Overachieving?

[Voice of Reason]

I'll start by emphasising the point that this evaluation is simply my view and some my not agree. I challange readers to "take their rose coloured glasses" off and be truely objective when doing this exercise.

I suggest that the Knights are overachieving to have won half of our games thus far:shock: GIVEN THE PLAYERS THAT WE HAVE if you look at each of our 1st grade players and ask yourself the quetion "Would this player get a starting role in their position in any other NRL team in 2007". I know our team has changed a lot with injuries etc but this is my view>

1. Kidley- YES
2. McManus- ?
3. Mcdougal- NO
4. Tighe- NO
5. Polglaise- NO
6. Abraham (in 5/8th)- NO
7. Mullen- YES
8. Perry- ?
9. Bedsy- YES
10. Woolnough- ?
11. Simmo- YES
12. Newton- YES
13. Reynolson- YES

Other
Riley Brown- NO
Tolar- maybe bench
White- as above
Paterson- YES
Michael Young- NO

With this standard of player ACROSS our team it is little wonder whey we are not really competitive for the final series. It is crystal clear that we need to buy expertise and Smith cant be criticised too heavily because he is left with a squad courtesy of poor recruitment, developement and coaching from the last 5 years. We have reaped what we sewed as a club and this will take some time to rectify as we are now subject to "market forces" and player availability.

 

[Jobdog]

I wouldn't go as far as saying we've overachieved, because we have a good team of honest toilers who, after 8 rounds, appear to be competing for the full 80 minutes (Raiders game aside). It's painfully obvious that we're no show in winning the competition, but I still strongly believe we can make the eight.

As for the exercise:
1. Kidley- YES
2. McManus- Possibly
3. Mcdougal- NO
4. Tighe- NO
5. Polglaise- NO
6. Abraham (in 5/8th)- NO
7. Mullen- YES
8. Perry- Depends which Josh Perry you're talking about - the one last week yes, the one four weeks prior to that, no
9. Bedsy- YES
10. Woolnough- ?
11. Simmo- on current form I would say no, he's been very very disappointing this year
12. Newton- YES
13. Reynolson- YES

Other
Riley Brown- NO
Tolar- maybe bench
White- as above
Paterson- YES
Michael Young- NO

 

[Serc]

I think Mad Dog would make most FG teams somewhere in the backline, whether that would be at centre or wing. From what I've seen of him this year he is still a pretty damn good player - seems to get a fair few points in KOTW every week at least!

 

[Alex28]

I would think given the poor quality of our backline that if we win half our games we have done very very well.

 

[Jono078]

Overacheived? IMO yes.

Before the season I was happy to win 1 out of our first 4, we won 2, then I expected us to win 1 of our next 4 again, we won 2.

And those games I thought we'd lose I thought we'd be belted, but instead its been by small margins and weve compteted for the 80.

I really like where we are headed.

 

[roopy]

I think many of our players have been poorly coached and have failed to reach their potential over several seasons.
Our team is playing well above the level we would have seen from the same group of players under the previous coach, but i don't think they are overachieving. They are finally reaching their potential. I think there is a fair bit more upside.

 

[perverse]

i think by years end there should be a few more yes's in the backline.. but here i go.

1. Gidley - definately
2. McManus - maybe a few teams, certainly not all
3. Tighe - unlikely but as above
4. Macdougall - yeah he'd be welcome in a lot of backlines at winger and a few at centre.
5. Polglase - nup
6. Abes - no in this position - yes at lock
7. Mullen - yes
8. perry - yes
9. buderus - obviously yes
10. wooly - yeah he'd get a run elsewhere
11. simpson - yes, but he's been a bit quiet lately
12. newto - yes
13. reyno - with the form of the last few weeks yes

14. brown - not a chance.
15. tolar - no
16. white - no
17. pato - yes
18. young - no

our forwards have been gunning it lately and are matching it with everyone they've come up against. i still think they could do with a big hard running prop to lead them by example.

our backs need work, no doubt about it.. but as i said i think we'll look a lot better by years end.. i think we'll make the 8. do i think we're overachieving at the moment? not really.

 

[roopy]

1. Kidley- He is playing a role designed for his strengths - will keep improving.
2. McManus- Improving week by week
3. Mcdougal- He tried to play differently - it didn't work and he is going back to what he does best
4. Tighe- He is improving
5. Polglaise- as good as he ever will be
6. Abraham (in 5/8th)- I don't like him in the position, but will improve if kept there
7. Mullen- Game by game improvement
8. Perry- definately putting in more when on the field
9. Bedsy- fit for the first time in years if you don't count a broken finger - playing near his potential
10. Woolnough- definately improving
11. Simmo- at the top of his game
12. Newton- improveing
13. Reynolson- improveing

Other
Riley Brown- should improve once a role is found
Tolar- improveing
White- big improvement
Paterson- huge improvement
Michael Young- found a role - the tackling dummy. does it well.

 

[cram]

I am not sure about over achieving, however, I have no doubt that our position on the table is about the best I would have expected. I have seen some things that I like about the team this year but have seen plenty I am not that impressed with.

