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

[Joker's Wild]

Ill discipline has killed us more than anything this year. Its not always the amount of penalties they give away but more when.

On a wet day I dont expect razzle dazzle footy

 

[Rod]

I'd like to see a comparison of the penalties we're conceding last year compared to this year, it certainly seems like we're conceding a lot more this year.

Maybe we're just conceding more dumb ones which makes it seem worse...

 

[Allstar Knights]

I don't think we need to play a heap of ad-lib footy, but some variation in attack would be good. Our set plays with Boyd swooping out the back seem too slow and predictable. Our edge backrowers also need to try different angles in their line running as they are failing to create opportunities for the outside backs.

 

[eozsmiles]

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?

I reckon that a few people thought everything would be sweet when Wayne got here. Matt Gidley might have been parachuted into his role, don't know if he's 100% up for it. Maybe the guys paid for recruitment aren't taking enough responsibility. Maybe some of the senior players and coaches thought Wayne would bring a magic wand with him.

I don't know, just guessing.

One thing I know from following the racing a bit is that when Tinkler's farm fell over, the trainers etc were struggling for gear. Bills weren't getting paid and it was hard work for them to run the stable. If HSG have run up the sort of debt being reported, maybe some of the comforts that were around when Nathan took over have disappeared. Losing some facilities would not be good for morale and in turn performance.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Disagree Allstar, in fact Id say its the opposite

Rochow and Scott need to run as decoys more instead of receiving the ball so often. The reason our backs are lacking space is because they are not getting it early enough and defences are swarming our edge forwards.

Some variation on how often they get the ball is needed, not their angles

 

[eozsmiles]

It's pretty sour to see the optimism gone. Even when not doing well, Knights fans are known to be resilient and hopeful. There is a real sense that the next win is a way off. Next weekend shapes up as a nightmare.

 

[Swarzey]

Had this been a 2010/2011 side, I wouldn't really care too much but given the quality players we have out there, results like this should be a thing of the past.

 

[1qaz]

When points were at a premium, BJ gifted them 2 tries. The Knights were never going to come back after that.

One of the biggest problems the Knights are having is the set after they score. It is usually a fckup when ends in a try to the opposition.
They struggle to score back to back tries.

Gidley needs to go. He's the biggest handbrake in the Knights team. Throw his money at Issac Luke.
When the Knights have a roll on and quick play the balls, Gidley always tries to milk a penalty and by doing do he always kills the momentum.


I thought the two debutants both had solid games.
Houston was shieet as always. He won't be here next season thank goodness.

 

[K-Man]

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.

Perhaps I wasn't clear - I think both our tactics and our roster are fundamentally flawed. We were not that great in 2013 until near the end. Mostly we won games convincingly when our opposition were woeful, and lost a lot of serious matches against serious teams who could handle our one-dimensional attacking philosophy and structure.

Then we produced two great wins. We really did not play good football consistently last season.

Now the game's faster, our slow and non-skillful forwards look even slower and less skillful. Our lack of second phase play and footwork or tackle-breaking up the middle and fringes renders our classy outside backs meaningless.

As far as I can see Bennett got a team he wanted. He recruited a certain way, he said they weren't dad's army, it has backfired on him because our forwards are 100 per cent not up to the modern game and to top it all of we play with so little flair that even when we dominate both possession and field position our opponents genuinely don't have any trouble keeping us out. We attack like other teams get out of trouble.

For a team with it's spine on the field, our structure is woeful. More support play, more offloads, more decoy runners, more footwork at the line, more inside balls and passes between the forwards around the ruck, a commitment to gain forward momentum before shifting the ball wide to outside backs getting picked off by organised sliding defences, better last-tackle options highlighted by attempts to force repeat sets rather than chip-bomb the ball straight to the fullback or winger, and the list goes on and on and on.

What will Bennett actually be focusing on? Better ball control. That's despite the fact that even when we do have better ball control we still can't threaten to score points against any half-decent side because we don't trouble them up the middle. And we don't trouble them up the middle because we don't have the forwards and the ones we do have are told to cart it up one-out for 80 minutes.

Wayne's stubbornness can take us to a spoon. It's not out of the question.

 

[Jobdog]

We just can't score points, so we simply can't be throwing 12 points away like Leilua did today. We also can't keep on making the same mistakes at the same time. We've got a talented playing roster, they're just playing incredibly dumb.

 

[Kilkenny]

I don't make a habit off posting on opposition forums and I am not being a smartie by doing so today.

Yes I am a diehard Panther and without reservation thought you guys would get the two points today.

You may have gifted us a couple of tries but masks some serious issues with your side.

