R15 | Knights 28-30 Sharks @ Hunter | Sunday 2.00pm

[Mr48Volts]

You're not a true fan

True fans have every right to be dismayed and upset at the dribble that has been served up every week for the last 11 weeks from this squad. Gidley's brain farts are the least of our problems, but he cost us today, and he knows it.

 

[Swarzey]

f**king sick of these pressers with Stone. Avoids the tough shit, tries to find excuses.

I feel for Gidley. I really do. He's been such a great clubman and has represented the club well. For him to go out in such a season must be gut wrenching.

 

[Joker's Wild]

He may come across as a sad sack but Stone was right in everything he said in the presser today

He may not be the right man for the job but you can tell he is at his wits end with the players not putting in in defence

 

[Zoidberg]

I feel the same about Gids. We know he loves the club and wants to do his best to make it successful. He just isn't a very good player.

 

[Rod]

Sione should never have been given that test jumper. Totallly unnecessary and I do not care how bad the injury crisis was. Sione was picked cos they wanted to re write history. Youngest test player ever. Big f###ing deal. when Freddy was 18 the game was very very different. He is a boy. Not a man. He is a superstar in the making. I have no doubt about that whatsoever.

Agreed, it was a stupid pick and typical of that clown Sheens. Instantly doubled Sione's asking price the merkin.

 

[Apey]

Thats whats so sad. I think we really did.

Effort hasn't been there in the past 12 weeks, but it was today.

We are just a terribly unfit, ill-disciplined and mentally weak team. Effort (for 50 minutes at least) can't paper over that.

Yeah I was only half taking the piss. We seemed to actually give a f**k today, but like you said then the other problems such as us being bad at rugby league rose to the fore.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Watching Kurt in the press conference was absolutely gut wrenching. He seems to be shouldering a lot of the weight of all these losses. And lets face it, he loves Newcaslte and is genuinely trying his hardest but he's just not a good enough player to turn it around on his own. He looked on the verge of tears and I am so sad for him that he will finish his career like this.

Stone needs to give himself an uppercut. It's like he has a list of standard excuses that he repeats over and over until he has convinced himself that everything is going to be ok. Well it's not Rick! It's not at all ok! And it won't be ok until we get someone with a set of brass balls to coach this team. There is no accountability at this club and our coach is the worst culprit of them all. We will never be successful while we have people like this at the helm.

 

[Swarzey]

If we had a coach with a pair of balls Snowden would have been pulled off after his third straight penalty that got them up the field. Maybe we would have had a chance if we didn't have the idiot putting so much pressure on the side.

 

[Whats Doing]

Our fitness and defence are an absolute joke.

If I recall, our trainer has the qualifications but has had no practical experience at an NRL level. It shows so evidently that we are so unfit at this level.

The players show no commitment in defence and until they do we will end up with the wooden spoon this year.

They are weak minded and do not buy into the defensive requirements of a 1st grade side.

This is Stone's greatest downfall in not being able to get the players to buy into the defensive requirements to turn up each and every tackle to defend to the battle of each play. This is very much an attitude thing that needs to be instilled into the players and if they don't there will be consequences.

I for the life of me cannot understand how Stone who had 3 years under Bennett has not learnt 1 thing from him about defence, attitudes required to defend, defensive structures and the mental requirements to win each and every battle of the tackle.

Looking at Brisbane and the Knights today, they are worlds apart in defence.

Stone is a shot duck and the sooner he is replaced the better. He is killing the development of the players and the fear is the better players will walk with the abysmal team results when the contracts are up as they will have lost confidence in Stone.

For the good of the club and the players, Stone needs to resign tonight.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

Watching Kurt in the press conference was absolutely gut wrenching. He seems to be shouldering a lot of the weight of all these losses. And lets face it, he loves Newcaslte and is genuinely trying his hardest but he's just not a good enough player to turn it around on his own. He looked on the verge of tears and I am so sad for him that he will finish his career like this.

.

He tried a bit too hard at times today. When he does so is when some of the derp creeps in.

 

[Joker's Wild]

If we had a coach with a pair of balls Snowden would have been pulled off after his third straight penalty that got them up the field. Maybe we would have had a chance if we didn't have the idiot putting so much pressure on the side.

Not sure what Snowie has done to you in the past mate, but it must have been a doozie

 

[Whats Doing]

Did anyone see the Broncos defence tonight. They had to defend 12 line outs and 66 tackles in their own 20 metres and still won.

That is what commitment and attitude in defence is all about.

What did Stone learn from Bennett because it is no where near what one would have expected from 3 years of learning under Bennett.

I think everyone (including me) would have expected that there would have been a lot learnings by Stone from Bennett in his 3 years as assistant coach and that the team would have been very competitive with Stone acquiring this knowledge and putting it into practice.

How sadly have we been mislead and Stone needs to think long and hard about his tenure and the well being of the club before his own ego.

Bennett was right in not supporting Stone as his replacement.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

What's the bet there wasn't even an interview process for the Newcastle job.

