R5 | Dragons 19-16 Knights @ WIN Jubilee | Sun 3.00pm

[Jobdog]

I was at the game today and the thing that disappointed me more than the loss and the performance by some of the players, was the lack of support there from our so-called fans. Out of the 14,266 that were there, I reckon we would be lucky to have 500 there from what I saw. We get criticized as a team that cant win away, yet we give them no support when they travel! I drove a 4 hour round trip from Goulburn to watch them with 3 kids in tow!! Surely it isn't that hard for people to travel and support our team especially to a game in Sydney!

While I agree with what you're saying, once we start consistently winning on the road, the away support will start to pick up. It's really that simple.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Still haven't seen the game yet as I had to work. But going by this thread it looks like Mckinnon demonstrated again that he isn't a centre. Go back 2/3 weeks and plenty of people on here were talking him up as good centre. As I said at the time, one solid game against a team that played poorly isn't enough evidence to go by to make a judgement on it.

Also it sounds like Costigan was hopeless again. He's played one good game this year and only a few more good games in 2 years, so based on this he needs to be dropped.

Anther theme that I have noticed from this thread is that Gidley didn't play that well at hooker. I see on nrl.com that he made 40 tackles, so the fatigue factor may have played a role. He's also played very little football over the last 12 months, so it may take some time for him to get his timing right.

Also I can't wait to get Buderus back. Sorry trollboy2010, but even at 35 I believe Buderus is critical to the teams performance.

 

[Jobdog]

I thought Tahu wasn't overly special but I'm willing to give him another chance. McKinnon to the bench, Leilua to right centre and Costigan back to NSW Cup.

 

[Spot On]

I haven't watched the game.

I'd like to know how Snowden performed though as this arvo on Talkin Sport, Peter Tunks was particularly brutal in his summation of Kade's NRL career since arriving back in Newcastle. Yesterday's performance started him on the subject. Was Snowden back to his worst yesterday???

 

[perverse]

I haven't watched the game.

I'd like to know how Snowden performed though as this arvo on Talkin Sport, Peter Tunks was particularly brutal in his summation of Kade's NRL career since arriving back in Newcastle. Yesterday's performance started him on the subject. Was Snowden back to his worst yesterday???

In the work he did, he was actually very, very good. His hitups were pretty strong, and his 2 offloads were both excellent and gained us plenty of metres... but he just didn't do enough of it. Our stop-start offence with all the drop ball didn't really help. I'm not sure if he got credited with a hitup on both occasions that he offloaded, but he probably made 8-10 metres on each of those runs, too. All in all, there was quality but nowhere near the quantity that was on display the week previous.

Our pack shared the work around pretty well, but we just didn't complete our sets well enough, and lost the ball early in the tackle count too often. A lot of people pretty unhappy with the game... but all things considered, we really played quite good football when we held onto it. I agree with what Bennett said in the press conference, the effort was certainly there... the Dragons just completed far better than us. We made too many unforced errors, and it cost us the match. I wouldn't worry too much about the match, there were plenty of positives in my opinion. The fact that we only got beaten by 3 points after giving a full 10 sets of 6 more to the opposition ain't that bad... just need to respect our possession more.

 

[Rolla]

I thought Tahu wasn't overly special but I'm willing to give him another chance. McKinnon to the bench, Leilua to right centre and Costigan back to NSW Cup.

Our outside backs didn't get many opportunities, but T was solid enough, and did all the right things to score the try from the chance he got. I'm not sure that he was bad enough to need to be given 'another chance' as you put it. I mean he was easily better than Quinn and Mckinnon have been and was very good last year so the spot should be his until he performs poorly IMO.

Agree totally with you team changes. Not sure how much more NEV i can take

 

[Rolla]

In the work he did, he was actually very, very good. His hitups were pretty strong, and his 2 offloads were both excellent and gained us plenty of metres... but he just didn't do enough of it. Our stop-start offence with all the drop ball didn't really help. I'm not sure if he got credited with a hitup on both occasions that he offloaded, but he probably made 8-10 metres on each of those runs, too. All in all, there was quality but nowhere near the quantity that was on display the week previous.