We deserved to win today and not even the most one eyed Knights fan would disagree.

As an outsider looking in you clearly need to address the issues in your forward pack. We are at best lightweight but more than held our own against you guys.

Having said that I think you will turn things around. You have quality across your 1 -7 and just need to get your go forward sorted which I am sure Wayne Bennett will fix sooner rather than later.

I wouldn't be writing off season 2014 just yet.

 

[Jono078]

I don't make a habit off posting on opposition forums and I am not being a smartie by doing so today.

Yes I am a diehard Panther and without reservation thought you guys would get the two points today.

You may have gifted us a couple of tries but masks some serious issues with your side.

We deserved to win today and not even the most one eyed Knights fan would disagree.

As an outsider looking in you clearly need to address the issues in your forward pack. We are at best lightweight but more than held our own against you guys.

Having said that I think you will turn things around. You have quality across your 1 -7 and just need to get your go forward sorted which I am sure Wayne Bennett will fix sooner rather than later.

I wouldn't be writing off season 2014 just yet.

Don't disagree with anything you said except for the last line.

We have to go 10-5 to finish the season and hope that gets us 8th spot.

That's a 2:1 win-loss ratio. The top 3 teams barely have that winning percentage. It's not gonna happen for us. Best we can do is avoid the spoon now.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

We need a captain who is a leader and a director. Gidley doesn't cut it.
Mullen needs the Cap.
There were opportunities during injuries etc today to get together and stick it up the team and fire them up. That didn't happen. They hung around like lost sheep.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

We are 9 rounds in and we can't catch a break with injuries. Over the first half of the games, we were missing key backs, ie Boyd and Mullen. During the second half of the games, we've missed key forwards ie Mason, Smith, Snowden. It's very hard to build good combinations when the personnel is constantly chopping and changing.

 

[undertaker]

Had this been a 2010/2011 side, I wouldn't really care too much but given the quality players we have out there, results like this should be a thing of the past.

This

Gidley needs to go. He's the biggest handbrake in the Knights team. Throw his money at Issac Luke.

As much as I would love to see this happen, it will never, ever happen whilst his brother is CEO of the club and Gids is still contracted until end of next year.

Perhaps I wasn't clear - I think both our tactics and our roster are fundamentally flawed. We were not that great in 2013 until near the end. Mostly we won games convincingly when our opposition were woeful, and lost a lot of serious matches against serious teams who could handle our one-dimensional attacking philosophy and structure.

Then we produced two great wins. We really did not play good football consistently last season.

Now the game's faster, our slow and non-skillful forwards look even slower and less skillful. Our lack of second phase play and footwork or tackle-breaking up the middle and fringes renders our classy outside backs meaningless.

As far as I can see Bennett got a team he wanted. He recruited a certain way, he said they weren't dad's army, it has backfired on him because our forwards are 100 per cent not up to the modern game and to top it all of we play with so little flair that even when we dominate both possession and field position our opponents genuinely don't have any trouble keeping us out. We attack like other teams get out of trouble.

For a team with it's spine on the field, our structure is woeful. More support play, more offloads, more decoy runners, more footwork at the line, more inside balls and passes between the forwards around the ruck, a commitment to gain forward momentum before shifting the ball wide to outside backs getting picked off by organised sliding defences, better last-tackle options highlighted by attempts to force repeat sets rather than chip-bomb the ball straight to the fullback or winger, and the list goes on and on and on.

What will Bennett actually be focusing on? Better ball control. That's despite the fact that even when we do have better ball control we still can't threaten to score points against any half-decent side because we don't trouble them up the middle. And we don't trouble them up the middle because we don't have the forwards and the ones we do have are told to cart it up one-out for 80 minutes.

Wayne's stubbornness can take us to a spoon. It's not out of the question.

It makes me wonder what is being done at their training sessions.

 

[slotmachine]

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.

We were something like 3 wins and 9 losses when Buderus was out last year.
That man dragged us kicking and screaming into the finals.

 

[Noname36]

Perhaps I wasn't clear - I think both our tactics and our roster are fundamentally flawed. We were not that great in 2013 until near the end. Mostly we won games convincingly when our opposition were woeful, and lost a lot of serious matches against serious teams who could handle our one-dimensional attacking philosophy and structure.

Then we produced two great wins. We really did not play good football consistently last season.

Now the game's faster, our slow and non-skillful forwards look even slower and less skillful. Our lack of second phase play and footwork or tackle-breaking up the middle and fringes renders our classy outside backs meaningless.

