R7 // Knights 6-32 Broncos @ Hunter // Good Fri 7.40pm

[Noname36]

They needed to at least be high enough to put him in two minds and question his positioning. It's not hard to take bombs when you know exactly where they're coming down and you don't need to move. They were the ones we directed at him. I'm not too surprised considering our halves have never been great with putting up the Hail Mary bombs but it they couldn't have done that then put it on the ground so he at least has to do something.

 

[Jobdog]

I didn't think we were that bad, we just weren't good enough and the Broncos defence was far too good. The opening 20 minutes was when the game was won and lost - we had all the ball and all the field position and didn't do anything with it.

We went too lateral and when we did that, the ball movement was far too slow and we telegraphed exactly what we were going to do. The Broncos raced up on the outside and did a great job of nullifying Gagai and Leilua.

We didn't have a Plan B - or we did, but it was do Plan A better. What about kicks in behind to make the Broncos defence on the outside sit back a fraction? And if Chris Houston doesn't learn to pass the ball...

All in all, the yo-yo continues.

 

[Rod]

Pretty insipid performance.

First half we looked likely but kept taking the wrong options combined with some great goal line defence from Brissie. Personally I thought Mullen overused the inside ball to a cutting Scott. Considering we had so much good attacking ball I would have expected to see our sweeping backline plays that utilise Boyd used a bit more often tonight.

Then we just lost the plot a bit. They killed is in several key areas. The ruck, the wrestle, and their line speed all crapped on ours. Plus we started arm-grabbing and falling off blokes way too often for a team that supposedly prides itself on it's defence.

Mullen was flat, but he's allowed an average game here and there. He'll get better. Roberts was disappointing, and that chip after he made the break was borderline geniused. Houston was crap and needs to go. Mostly everyone else was just meh. Not terrible but not good enough either. And credit to the Broncos I guess, they probably sensed they had us on the ropes and played bloody well.

 

[Swarzey]

That chip from Tyrone was heartbreaking. He should have Feigned to kick and backed himself. Barba was turned and ready to chase the kick as he even motioned to do it.

Would have easily scored in the corner and it was at the perfect time to inspire the team to launch a comeback.

 

[Seage]

Pretty hard to watch that. We deadset must have set a record for being held up and turning it over inside the opposition 10m.

Tetavano just doesn't look up to this level for mine. His laziness in defence is not offset by bristling attack. Robbie Rochow has been down the last few weeks after the Sharks game. And Darius. No more to say about that, just Darius....

 

[Apey]

So many stupid moments tonight. Tyrone's chip, Houston in general, two epic < 5m right-hand side blindside plays, BJ dropping it on tackle 1.

 

[K-Man]

The biggest surprise to me is that anyone really expects much better. Read the names in our forward pack before every match, then consider the opposition forwards, then remove the red and blue glasses and actually ask yourself, "are we a better football team than them?"

Bennett has assembled a bottom-heavy roster of quality backs with a group of similar forwards who simply don't cut it in the modern game.

There's not a tackle bust in sight from our forward pack unless it's Scott in recent times, we can't take teams on up the middle and we don't benefit from how good Leilua is because there's no danger inside him.

There are plenty of edge backrowers who would've scored 2 tries in Houston's position, but the guy has nothing whatsoever with the football. He shouldn't be there.

Roster and tactics need a complete cleanout, but wait, aren't we in the 3rd year of Bennett fixing up our issues?

Said it last year, will say it again, I was happier with Stoney. At least we played football. And Stoney had Ciraldo, Taufua et al, and he didn't have Leilua, Gagai, Boyd, Snowden, Mason, Scott.

 

[K-Man]

Pretty hard to watch that. We deadset must have set a record for being held up and turning it over inside the opposition 10m.

Tetavano just doesn't look up to this level for mine. His laziness in defence is not offset by bristling attack. Robbie Rochow has been down the last few weeks after the Sharks game. And Darius. No more to say about that, just Darius....

There's a reason for it. We don't have forwards who can actually muscle their way over.

I mean Houston had Hunt isolated what, 3 times, on their line? Snapped in half every time.

 

[Noname36]

After having a chance to calm down and look at it objectively we weren't that terrible (apart from a couple of obvious exceptions). I think the fact that the score line blew out towards the end was heavily weighing on my perception of the game which for the most part was very high quality. Brisbane's defence was the difference and it completely frustrated us out of the game. Add to that the fact that everything they tried came off and nothing we tried did and we just got progressively worse the more frustrated we got. It was very frustrating to watch but for a much different reason to the Cowboy's game.

 

[Nuffy]

Not much to add really, just gutted.

We arent really very good, but 3 weeks at the end of last year papered over the reality.

Our last tackle options always seem half arsed and rushed and I'd love to see a stat on the effectiveness of our cross field kicking inside the 10. I'm betting we are one of the least effective teams in the comp.

Our completions were good and we won a penalty count but didnt do much else.

