R7 | Knights 22-28 Eels @ Hunter | Sun 4.00pm

[Newie is God's Country]

Been a while since I have posted but this last three weeks has been hard to take.

 

[Swarzey]

Thing is, almost every half option that gets thrown up are just as bad, if not worse, just blinded by one or two good games. Take Norman and Sandow today, probably won't play like that next week, sure as f**k won't be even close later in the year. Austin IS a player we should have chased but I don't think he would have been the answer, just another Roberts that's slightly more consistent.

 

[Nuffy]

I have no time for bandwagoners who only support a team when they're winning but...

How long is a person supposed to put up with this for? That's 2 hours of a Sunday afternoon I wasted watching the same clueless bullshit that has felt all too commonplace since Brian Smith left- and remember people who support this very club thought he ripped the heart out of the place! :lol: FFS.

It's not about coming away with a loss. It's about the lack of focus and ability on the playing field, and lack of ambition off it. I feel as if the long held reputation of Knights fans for being especially loyal is working against the whole organisation here. A greater demand for accountability from the people buying tickets, memberships and merchandise, on a large scale, would surely go some way to ensuring the next 5 seasons provide more than just glacial squad rotation and ambition that aims no higher than making the top 8.

I went to the match against the Titans a few weeks ago in the rain, and come the Broncos game I will make the trip up as a token presence. But beyond that, days like today make me seriously reconsider how much attention I pay to these inept plodders. Because it feels less like entertainment or an enjoyable distraction, and more like something I do just because I'm used to it...

This, when your CEO, football manager, coach and captains got the job was that they are considered Novocastrian, what hope is there.

I am proud to have been born and raised there but the small mindedness is a cancer and nowhere more evident than at this club.

There is zero honest in that club, it's a cozy club for insiders only.

 

[Alex28]

I love Tyrone, but his confidence is shot. That was the worst game he has played.

I don't understand, we are so abysmal at last tackle options I don't know why we bother. Should just pass it to Gagai or BJ and run it. We wouldn't end up in a worse spot.

Beg to differ. I really hoped that the 2013 finals series would be the making of him, but he was ordinary last year, and worse this year. He was terrible today.

I just don't think he is NRL standard unfortunately.

 

[Whats Doing]

I said 3 seasons ago after 6 games that Roberts is not a first grade half and nothing has changed my mind since.
. He doesn't possess the necessary skill set to be a half. He is a one trick pony with a show and go and that is not that effective these days.
. He doesn't know how to draw the defence and put a player through the gap.
. At 1st receiver he mostly takes the ball standing still which slows the attack.
. He doesn't work well with the forwards.
. He doesn't take the ball to the line and pass.
. He doesn't play straight and put the defence in two minds with some inside passing.
. He goes missing in action most games.

The knights need to stop with this local mentality which will always hold us back and buy a good half.

Elgey in just 4 games has shown the requisite skill set we need. He was brilliant yesterday and it is no coincidence the improvement in the Titans has been since he has been in 1st grade.

 

[Nuffy]

Thing is, almost every half option that gets thrown up are just as bad, if not worse, just blinded by one or two good games. Take Norman and Sandow today, probably won't play like that next week, sure as f**k won't be even close later in the year. Austin IS a player we should have chased but I don't think he would have been the answer, just another Roberts that's slightly more consistent.

Swarzey, to be fair the difference is that Mullen is on massive money and played 200 games yet he is still making the same bad decisions more often than not.

He just isn't up to it.

 

[Swarzey]

Elgey in just 4 games has shown the requisite skill set we need. He was brilliant yesterday and it is no coincidence the improvement in the Titans has been seen he has been in 1st grade.

And there lies the problem. It's a risk. Four games and we're seeing him as this ultimate, must buy halfback. Who's to say he doesn't shit the bed for the remainder of the season? How many kids have shown signs of brilliance in their early few games only to disappear? Beau Henry looked pretty f**king good when we signed him IMO and look where he is now.

 

[CycloneSteve]

Can't wait for the Cowboys gaaaaaaame

Oh Jesus..... :shock:

 

[Swarzey]

Swarzey, to be fair the difference is that Mullen is on massive money and played 200 games yet he is still making the same bad decisions more often than not.

He just isn't up to it.

