbad Kali
9 Mitch Williams
10 Shaun Boss
11
12
13 Filipo i think

Kruize Wilson
Warren Schillings

 

[Apey]

henry had a great game apart from one drop ball, thought pete played pretty good as well.

stand is coming along nicely, can't wait to see it finished.

 

[perverse]

How many tries/ try assists did Henry get? How long was he on the field for?

he bagged a try and 3 or 4 assists, was hooked at half time or soon after. he's very chatty on the field, which was good to see. rarely shut his mouth for more than a couple of seconds. he might just end up in the 7 with Mullen in the 6, he didn't seem to mind telling people what to do at any stage.

Beau was tested very very little in defence... in fact i can only recall him being involved in 1 tackle for sure. he didn't necessarily look like he was trying to avoid work, there just wasn't much coming to him. he didn't take on the line much, or at all, either. i would suggest it's possible that he's not too eager to really dig in with the shoulder... but i can't guarentee that. can't really say much for sure about his technique in defence either. what i can say is he was very active and quick to tell the boys to get in position next to him etc.

Roberts was very good after half time and took control a bit more with Henry off the field. i sorta lost interest once the score was getting up towards 50... but Roberts is definitely making his presence felt. i didn't notice Stig very much today, but it's hard to take everything in at the ground, particularly first game of the year... and in a trial i was flat out watching a lot of off-the-ball stuff and identifying players, too. if i had to say which halves owned the day it would be Henry and Roberts. Henry showed a great deal in 40 minutes, and Roberts showed a lot in probably 30 or 40 minutes, but was on the field for 80.

Tetevano continues to impress and had some great touches running the ball and offloading. i dead set would not be surprised at all to see him jag a first grade spot before Kyle O'Donnell, and he'd have to be in the frame for a bench spot in round 1.

Kaufusi had some very strong carries, hits the line well. he also got revved up in defence and put on a couple of big ones. Richie ran like a man absolutely possessed, busted the line and ran 40 odd metres on his first or second carry. i hope he plays like that the rest of the year, because it was magic.

Chris Adams and Chad Redman were both great. i rate Redman has been good in the trials, but i reckon Adams has been even better. they are both quite small... but both provide good service and have great running games. both have heart, too. i won't be surprised if we see Adams in first grade this year. Redman i would probably wait and see if he can get any bigger, plus he can still play NYC.

Kyle O'Donnell - disappointing again. i don't think he dropped the ball, and the conditions were wet, but i didn't really notice him too much out there. when i did see him ake a few carries they were out very wide, and he is very hard to bring down out there... but really Tetevano looks the better option by far going by trials 1 and 2.

Pete had a very good game, i thought. was backing up all over the place and scored 2 tries as a result. may have been more than 2, it's hard to keep track when it's 72 - 0. i honestly lost interest in who was scoring the tries after a while, and more interested in who was setting them up. i'm almost inclined to say that i'd have Pete instead of McDonnell as Gid's backup at the moment. i thought he looked better than McDonnell in the first trial and i thought he played great today, too.

it's definitely necessary to point out that the opposing team was extremely sub-standard. valiant, but ill-equipped, skills and knowledge wise, to play against even our young blokes. i think it was an excellent initiative by the club, it was great seeing and hearing the Fiji boys do their prayer before the match. they played with genuine heart, and by the end the crowd were well and truly cheering for Fiji, and gave a standing ovation afterwards. i'd love to see it as a yearly trial, to be honest.

 

[franklin2323]

Both sides fielded two complete teams for 40 minutes each.
They both put the weaker side on first.

The only side that really counted was the stronger Centurions side.

All i can remember are;

1 Dwan
2
3 Clacherty
4 Tui
5
6
7
8 Sinbad Kali
9 Mitch Williams
10 Shaun Boss
11
12
13 Filipo i think

Kruize Wilson
Warren Schillings

That's the problem with trials. Unlimited interchange doesn't help. Did NYC Play?

 

[rnb11]

Thanks for that Perverse. Good to hear noone really went too far backwards from last week, mostly forward. O'Donnell needs a few more games to be judged worthy of a first grade spot or not yet and I'm happy to hear Likiliki and Henry had good games. Our forwards seem to be going quite well which is probably the most important thing. The next two games will be the most exciting for me personally, cant wait to hear how the boys go.

 

[Serc]

Match Report: Knights v Fiji Trial
By Michelle Smit
newcastleknights.com
13/02/2011 11:32:33 PM

The Newcastle Knights left the Fiji Bati scoreless in a passionate encounter played in front of supporters who braved the weather.