That said I am wondering whether we are just a club destined to be unlucky, tonight we had 4 tries held up and couldnt buy a break, the broncos converted every half chance of theirs and had plenty of luck with bouncing balls and bat backs.

We've lost two FGers, had any amount of injuries to key positions already, lost more players to concussions than any other team including standing a player down who passed a cognitive test.

I am wondering whether we'll ever catch a break.

 

[Nuffy]

That chip from Tyrone was heartbreaking. He should have Feigned to kick and backed himself. Barba was turned and ready to chase the kick as he even motioned to do it.

Would have easily scored in the corner and it was at the perfect time to inspire the team to launch a comeback.

Summed up our night really, a clean break, no support, 3rd tackle and goes for the miracle play.

That and Mullos miracle cross field to Mamo with 40 secs left in the first half, we had time for two more shots at them and the miracle play didn't come off.

 

[K-Man]

After having a chance to calm down and look at it objectively we weren't that terrible (apart from a couple of obvious exceptions). I think the fact that the score line blew out towards the end was heavily weighing on my perception of the game which for the most part was very high quality. Brisbane's defence was the difference and it completely frustrated us out of the game. Add to that the fact that everything they tried came off and nothing we tried did and we just got progressively worse the more frustrated we got. It was very frustrating to watch but for a much different reason to the Cowboy's game.

I have to say I disagree with your logic. I think very often in here we talk about a "good" performance or a "bad" performance in relation to completion rates, possession, missed tackles and other stats.

"No wonder we lost, our completion rate was 67%, we never gave ourselves a chance" etc etc.

But tonight the stats were quite decent, and we got comprehensively beaten. So what does that say? To me it says this performance was even more worrying than others. We had the ball, we won the penalty count, we didn't drop it much...but we were still outgunned, out-enthused, and you know what, just plain out-footballed.

That's extremely concerning, far more than 80 minutes where we couldn't quite sort out our handling errors.

They say form is temporary, but class is permanent. Well I'd suggest mistakes are temporary, but skill is permanent. This match was, in my way of seeing it, our worst of the year. We didn't do anything all that bad, but we didn't do anything much at all either, and we lost by 26 to the Broncos in a home game.

Give me a loss where the refs cained us and we kept dropping it trying to play attacking football. That's a loss you recover from. Tonight was a reality check loss. We are pretty useless.

 

[Jobdog]

Summed up our night really, a clean break, no support, 3rd tackle and goes for the miracle play.

That and Mullos miracle cross field to Mamo with 40 secs left in the first half, we had time for two more shots at them and the miracle play didn't come off.

That was after we absolutely butchered a try a few minutes earlier by going short to Mason when Gagai and Mamo had nothing but fresh air in front of them.

 

[1qaz]

Well, that was very disappointing.
I thought Mullen had one of his worst games in attack in awhile.
Took the wrong option on several occasion.
The inside ball to Scott wasn't going to fool anyone. Needed Boyd to backup on the inside of Scott. Boyd was terrible tonight.

Forget needing a front rower, the Knights are desperate need for a ball wrecking back rower.
Young Korbin Sims continues to impress me. He needs to start in place of Houston. I would promote young Tapine to the bench.
Jeremy Smith is playing injured but he has jack all in attack all year.
He needs to step up his game like Scott has.

 

[Misanthrope]

That chip from Tyrone was heartbreaking. He should have Feigned to kick and backed himself. Barba was turned and ready to chase the kick as he even motioned to do it.

Would have easily scored in the corner and it was at the perfect time to inspire the team to launch a comeback.

It wasn't even the last, was it? He could have taken the tackle and had us in position to attack a retreating Brisbane defensive line.

And f**k, I love Jeremy Smith but he was invisible. Saw him pop up in defence here and there but not once did I hear them mention him in the call. Then again, with such a Brisbane driven call team I'm surprised half our players were noted.

He had a couple of bullocking runs early in the game when we were hammering their line, but I didn't notice him much once Brisbane got on the front foot.

And if Chris Houston doesn't learn to pass the ball...

I feel like if he hasn't figured it out yet, he probably never will.

Bennett has assembled a bottom-heavy roster of quality backs with a group of similar forwards who simply don't cut it in the modern game.

There are plenty of edge backrowers who would've scored 2 tries in Houston's position, but the guy has nothing whatsoever with the football. He shouldn't be there.

Roster and tactics need a complete cleanout, but wait, aren't we in the 3rd year of Bennett fixing up our issues?

Said it last year, will say it again, I was happier with Stoney. At least we played football. And Stoney had Ciraldo, Taufua et al, and he didn't have Leilua, Gagai, Boyd, Snowden, Mason, Scott.

The highlighted bit is the biggest for me. We've got a bunch of guys doing the same job that 1 or 2 guys are employed to do at better clubs. We don't have any wrecking balls to hit it up, any ball-playing back rowers, any mongrel enforcers, or any edge runners. We've just got a stable of workmanlike forwards.