 

[Haffa]

What's the bet there wasn't even an interview process for the Newcastle job.

There wasn't. The criteria set made it certain that only Stone could get the job.

 

[Noname36]

What's the bet there wasn't even an interview process for the Newcastle job.

Interview? That would have cost too much money.

 

[Noname36]

This is Stone's greatest downfall in not being able to get the players to buy into the defensive requirements to turn up each and every tackle to defend to the battle of each play. This is very much an attitude thing that needs to be instilled into the players and if they don't there will be consequences.

I for the life of me cannot understand how Stone who had 3 years under Bennett has not learnt 1 thing from him about defence, attitudes required to defend, defensive structures and the mental requirements to win each and every battle of the tackle.

This is the strange part though. It's not that Stone hasn't learnt from his previous appointment...he's actually regressed. In 2011 he got probably the worst side in the comp on paper into the finals...and while he didn't the year before, after the Wicks drama cleared up he at least had the same horrible team playing some good football. It wasn't the quality we produced under Smith, but it was still competive and light years ahead of the crap we're throwing up now.

A lot of it is the players. Remember that this same team got consistently towelled up under Bennett last year too. In fact I'm pretty sure this time last year we were also coming last but we had more patience giving the players the benefit of the doubt due to Alex. Maybe they're just too much of a mentally weak bunch though? While the side that Smith put together were mostly plodders they were competitive plodders. Maybe that's why Stone had more success the first time around. He's clearly not equiped to handle/motivate this bunch. They're too used to being comfortable and he's too soft to change that.

 

[slotmachine]

He is a superstar in the making. I have no doubt about that whatsoever.

Can a better judge than me please explain where this thinking comes from?

He's not very fast, doesn't have great footwork. He might get bigger and stronger in time but that means you get slower and less light on your feet.

To me he looks like someone who was training super hard with his older brothers while the other kids were out chasing chicks, so he was clowning them on the field. Now he's up against other pros he doesn't stand out so much.

He's got a great attitude, seems a super hard worker, but doesn't have the gifts to be a "super star" centre IMO. I think he'll sort out his defense because he will work really hard at it, but even if that happens is he worth $450k?

 

[The Showstopper]

Centres are very easy to pin defensive issues on. especially when you have a coach who has no idea on what defensive structure is. We slide on our line far too much. We commit three men to a tackle despite never wrapping the ball up. Suicide. That makes it 12 on 10 once that ball is free. Very easy to find holes.

 

[K-Man]

Can a better judge than me please explain where this thinking comes from?

He's not very fast, doesn't have great footwork. He might get bigger and stronger in time but that means you get slower and less light on your feet.

To me he looks like someone who was training super hard with his older brothers while the other kids were out chasing chicks, so he was clowning them on the field. Now he's up against other pros he doesn't stand out so much.

He's got a great attitude, seems a super hard worker, but doesn't have the gifts to be a "super star" centre IMO. I think he'll sort out his defense because he will work really hard at it, but even if that happens is he worth $450k?

Totally agree. I actually can't believe people still think Sione is a superstar in the making. I've said from day one he's a first grade player in the making, nothing more nothing less.

There's an absolute chasm between "he'll be okay, just lacking confidence" and "he'll be a superstar". I'm not even saying he should be dropped. I'm saying he's not the player people want him to be, and we should have spent our money elsewhere.

Honestly Sione just doesn't have the physical gifts and sheer class to be anything more than a decent first grader. When superstars burst onto the scene you know it. You only have to look at a guy like Tuivasa-Scheck to see what amazing young talent in the backs actually looks like. Sione is not and never will be at that level of talent.

We overpaid massively, it's as simple as that.

 

[Still Nutty]

Centres are very easy to pin defensive issues on. especially when you have a coach who has no idea on what defensive structure is. We slide on our line far too much. We commit three men to a tackle despite never wrapping the ball up. Suicide. That makes it 12 on 10 once that ball is free. Very easy to find holes.

I sit down in the corner where the team warms up and this week Beau Scott was actively talking to the backs, setting defensive structures and trying to develop some defensive reading skills as a group.

He was also actively standing out with the backs in much of the first half in defence and it was having a positive effect...and not because of him doing their work but by talking and controlling the defensive pattern.

It was very noticeable that things fell apart when he went off the field - on that basis I am at least appreciative that there is some effort to improve our defence and teach these young blokes how to read and talk defence. I would expect if this is a role Beau has taken on that this would have been fair cause for Beau to confront BJ and call him out.

Just on the standing on the touch line during the play the ball, I have heard it from a referee (albeit a long time ago) that a dummy half having his foot in touch during the play the ball didn't constitute being out? it was one of those peculiarities of the rules that wasn't well known...maybe it has been changed but I'd be interested to hear from anybody with refereeing experience to confirm if this was/is the case? Regardless, it shouldn't have happened so not looking to excuse it.

and Showstopper has hit the nail on the head with wrapping the ball up...we would have to have the worst record for allowing 2nd and 3rd phase play of any team in the competition?!