© Melba Studios

The Fijian squad assembled in a circle mid field, before a silent crowd of a couple of thousand at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Moments later a hymn began to echo across the field, leaving spectators breathless at the beautiful sounds from these rugby league players.
In the minutes that followed the serenity that had existed across the field turned to passion as play began.
The Knights dominated the play in the Fijian half before winger Keith Lulia scored out wide in the fifth minute.
The difficult conversion attempt by Knights skipper Wes Naiqama was waved away, leaving the score 4-nil.
In the tenth minute the Fijians made the surprising decision to attempt a penalty goal, unsuccessful but nevertheless determined, the away team played on.
Wes Naiqama made a break through the Fijian line before passing to fullback Peter Mata'utia who put the ball down between the posts.
A successful conversion by the skipper saw the score at 10-nil with just two minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Henry scored on the buzzer for the Knights in his first game in red and blue, Wes Naiqama made it two out of three with his goal kicking and a 16-nil first quarter score.
Knights Assistant Coaches Andrew Dunemann and Craig Sandercock addressed the players in the two minute break, while the Fijians sat on the sidelines to listen to their mentors.
The second quarter saw a fresh pack including Richie Fa'aoso who made a hard run into the opposition with his first carry of the ball.
A nice little kick by Beau Henry found NYC captain Ethan Cook and another four pointer for the Novacastrians.
An unsuccessful conversion by the skipper saw 20-nil just 25 minutes into the game.
Another barnstorming run by Fa'aoso sent the Fijian fullback bouncing away, before he came back to help make the tackle on the Tongan international.
Mata'utia found the line for his second time in the game, setting the ball down once more in between the posts.
A succesful converssion by Wes Naiqama took the lead to 26-nil.
Zane Tetevano excited the crowd when he sent Fijian Saimoni Buinimasi flying with five minutes left in the first half.
Tetevano found the line just three minutes later, after an unsuccessful conversion the score was 30-nil at half time.
The second half saw two early tries to centre Simon Williams and hooker Chris Adams, with one of two successful conversion attempts by Henry taking the score to 40-nil.
Not to be outdone by his younger brother, Wes got the ball down between the posts just two minutes after Kevin.
Henry added two points and the Knights found themselves at 50-nil.
Despite the score, the Fijians persisted and looked likely a number of times.
The Knights were pushing to break the 50 before Siuatonga Likiliki scored his first try for his new team with just 17 minutes to go.
Mata'utia had taken on the kicking duties but was unable to bump the score from 54-nil.
Likiliki made a break that had the crowd cheering before young five-eight Api Pewhairangi found space to get a four pointer.
Mata'utia added the extras taking the score to 60-nil.
Likiliki made yet another break and took the Knights back into Fijian territory.
Exciting Toyota Cup prop Josh Ailaomai scored two tries in the final four minutes, matched by two successful conversions from Mata'utia taking the full time score to 72-nil.
Both sides made their way to the Eastern Grandstand to thank the supporters for their attendance despite the wet conditions after the buzzer sounded.

NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS 72
Tries: J Ailaomai 2, P Mata'utia 2, C Adams, E Cook, B Henry, S Likiliki, K Lulia, K Naiqama, W Naiqama, A Pewhairangi, Z Tetevano, S Williams
Conversions: P Mata'utia 3, W Naiqama 3, B Henry 2

FIJI BATI 0

http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/?s=article-display&id=33454

I see they are talking about braving the weather...was there one or two light showers during the game? (that's what it looked like on the radar)

 

[IanG]

Yeah there was. More sprinkling constantly more than anything. Hence why most of the crowd that was there was in the Andrew Johns Stand Under Cover.

 

[Serc]

Ta Ian

Looks like it wasn't too bad (for spectators or footy) then, given the 72 points scored, lol

 

[roopy]

The playing surface was terrible. Big patches of bare dirt, some right in the middle of the field.
If they spent 500k on that they should sue.

The new stand looks great, but they still have a lot of work to do before the season kicks off. No painting done, no seats fitted, no work on the internals of the corporate boxes, and the temporary media boxes are still there.

 

[ballbag]

Both sides fielded two complete teams for 40 minutes each.
They both put the weaker side on first.

The only side that really counted was the stronger Centurions side.

All i can remember are;

1 Dwan
2
3 Clacherty
4 Tui
5
6
7
8 Sinbad Kali
9 Mitch Williams
10 Shaun Boss
11
12
13 Filipo i think

Kruize Wilson
Warren Schillings

13 Alec Fata (Cessnock)
One of the second rowers was Bodie O'Connell from Wyong

 

[roopy]

13 Alec Fata (Cessnock)
One of the second rowers was Bodie O'Connell from Wyong

Thought he was a bit bigger than Filipo.
He was enthusiastic, but he got in the way and dropped the ball a few times.
If he is young he has a lot of potential i thought.

 

[Serc]

Gallery of images from trial #2

http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/default.aspx?s=photogallery-display&galleryid=1434