 

[Knight Vision]

watched the game in a bar without commentary tonight , my thoughts in point form
1) we were out enthused by a long way tonight. I knew the Broncos were going to win before they scored a point. Just watching the way they were turning up for each other
2) we lack mongrel. Our forwards are dominated ( most games )
3) Housten should never play first grade again. He was way out of his depth and had a howler. Total embarrassment to himself and the jersey. I could of played better.
4) its harder every week for me to ignore the crisp passing game of Clydesdale v Gidely . I'm starting to agree with everyone else here that perhaps before our season is not able to be saved we should ditch Gids
5) this team is soft. Once upon a time a team coming to Newcastle knew they were going to be belted win loose or draw they would wake up hurting the next day. This team lacks pride
6) Boyd had possibly the worst game I've seen him play IMO . is he allergic to the high ball ?

 

[Noname36]

I have to say I disagree with your logic. I think very often in here we talk about a "good" performance or a "bad" performance in relation to completion rates, possession, missed tackles and other stats.

"No wonder we lost, our completion rate was 67%, we never gave ourselves a chance" etc etc.

But tonight the stats were quite decent, and we got comprehensively beaten. So what does that say? To me it says this performance was even more worrying than others. We had the ball, we won the penalty count, we didn't drop it much...but we were still outgunned, out-enthused, and you know what, just plain out-footballed.

That's extremely concerning, far more than 80 minutes where we couldn't quite sort out our handling errors.

They say form is temporary, but class is permanent. Well I'd suggest mistakes are temporary, but skill is permanent. This match was, in my way of seeing it, our worst of the year. We didn't do anything all that bad, but we didn't do anything much at all either, and we lost by 26 to the Broncos in a home game.

Give me a loss where the refs cained us and we kept dropping it trying to play attacking football. That's a loss you recover from. Tonight was a reality check loss. We are pretty useless.

I can see where you're coming from but I just see it differently to you. I can throw my hands up and cop a loss when we were comprehensively outplayed (particularly in defence) by a very good opposition on the night. It's the games where the opposition are there for the taking (like NQ) but we show up and have no respect for the football that really grinds my gears. I'd take us having a go and going down to a good side over not having a go and getting done by a poor side any day of the week.

I get that a loss where we were just outplayed and couldn't blame it on lack of footy or poor ref decisions would depress you (I think it does all of us) but those glaring weaknesses we have (particularly in the forwards) that usually get skipped over due to something more obvious (I.e. Dropped balls, penalties, etc) are still there no matter how many times we stick our heads in the sand and think possession is our only problem. It certainly isn't and I think last night proved to us again that it doesn't matter how much chance we give ourselves through controlling the footy and not giving away penalties if we don't have a pack of forwards that are capable of doing damage we're never to trouble the good sides that can defend. The same point was hammered home last night as it was during the Roosters semi last year. Is knowing that depressing? Oh shit yeah! but we're not in a better place by sticking our heads in the sand and thinking we'll be okay against the good sides if we control possession.

I can guarantee that we'll win more games playing like we did last night than we will playing like we did against NQ.

 

[Joker's Wild]

I said after last weeks game that we were lucky that the Raiders were a worse team than ours and that a half decent side would have beaten us. Well Brissy are a decent side and they beat us pretty easily in the end.

Our pack isnt our issue, we have the elements we need outside of a second ball playing back rower. The issue is clearly 2 fold

- Attitude to win at any cost is missing. The boys have lost their will to fight when they are under the pump

- Stiff and predictable ball movement. We have minimal if any decoy runners and are not adaptable enough to different defences. If a team comes up and in, we keep shifting inside instead of trying to shift wide, etc

In short, the boys heads are the issue, not their ability. Even House has it in him if he is just played tight

 

[Noname36]

I said after last weeks game that we were lucky that the Raiders were a worse team than ours and that a half decent side would have beaten us. Well Brissy are a decent side and they beat us pretty easily in the end.

Our pack isnt our issue, we have the elements we need outside of a second ball playing back rower. The issue is clearly 2 fold

- Attitude to win at any cost is missing. The boys have lost their will to fight when they are under the pump

- Stiff and predictable ball movement. We have minimal if any decoy runners and are not adaptable enough to different defences. If a team comes up and in, we keep shifting inside instead of trying to shift wide, etc

In short, the boys heads are the issue, not their ability. Even House has it in him if he is just played tight

I certainly agree with the issues you've listed, but I also have to question the ability of a lot of players in the forward pack. Our forwards got held up in goal like 4 times last night. That was obviously part the Bronco's defence but like others have already mentioned it was also a symptom of the general lack of effectiveness of a lot of our forwards. Better forwards would have scored those trys.

I absolutely agree with the other issues you've listed though.

 

[Joker's Wild]

I cant blame the guys who got held up, Brisbane swarmed them with numbers and strength. Even Sims was close to being held up when he scored

In our wins from last year we were praising our pack, especially Scott and Smith, for their grit and domination. Against the dogs and Storm our pack was our key to winning. They have the skills just not the attitude in 2014 for mine