R22 FNF - Manly Warringah v Newcastle

[gong_eagle]

Was listening to 2SM this morning...

Rumour is Ben Kennedy will play this Friday night.

Hmm interesting

 

[gong_eagle]

Walsh is out with an ankle injury. Dureau comes in at halfback.

Heard that on the BSB that he was in doubt

 

[tbone10]

I thought you were being sarcastic :lol:

That was the rumour at the time that Pepsi wanted their colours in there as well, If I remember Manly won the 7s Tournament that year as well

yes.....the coca cola sponsored world sevens :lol:

 

[Jobdog]

No longer in doubt, cos he's been ruled out ;-)

 

[Garts]

Was listening to 2SM this morning...

Rumour is Ben Kennedy will play this Friday night.

Wont happen!!!!

 

[gong_eagle]

Sea Eagles v Knights preview

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

http://svc002.wic110cx.server-web.com/News/Latest/NewsArticle/tabid/76/NewsId/6529/Default.aspx Some intriguing sub-plots to this game: will Steve Menzies wander in to five-eighth, with Jamie Lyon shifting out wide to the centres, as happened last week against the Broncos?
And what will the Knights’ players’ attitudes be, given a very public uprising against coach Brian Smith’s recent wholesale cleanout at the club?
The Sea Eagles spluttered against Brisbane but were still way too good for the premiers at Suncorp Stadium.
A win here would give them their second six-in-a-row streak for 2007, interspersed by four straight wins, a two-game losing run and a couple of odd losses.
They remain the only threat to the Storm for the minor premiership, just two points adrift.
Steve Matai and Travis Burns remain sidelined, forcing coach Des Hasler to once again rethink the composition of his backline as the finals approach.

The Knights have now lost six of their past seven games, with a sole 34-10 win against Smith’s former club the Eels back in round 17.
Injuries continue to haunt them; Danny Buderus remains sidelined and last week they lost Luke MacDougall for the season.
Watch out Sea Eagles: The Knights are way down on attacking strikepower but do have a formidable warhead in Kurt Gidley.
Sea Eagles kickers Matt Orford and Michael Monaghan will be aiming their boot away from the livewire fullback, who ranks fifth for carting it back from kicks (968 metres at a 92-metre game average).
Add to that the 58 metres a game he makes in other breaks, plus his 36 offloads (sixth in the comp) and Gidley is the inspiration they’ll need to mount a challenge here.

Watch out Knights: Newcastle can’t afford to give their opponents any early latitude – the Sea Eagles are the best in the comp at piling on early points, having been the first try-scorer on 16 of 20 occasions in 2007.
And Manly really knows how to go on with the job, too – in the second halves of their past five games they’ve scored 118 points and conceded an average of just four.
Their left-side attack has scored 42 tries this year, the second most behind the Storm’s 46 – bad news for the Knights’ whose right-side defence is pretty flimsy having conceded 34 tries, the second most by any team.
Could be a long night for them out wide.

Where it will be won: On the scoreboard. That might sound flippant, but the Sea Eagles have no problems in this department, while their opponents are struggling big time.
In the past month the Newcastle attack has been limited to just 31 points while leaking a woeful 136.
Their attack is now officially the second-least effective of all teams (just 17.3 points per game). Last week against the Dragons was the first time since March 2003 they’ve been restricted to just one try at home.
Meantime the Sea Eagles are soaring; they’re averaging 24.4 points a game, more than a converted try more than their opponents this week. And they concede just 13.9 points to the Knights’ worrying 27.7.
Anthony Watmough is revelling in the opportunities being presented to him.
After missing Origin his name is being bandied about as a possible Kangaroos contender later this year. He was stunning last week, becoming the first ever back-rower to score a hat-trick of tries at Suncorp Stadium.
Aside from that he made 24 spirited runs for 230 metres, 14 tackle breaks, 2 line breaks and 27 tackles.
The History: Played 31; Sea Eagles 18, Knights 13. The Knights have won five of the past eight games, including a 25-18 win at their most recent outing in the first qualifying final last year.
They’ve yet to meet at Bluetongue Stadium.

Conclusion: Des Hasler will be after better continuity from his side than they displayed last week.
They need to continue to build momentum into the finals and won’t get a better opportunity to execute a few well rehearsed drills than against a Knights team mired in self-doubt and internal conflict.
If the rumours of a player revolt are true, then they certainly won’t be doing it for the coach. The question remains how much they might want to do it for themselves.
Match officials: Referee – Shayne Hayne; Sideline Officials – Gerard Sutton & Steve Chiddy; Video ref – Phil Cooley.

Televised: Channel 9 – Delayed 9.30pm; Foxsports 3 – Delayed 1am.
* Statistics: NRL Stats

 

[effnic]

Good luck knights. Go the mighty Eagles!!!

 

[gong_eagle]

Preview: Sea Eagles v Knights

Sportal
http://sportal.com.au/default.aspx/league-match-preview-display/preview-sea-eagles-v-knights-32815


