R9 // Knights 10-32 Panthers @ Hunter // Sun 2pm

[Noname36]

A lot has been said about our forwards, and they're obviously shit, but seriously does any side have dumber backs than us? Two tries came directly off stupidity by Leilua. And in Penrith's second try why didn't McManus just freaking ground it? Who was he trying to flick it on to on the outside? He's the f**king winger! There's nobody wider!

At the moment I actually can't work out if we're not having a go or we're trying too hard.

This is gonna be a bloody long season gents. I honestly don't know what we can do. Nothing is going right.

Boyd has to go. Snowden and Roberts had their worst games in a long time. I'd almost be tempted to bring Dobbo back in. He wasn't great at the start of the year but we need a half that's capable of taking the lead when Mullo is quiet like he was today and Roberts doesn't do that.

On the plus side I thought Tapine went great. Didn't notice Vaivai much either positively or negatively but in our side not being noticed is probably a compliment. Have to give Gids a compliment too. Looked dangerous and seemed to be trying his best to lift us.

All in all terrible. I'd start demanding answers but honestly I don't care anymore. My enthusiasm was well and truly crushed by round 3.

 

[Apey]

Irrespective of that Leuila blunder, one of my biggest criticisms of our team and the reason why we've gone crap is that simply, our line speed is way too slow. When we past the ball from left to right or right to left, the defence is already up in our face and we can't seem to really make use of those second phase plays that teams like the Storm seem to execute well.

Agreed... us making a backline play is pretty rare, and when we do, it results in someone getting smashed by a defender.

No, it's just you wouldn't have the guts to say that in front of their faces. Another keyboard warrior.

:lol: you belong in the Mighty Newcastle Knights group. Some of our players are absolute rubbish.

 

[Apey]

Just as an aside the highlight of the day was seeing IanG sporting a ranga beard accompanied by his sexy pink WIL Knights jersey.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

I swear to god if one more person on that Facebook page states that they bleed red and blue one more time I am gonna lose it.

 

[Noname36]

What style of football does suit these plodders? There is no style of football that makes the likes of Houston a viable first grader. Imagine what Leilua would be f**king up if he had a license to 'dazzle'. What style of football would make Darius put in for 80 minutes?

The players are f**ked. There a few blokes that do their job week in, week out... The rest of them are just total pretenders.

If anything today made be even more adamant that coaching isn't our problem. If anyone thinks they're coached to try and flick the ball backwards through their f**king legs or throw it around willy nilly in the in goal or knock it on both sets after a try then they're deluded. Those f**k ups were the difference today. The talented players we do have in the side like BJ, Gagai and Uate are stupid.

People say they want us to play more attacking football, but we can't even catch the ball when a bloke is put in the clear. These morons aren't capable of playing at a higher level.

I have to laugh when people keep calling us to sack Wayne...because me, I'm wondering why the f**k he's still hanging around this rabble.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

If anything today made be even more adamant that coaching isn't our problem. If anyone thinks they're coached to try and flick the ball backwards through their f**king legs or throw it around willy nilly in the in goal or knock it on both sets after a try then they're deluded. Those f**k ups were the difference today. The talented players we do have in the side like BJ, Gagai and Uate are stupid.

People say they want us to play more attacking football, but we can't even catch the ball when a bloke is put in the clear. These morons aren't capable of playing at a higher level.

I have to laugh when people keep calling us to sack Wayne...because me, I'm wondering why the f**k he's still hanging around this rabble.

The Facebook page has started a change.org sack Bennett petition. Has 2 signatures so far.

 

[Jobdog]

Well, let's just forget that shambles happened.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

And now there is a guy on the Facebook page saying that costigan was a big influence on the team and that's one of the reasons why we suck. What the hell is in the water in Newcastle?

 

[Noname36]

The Facebook page has started a change.org sack Bennett petition. Has 2 signatures so far.

And now there is a guy on the Facebook page saying that costigan was a big influence on the team and that's one of the reasons why we suck. What the hell is in the water in Newcastle?

I'm actually legitimately embarrassed...this coming from someone that managed to sit through the whole game today :crazy:

 

[Misanthrope]

I think the problem is bigger than the squad or the coach. IMO, the coach needs to go because he's obviously not up to the job - but the new coach should run a broom through the mess, as there are players who don't deserve a spot in first grade.

 

[Zoidberg]

I just can't grasp how we finished off so well last season and this is what we dish out now.

Yes, we weren't great every week late last year, but we had strong defence, fluent attack and we were doing that pretty much every week, even though we didn't win every week.

How can we go so far backwards? It's beyond me and I'm really having trouble gettin myself excited to watch us play.

We seem to play ok-good against the better sides, and crap against the lesser sides.
I think I'd rather us play good against the lesser sides an crap against the top teams. We might get smashed against the tops but at least we may scrape in a few wins against shitty sides.

So frustrating I don't think I'm even making sense.

 

[The Showstopper]

I have no answers. That was absolutely shocking to witness. Someone has to have a backbone now and makr hard decisions. We won't make the 8. Not a chance in hell on that effort. Seriously depressing stuff. Sacking Bennett won't fix this.