Yet I can find more games to support keeping him then you can calling for his head. He isn't the first halve to go through this sort of bad patch, he's is the first veteran to go through it and it won't be the last. Furthermore, he didn't cost us the game, he didn't ruin it, he didn't f**k it up. It's no coincidence when we started making mistakes our performance dropped off.

It's clear he's down on confidence and you simply don't wake up one day with it unless your name is Thurston. Throwing him a side does no good for anyone.

 

[undertaker]

I don't think the top 8 is a possibility. We will be lucky to avoid the spoon. I can't see where our next win will be?

Still another 17 games to go. Please don't underestimate how crucial those first three games could end up being by end of Round 26. Most on this forum were saying the same thing mid-way through 2013 (that the team was a write-off) before things turned around (starting with the Bulldogs game in Mackay).

We've just got to get back to doing the basics first. No point trying to devise game plans when we are consistently doing coachkillers: easily turning over possession in our opponents half of the field, knock-ons when there's no pressure, throwing stupid forward passes out of dummy half, get caught with the ball on last tackle, giving away stupid penalties that directly lead to tries (e.g. Mullen's failure to get out of the way in the 2nd half, which led to the Eels try) etc. I mean, that's all Under 8's stuff.

 

[Nuffy]

And there lies the problem. It's a risk. Four games and we're seeing him as this ultimate, must buy halfback. Who's to say he doesn't shit the bed for the remainder of the season? How many kids have shown signs of brilliance in their early few games only to disappear? Beau Henry looked pretty f**king good when we signed him IMO and look where he is now.

10 games and we've paid twice as much for Sione.

He is as big a risk frankly.

 

[Knightmare]

This, when your CEO, football manager, coach and captains got the job was that they are considered Novocastrian, what hope is there.

I am proud to have been born and raised there but the small mindedness is a cancer and nowhere more evident than at this club.

There is zero honest in that club, it's a cozy club for insiders only.

The thing is, I notice this atttude all the more because I have never lived in the Hunter all my life. My support for the Knights was born out of admiring the players' guts, determination and willingness give each weekend their best shot, win or lose. Their pride in the jersey, the badge and the town they represented. That attitude was reflected in the supporters, too. Remember the days when every Sydney clubs' fans knew they'd have to step their game up if they were hosting the Knights that weekend? I remember back in 2001, coming home from a match against the Sharks on the train and this old lady (Souths fan) made the comment that "If every teams' fans got behind their side the way Newcastle fans do, the game as a whole would be so much better".

Who would say that about our supporter base today? On the one hand the impulsive negativity and the emo's piss me off, but you see this lack of accountability for performance and the almost incestuous culture at the club from the top down and is it any wonder?

And as an "outsider", it makes me wonder if the club really gives a shit about the support I've had for this club since I was 12? Or are those of us who are "the outsiders" fools for caring about an organisation that doesn't seem to give a shit about us, or much else that exists outside the goldfish bowl?

 

[perverse]

We're at a point now where there's a whole generation of kids that have only ever known the Knights as a hopeless, struggling team. We are to them what Wests, Rabbitohs, etc were in the 90's. Our membership is going to continue to dwindle unless we can find success. Unfortunately the only legitimate success this club really ever had was producing and managing to keep Andrew Johns.

I'm starting to think that we can look forward to quite a long time of mediocrity yet. All the conditions are set in the back office with all locals running the show and little accountability. I see no reason why we would succeed in the next 10 years as opposed to the previous 10.

 

[Nuffy]

Yet I can find more games to support keeping him then you can calling for his head. He isn't the first halve to go through this sort of bad patch, he's is the first veteran to go through it and it won't be the last. Furthermore, he didn't cost us the game, he didn't ruin it, he didn't f**k it up. It's no coincidence when we started making mistakes our performance dropped off.

It's clear he's down on confidence and you simply don't wake up one day with it unless your name is Thurston. Throwing him a side does no good for anyone.

Something has to change because he's never fulfilled his obvious potential.

He can't control a game and can't build pressure.

He can't make the big plays consistently and inside 10 he's at his worst.

What's the point in persevering, let him go and move on, 10 yrs and 200 games is enough patience.

 

[Whats Doing]

And there lies the problem. It's a risk. Four games and we're seeing him as this ultimate, must buy halfback. Who's to say he doesn't shit the bed for the remainder of the season? How many kids have shown signs of brilliance in their early few games only to disappear? Beau Henry looked pretty f**king good when we signed him IMO and look where he is now.