Our pack shared the work around pretty well, but we just didn't complete our sets well enough, and lost the ball early in the tackle count too often.

Yeah, i watched the game and went away thinking he was great and even gave him some KOTW points. I later saw his stats and was a little bit shocked so i guess it was a Quality over Quantity performance... Kind of the opposite of his usual games last season.

 

[perverse]

Yeah, i watched the game and went away thinking he was great and even gave him some KOTW points. I later saw his stats and was a little bit shocked so i guess it was a Quality over Quantity performance... Kind of the opposite of his usual games last season.

If we had another 5 or 6 sets completed his stats probably would have come out looking a lot more on par, I would have thought. As you said, I thought the quality was definitely there.

 

[perverse]

Our outside backs didn't get many opportunities, but T was solid enough, and did all the right things to score the try from the chance he got. I'm not sure that he was bad enough to need to be given 'another chance' as you put it. I mean he was easily better than Quinn and Mckinnon have been and was very good last year so the spot should be his until he performs poorly IMO.

Agree totally with you team changes. Not sure how much more NEV i can take

He was so far beyond what Quinn and McKinnon provide, it's ridiculous. Tahu's try doesn't even happen with one of those blokes playing there instead. He's got the class to turn chances into tries.

 

[Whats Doing]

The dragons dominated with their kicking game in the first half where we kept coming much deeper from our own end than the dragons which resulted in being behind at half time. I also felt our power running was below par which didn't assist getting our of own half.

The second half we got into the arm wrestle but errors late in the game put an end to any comeback.

Lack of field position and power running in the first half and keeping patient in the arm wrestle in the second half brought us undone.

To only lose by 3 points is a positive but we will need to put away teams below us whether how or away if we are to compete against the top 3.

 

[Joker's Wild]

I thought Tahu wasn't overly special but I'm willing to give him another chance. McKinnon to the bench, Leilua to right centre and Costigan back to NSW Cup.

I personally thought that outside of the silly pass he threw to hand Soward a field goal, he was our best outside back the whole game. He was instrumental in keeping the ball alive on 2 occasions that got us back into the game on the first and nearly won it for us in the second.

T certainly deserves to stay in the team

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I personally thought that outside of the silly pass he threw to hand Soward a field goal, he was our best outside back the whole game. He was instrumental in keeping the ball alive on 2 occasions that got us back into the game on the first and nearly won it for us in the second.

T certainly deserves to stay in the team

Yeah I agree mate. Tahu did some pretty good things out their on Sunday.

Also I noticed that on the occasions when Mckinnon came in field and played like a second rower, he did very well. He was making great meters and his leg drive was terrific. I'm looking forward to him moving into the back row and seeing how he performs on a regular basis.

 

[Yosh]

Yeah I agree mate. Tahu did some pretty good things out their on Sunday.

Also I noticed that on the occasions when Mckinnon came in field and played like a second rower, he did very well. He was making great meters and his leg drive was terrific. I'm looking forward to him moving into the back row and seeing how he performs on a regular basis.

One time McKinnon had two dragons on him and his leg drive took him another 10 metres. They just couldnt stop him. Good player this lad.

 

[aqua_duck]

One time McKinnon had two dragons on him and his leg drive took him another 10 metres. They just couldnt stop him. Good player this lad.

House would've been driven back 10m (by Soward on his own)

 

[perverse]

House would get blown into the crowd by a stiff breeze.

 

[aqua_duck]

House would get blown into the crowd by a stiff breeze.

:lol::lol::lol:

 

[Rolla]

House would get blown into the crowd by a stiff breeze.

Before trying to milk a penalty for gravity holding him down

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I hate to say it but I watched the replay of the game and I thought house ran the ball as hard as he has in a long time.

 

[perverse]

I'm a House fan, I think there's a place for him. He runs better than say, Hilder... and gets about as much work done. His ball and all tackle is mostly extremely effective. It's kinda annoying having him on the fringes in attack though, for sure. He just doesn't threaten. Rochow is certainly making his presence felt, though.

He's a part of our leadership group... so I think he'd have to be f**king up pretty deluxe to even be considered to be dropped even to the bench.

 

[Joker's Wild]

He either needs to move to lock or into the prop rotation. He is just too ineffective outwide