 

[Rod]

I'm with the 'lost for words' gang pretty much. Certainly don't think I have any insights into what the real problem is. A few weeks into the season we were playing ok and just not getting wins. Now we're not even playing ok. Pervy is probably on to something with the crapness of our forward pack today.

Penrith defence was pretty good, I'll give them that. Other than that they weren't particularly good and we still managed to look a distant second to them.

Our backline is still pretty good on paper but some of the guys are having individual issues at the moment. Boyd and Uate still aren't in good form, Leilua had the worst game of perhaps his life. Gagai won't even come close to Origin until he packs on some meat and/or stops with the Tony Williams 'fend defender off but remain stationary' move. Roberts is struggling quite a bit and honestly has been for quite a bit of the season.

Forwards aren't really worth mentioning until we can field a better pack. Houston is completely hopeless although was far from our biggest problem today. Cuthbo and Scott are the only ones playing consistent footy. Tapine at least had a strong debut.

As I said on page 1 of this thread, we had to win or it's season over. With Manly at Brookie next week I'd say that's pretty much the case, we'll probably not only cop a spanking but our traditional 3 or 4 injuries from that game.

 

[The Showstopper]

I feel these players do not get the weight the jumper they wear carries. Josh Reynolds killed it today cos he is a winner. He wants it bad even when the Dogs are struggling. Name one player in our club who is that driven. I would remind them this club was built on blokes who were so tough they put the shit stains in their opponents shorts. I would happily take the early days back if it meant we got people going home in agony win lose or draw. Sam Stewart would by fillthy if he captained this side today. Our captain is a non event.

 

[Rod]

It's ironic you bring up Gidley at the end of your post because for me he's one of our only guys that does the things you mention at the start of your post.

 

[Noname36]

I'm with the 'lost for words' gang pretty much. Certainly don't think I have any insights into what the real problem is.

If the club is also at the same loss we are as to what the problem is then that would be making the issue worse. It's impossible to fix a problem if you don't know what it is. I bet you could ask the most gifted footy brains in the league where they think our issue stems from and they'd all say something different. Seriously need to do some soul searching...and that's everyone from the playing group, to the coaching staff and to admin.

 

[cram]

I haven't watched a game all year as I have been away most of the season this far. Obviously results and comments here tell me we are playing poorly.

Does anyone think the back room antics are having an impact on the team?

 

[Sacrolishes]

Something is going on behind the doors, its the only explanation for what they are dishing up now to what they were showing at end of last season.

How good are those Under 20's though huh?? Positives...POSITIVES!!!!

 

[K-Man]

I said weeks ago this had nothing to do with playing poorly and everything to do with actually being a poor team. People didn't want a bar of it. "We were a bit unlucky to lose that one," was a theme.

Fact is, we were not dropping the ball that much or even getting smashed in the penalty count. But we were still losing and we still looked clueless in attack. And THAT was the real worry. We were getting Bennett's fundamentals close enough to right, but we were nowhere near good enough to actually trouble teams.

That's when I said, "Imagine what will happen when we actually do have poor completions!" Today was a good indication.

Dull, predictable football gets dull, predictable results in 2014. If Wayne can't figure that out he's not the coach he was or is supposed to be.

Yes we're missing forwards, but the Panthers were missing 4 forwards too. Our spine is on the field.

Our forwards generally aren't up to it. Our tactics are outdated. A couple of wins last year were masking massive holes in our roster and overall game plans on a weekly basis.

 

[Noname36]

I said weeks ago this had nothing to do with playing poorly and everything to do with actually being a poor team. People didn't want a bar of it. "We were a bit unlucky to lose that one," was a theme.

Fact is, we were not dropping the ball that much or even getting smashed in the penalty count. But we were still losing and we still looked clueless in attack. And THAT was the real worry. We were getting Bennett's fundamentals close enough to right, but we were nowhere near good enough to actually trouble teams.

That's when I said, "Imagine what will happen when we actually do have poor completions!" Today was a good indication.

Dull, predictable football gets dull, predictable results in 2014. If Wayne can't figure that out he's not the coach he was or is supposed to be.

Yes we're missing forwards, but the Panthers were missing 4 forwards too. Our spine is on the field.

Our forwards generally aren't up to it. Our tactics are outdated. A couple of wins last year were masking massive holes in our roster and overall game plans on a weekly basis.

My problem with this argument is that the change in our performances in the space is one off season is really severe. Too severe for me to buy into the idea that we simply overachieved last season and we've always been terrible. Even if we did overachieve a bit last year the difference between how we played last season and how we're playing this year are light years apart. It's a completely different team.

The argument that our tactics are simply outdated doesn't fly with me when they were working perfectly fine 6 months ago. The issue isn't our tactics, it's how we're playing. It doesn't matter what tactics you throw at these blokes at the moment, we still won't play well.

There's obviously something fundamentally wrong that wasn't there last year. I don't know what it is (so much crap has happened you could close your eyes and point and you'd find something that could be contributing), but it's certainly bigger than tactics, and it's certainly seen a big change in our performances from one season to next.