Venue & Time: Bluetongue Stadium, 7.30pm AEST, Friday August 10
Head To Head: Played 31, Sea Eagles 18, Knights 13
Last Time: Knights 25 - Sea Eagles 18 at EnergyAustralia Stadium, semi-final, 2006
Walking Wounded: The Sea Eagles will again be without centre Steve Matai (neck) and five-eighth Travis Burns (back) - both of whom could be back by the finals.
A knee injury will prevent Knights skipper Danny Buderus from playing for the third week in a row, while Luke MacDougall (arm), brother Adam (shoulder), Jarrod Mullen (shoulder), Milton Thaiday (shoulder) and Todd Polglase (leg) remain season casualties. Chris Bailey returns from a knee injury at five-eighth.
Form: The Sea Eagles made it five wins on the trot last Sunday against a depleted Brisbane side at Suncorp Stadium to ensure they will finish the premiership rounds no lower than second spot on the ladder. The victory was far from convincing, but Des Hasler's men just keep on winning and continue to play a brand of football that is sure to serve them well come finals time.
With such a poor points differential to their name, the Knights are practically no chance of making the finals following their 4-20 loss to the Dragons at the weekend. The vastly-understrength Newcastle side performed admirably in the match, but lacked the required finishing ability to turn promising raids into points.
Who's Hot: Both Matt Orford and Anthony Watmough played huge roles in helping the Sea Eagles over the line against Brisbane on the weekend. Watmough was everywhere in attack, scoring all three of Manly's tries and yielding 200m, while Orford kicked superbly both for goal and in general play. He was also responsible for setting up two of Watmough's three tries.
The Knights' best last Friday night was undoubtedly fullback Kurt Gidley, who made over 170m in attack from 224 runs and showed great determination to score his side's only try of the match.
We Think: The continued absence of Buderus on top of several other injuries presents a Knights side that offers little in both attack and defence. With the finals just around the corner Hasler will be keen to see his troops put a quality 80 minutes together and it may just come against the club that has leaked the most amount of points so far this season. Sea Eagles by 26.

 

[Timmah]

Statistically speaking (according to Big League Magazine)

Head to head
Overall 31, Manly 18-13
Never played at Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium

Last meetings
Newcastle 25-18 at EAS, 2006 Finals
Manly 16-14 at EAS, Newcastle 26-12 at Brookvale, 2006

Biggest Victories
Manly 48-10 at Brookvale, 2004
Newcastle 56-12 at EAS, 2004

Grand Finals
Newcastle 22 Manly 16 at SFS, 1997

 

[effnic]

Statistically speaking (according to Big League Magazine)


Grand Finals
Newcastle 22 Manly 16 at SFS, 1997

:evil: You put that there on purpose didnt you dodge. There was no rugby league played in 1997 remember? Rugby league had a bye. Same with 95.

 

[gong_eagle]

Knightmare ending

http://www.manlydaily.com.au/article/2007/08/10/5883_sports.html
Jason Avedissian
10Aug07

Sea Eagles veteran Steve Menzies with Knights captain Danny Buderus, who was critical of his coach Brian Smith.
Picture: TROY SNOOK

FORMER Manly great Malcolm Reilly says the Knights face an uncertain future under coach Brian Smith if they sink to another heavy NRL loss when they play the Sea Eagles in Gosford tonight.

The Knights play Manly in a round 22 NRL clash at Bluetongue Stadium.
It has been yet another tumultuous week for Newcastle after their injured captain Danny Buderus criticised Smith's recruitment strategies.
Reilly, who won premierships at the Sea Eagles in 1972-73 and coached the Knights to grand final success over Manly in 1997, yesterday said Newcastle will struggle to win again this season.
``If the captain and the coach aren't working hand in hand, then you've got it wrong,'' Reilly said.
``Everyone knows what Danny is like, he wouldn't come out and say those things unless something wasn't right.
``You just wonder whether they will win another game again this year.
``The morale is low and there's a lot of unrest.
``They obviously need a win against Manly, but it will all depend on next season.
``They have backed themselves into a corner (with Smith) and weren't prepared for the year they've had.''
Despite the low times in Newcastle, Manly centre Steven Bell said he believed the Sea Eagles could not take the Knights lightly.
``Any team on their day is capable of anything,'' the Queenslander said. ``It's going to be a tough one at Gosford and we're expecting (Newcastle) will turn up and be ready to play.''
Stand-in Knights captain Steve Simpson conceded morale was low.
``It's obviously been a tough week, but in saying that, we trained really well on Tuesday night and hopefully we can get a win and put all this behind us,'' he said.
Bluetongue Stadium official Monique Marks said tickets were selling fast for the game with fans on the Central Coast warming to Manly despite the failed joint-venture with the Bears.
``There's still a lot of Manly supporters up here,'' she said. ``Five years has gone past since the Northern Eagles days, but Manly are still popular.''
Officials are expecting up to 19,000 to fill the stadium tonight. Kick off is 7.30pm.

 

[gong_eagle]

Late mail

http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/late-mail/2007/08/10/1186530543604.html
Glenn Jackson | August 10, 2007

NEWCASTLE'S tumultuous week got worse yesterday when Luke Walsh and Cory Paterson were ruled out of the Knights' clash with Manly.
Walsh is out with the flu, while Paterson has a sternum injury. Scott Dureau is likely to make his first-grade debut at halfback, with Adam Woolnough joining the bench in place of Paterson. Reegan Tanner will drop off the interchange.
There were no such problems for Manly, whose coach Des Hasler reported "everyone's OK" yesterday, although he had yet to decide on the make-up of his bench.


 THERE are no general admission tickets remaining for tonight's game at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford, only reserved seats.

 

[Timmah]

Wheelsy just updated it ;-)

 

[Mayor_Quimby]

Late mail




 THERE are no general admission tickets remaining for tonight's game at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford, only reserved seats.

Ticketek still has GA tickets for sale as of midday! :crazy:

 

[Timmah]

:crazy:
General Admission Limited seats only

 

[Dutchy]

Try buying one though - It does not let you.

 

[Mayor_Quimby]

Try buying one though - It does not let you.

I did buy one at midday.

 

[Mayor_Quimby]

They are now exhausted on Ticketek. Although Bluetongue stadium has an unusually low amount of GA tickets.

 

[Timmah]

Only the top end of the diagram above is GA. The entire stands on the left and right sides of the diagram are Reserved seating.

 

[Timmah]

Don't forget to follow the game online tonight... just click here:

http://www.leagueunlimited.com/liveupdate.php?matchid=214