There is a big difference is skill set between Henry and Elgey. That is what you need to judge on.

I don't think i ever saw Henry had a good game. He was far too slow and had no running game.

We have had Roberts who is now in his 4th season. WTF and we are still persisting for him to come good. How many chances do you need.

As I said, he didn't possess the necessary skill sets when he came into the NRL and hasn't developed them.

Elgey has already demonstrated he has those.

 

[undertaker]

Wayne is laughing all the way to the bank, whereas the Newcastle Knights Rugby League Football Club are not far off becoming what Souths were from 1972-2006.

Turn it up mate!:lol:

No matter how bad things may be going in Newcastle, we will NEVER, EVER be as bad as South Sydney were, especially during 2002-06 (the period after their re-admission to the NRL). 3 wooden spoons in those 5 years, and a 4th one would've ensued had the Bulldogs not had the salary crap scandal in 2002. They were an absolute mess of a side until Crowe/Holmes a Court came on board and made the changes in 2007 which led to their first finals appearance in nearly 20 yrs (largely thanks to our late 8 min surge from us to defeat the Tigers after the full-time siren).

That 2006 team of theirs was one of the worst I've ever seen: only 3 wins out of 24 games with a -343 F/A. Only the 1999 Western Suburbs Magpies team and 1993 Gold Coast Seagulls team rank as worse sides than that. Seagulls only won one game that year (against us) and 1999 Magpies side had.....wait for this....-659 F/A, conceeding 39pts/game:lol:. That's worse than the level of defence in the Holden Cup. We are a long, looooooong way off that level of ineptitude.

 

[God-King Dean]

f**k me dead you lot are a pathetic bunch of depressed merkins :lol:

Nothing is ever good enough.

I agree.

Why can't you pricks stop being right,& be content with losing.

Obviously not true fans.

 

[perverse]

I agree.

Why can't you pricks stop being right,& be content with losing.

Obviously not true fans.

Sadly, for much of the supporter base of the Knights, this is exactly the case Deano. Happy to watch the team fart around like headless c**ks on the field as long as they're local. The only blokes that need to perform in Knights colours are out-of-towners.

 

[Knightmare]

At a stretch, I doubt many kids under 4 watched the 2001 Grand Final (being a night-time game and all). That would make them 17 or 18 now. My strongest memory of the Knights growing up, was being "everybody's second team", being a side no other team took lightly (especially if they were playing at Marathon) and having a sizeable army of supporters who would show up to pretty much any game in NSW rain, hail or shine. Oh, and names like Johns, Harragon, Tahu, Macdougall, O'Davis, Albert, Kennedy, Parsons, Buderus and Peden. Who wouldn't want to be part of that?

I'd love to know what the attitude of the typical Novocastrian aged 15-20 today is of the Knights...

 

[Swarzey]

Something has to change because he's never fulfilled his obvious potential.

He can't control a game and can't build pressure.

He can't make the big plays consistently and inside 10 he's at his worst.

What's the point in persevering, let him go and move on, 10 yrs and 200 games is enough patience.

Mate you've seen me post the game stuff in other threads about his 2013 and back end of 2014 form. Just watch any game from there you see his class, his ability and his skill. Even go watch his return against the Raiders, Bulldogs and even City Country. Yes, he isn't playing the way someone who's played over a decade and 200+ games should, you expect consistency, but this? What he's serving up now? Is a rough patch plain and simple.

There is a big difference is skill set between Henry and Elgey. That is what you need to judge on.

I don't think i ever saw Henry had a good game. He was far too slow and had no running game.

We have had Roberts who is now in his 4th season. WTF and we are still persisting for him to come good. How many chances do you need.

As I said, he didn't possess the necessary skill sets when he came into the NRL and hasn't developed them.

Elgey has already demonstrated he has those.

After FOUR GAMES. FOUR. UNDERSCORE FOUR. BOLD FOUR.

Give me a break :lol:

I'm not defending Roberts, I'd rather see Feeney get the opportunity, even Randell but this idea that a player after four games is a better long term, hell, short term option is ridiculous. This idea that we should just take whatever scraps, thinking that a handful of good games is enough to justify their signing is pathetic and nothing short of that.