Roopy, as always, makes some excellent observations particularly in relation to the team not being coached correctly in the past. I think the improvement in Gidley is testament to this fact.

Many have made mention that this year is a rebuilding year and IMO thats exactly what it is.

In reality we are all fans and when you are a fan you like to find positives out of negatives. Why? Simply because I am not sure about rose coloured glasses but the ones I wear are definitely red and blue.

 

[Voice of Reason]

I see a lot of positives- hence I say we have achieved more than we really should have WITH the players we have. A lot of the younger guys are showing improvement and I think will develop. Others have had ample time (maybe not the opportunity under the previous coach/culture) but have not improved. Time to go for many of them I think. Respectively Roopys reply doesnt answer the question- "Improving" from what to what and have they improved to the point where they would earn selection in another NRL team?- I don,t believe so for many of them. If these guys are improving, how long before they are "real" NRL players and will the fan base be patient until this occurs. I don,t know the answers to either question.

 

[RABK]

I believe this year will be very similar to 2004 - we'll probably be the most inconsistent side - one week beating a top 4 side then losing to a bottom 3 team the next week.

Likely to find ourselves in a scenario where we need to win 4 of our last 6 to make the 8 and Kidley and Buderus featuring strongly for the Dally M.

I think Smith can do wonders this year though, he can put a broom through this club and make a few signings. 2008 we should be contenders if he manages to sign quality players in the prop, centre and halves positions IMO.

If i had one dream though it would be to Sign Justin Hodges - IMHO that bloke is in the top 3 players in the world ATM, he either makes a break, beats a tackle or sets up a break every time he runs the ball. Christ what i'd give to have him sign with us.

I've got a feeling though that Smith is happy with our backline... and might only sign Ryles... Hope not.

 

[Misanthrope]

What first grade side would be so desperate that Kirk Reynoldson would be worthy of a starting spot?

 

[roopy]

We all know these players too well.
We see their faults too clearly.
Every side has stars and some ordinary players as well - but we see our ordinary players because we look so closely - while we only see the stars in opposition sides.

We probably do have a few more ordinary players than most clubs because we had a guy taking up a huge slice of our salary cap - but i think we can make a big impact this year on the strength of the massive improvement we are seeing in nearly every player in the club.

 

[RABK]

Roopy name our stars then compare them to any other sides Stars.

When George Carmont, Kirk Reynoldson and Josh Perry are in your 6 or 7 highest payed players then you know you've got sh*t 'stars'.

 

[roopy]

Roopy name our stars then compare them to any other sides Stars.

When George Carmont, Kirk Reynoldson and Josh Perry are in your 6 or 7 highest payed players then you know you've got sh*t 'stars'.

We have Buderus, Kidley, Mullen and Simmo. Those are four of the best in the game.
All those guys are tied up for a few years, and so are young tyros Paterson, Seu Seu, McManus, Uate and others.
We have a lot of talent on the books - but we all know the club has lost a lot of young guys over the years because of the money we had to spend to keep Johns.
Missing Johns this year means a fifth or so of our salary cap is sitting in the stands before you look at any other injuries - which does hurt us a lot.

 

[Ben]

Missing Johns this year means a fifth or so of our salary cap is sitting in the stands before you look at any other injuries - which does hurt us a lot.

I think you are right on the money their roopy. The reason why our team is rather lacklustre is because of Andrew Johns. We don't have the space in the cap to sign other good players and have to rely on more modest players. But we have been successful in the past because Johns makes every player look a remarkably better player then they are. All these players have to do is to make the run and Johns will pick out the right player to find the gap.

We of course don't have this luxury anymore and each player in the team has to lift their performances by ten percent to cover for the loss of Johns. This is why i think we have been winning close games this year which may not have happened in other years. One reason is Brian Smith, but all the players know what they have to do and have to put in the hard yards to get there. A lot of players have stood up and realised that since Johns isn't running the show, they have to put their extra bit in to compensate. This is why players like Kidley, Mullen, Buderus, Newton and to a lesser extent Simpson have stood up and taken on a leadership role. Because without these players putting their extra bit in, the team would struggle.

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

Dont forget we did bank on Johns carrying us thru on gameday..no one expected 1 game and 4 minutes for the season..The players have to adjust to that.

 

[Yosh]

I totally agree with Roopy. Also we produce some of the best players in the game but dont hold onto them, I think we should try to sign our promising juniors up and if we do we probably dont have to really shop around.

 

[perverse]

*BUMP*
thought i'd dig this up. a month down the track and look at our position on the ladder.

there is no doubt we are over achieving. despite some of the circumstances in a couple of games (canberra, brisbane).. we are sitting snuggly in 5th position. i'll be watching monday night football with particular interest tonight, if the tigers lose to the eels we have the opportunity to leapfrog them next sunday and continue up the ladder.

i'm proud of the team.

 

[Yosh]

How good is it that the competition is so close. Then againits really bad because we always have such a bad for and against...