As far as I can see Bennett got a team he wanted. He recruited a certain way, he said they weren't dad's army, it has backfired on him because our forwards are 100 per cent not up to the modern game and to top it all of we play with so little flair that even when we dominate both possession and field position our opponents genuinely don't have any trouble keeping us out. We attack like other teams get out of trouble.

For a team with it's spine on the field, our structure is woeful. More support play, more offloads, more decoy runners, more footwork at the line, more inside balls and passes between the forwards around the ruck, a commitment to gain forward momentum before shifting the ball wide to outside backs getting picked off by organised sliding defences, better last-tackle options highlighted by attempts to force repeat sets rather than chip-bomb the ball straight to the fullback or winger, and the list goes on and on and on.

What will Bennett actually be focusing on? Better ball control. That's despite the fact that even when we do have better ball control we still can't threaten to score points against any half-decent side because we don't trouble them up the middle. And we don't trouble them up the middle because we don't have the forwards and the ones we do have are told to cart it up one-out for 80 minutes.

Wayne's stubbornness can take us to a spoon. It's not out of the question.

Even in our poor performances last year though, we still looked much better in both attack and defense than we do now. I always had faith that we had the ability to get back into the game. Now I just know we won't be able to defend sets like we did last year, and I also don't believe that we'll be able to score.

We're not even producing any of the plays we did last season so it's impossible to tell whether they'd work in the current game or not. What happened to Mullo's set of trick kicks? What happened to Boyd's involvement around the ruck and on the left edge? Why are we only doing one out runs close to the line and when that doesn't work we just throw it to Leilua and hope for the best? So yes, I should say that there is an issue with our tactics and how we're playing however it's only been there this year. Why go away and stop doing things that worked for us just a few months ago? I really don't understand that.

I'm still adamant there's a deeper issue at play here. Every single player in the Squad bar Scott have gone backwards rapidly. I hear people complain and complain and say our attack is what's holding us back, but why do we struggle to defend one set anymore? Why don't we ever come up off the line? Why do we only throw an arm out to tackle someone? Some might say that's simply because we haven't adapted to the new speed of the game but to me things like just throwing an arm out when they have their man so they break that tackle of get an offload away is a sign of something much deeper at play.

Interesting that when Mullo was asked on Knights Insider what he thinks the problem is he pretty much said that it's the lack of go-forward. I wonder if the massive decline we've seen in the backs this year is because they're frustrated because they're not getting a platform to do anything. Some of the brainsnaps by blokes like BJ and Gagai and even someone like McManus who is usually safe as houses certainly come from frustrated blokes.

I still stand by that our one demential play this season is just a symptom of an underlying problem. I don't think I it really matter what style you give these blokes at the moment, they're still not going to perform. Even struggling with basics like tackling properly seems to be a challenge. I reckon Bennett is of the mindset that if we can get back to the basics and then grow on that like we did last year then we'll eventually see success. We can't even handle to basics at the moment though.

 

[Noname36]

We were something like 3 wins and 9 losses when Buderus was out last year.
That man dragged us kicking and screaming into the finals.

Even look at those games we played without Bedsy last year though. Still 100x better than how they're playing now. Yes Bedsy was a huge loss, but even without him last year we still looked much better than we do now.

I specifically remember a game at home last year against the Dogs. Bedsy was out. We had Gids and Waddell playing hooker and we played great.

Yes he's a big loss, but even without him we were a much better team last year, and that goes for the whole season not just our run at the end.

I think it's pointless to say he carried us when the whole team was playing better (even without him) last year. One thing Bedsy was able to do though which was invaluable was make our forwards look better than they were on the weeks they weren't playing that well. We certainly miss that, especially when the forwards haven't played well all year...except for the Bulldogs game and surprise surprise that was probably our best team performance of the year.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I'm going to say something that I thought I would never say as a Knights fan. I hate watching this team play. I was at the game yesterday and I don't think I've ever left a game feeling more down, disappointed, angry and embarrassed as a knights fan, and that includes the utter disaster that was 2005, but at least we played with heart back then.

This year is fast becoming a train wreck and I don't see it getting much better.

I hate watching them play right now because they look like a bunch of robots who are programmed to do one thing, which occasionally works and makes them look good. But when it doesn't there's no plan B, no back-up programming and no un-install button on their current programming. They go into complete meltdown mode whenever we're under the slightest bit of pressure and the boys don't even seem to enjoy their footy at the moment.

Given that the season is as good as gone now I would love to see Bennett bring I a few young guys to give them a go and also to just lighten up a bit and let the players play some more instinctive footy. At least if we're going to finish at the bottom of the ladder lets play with some flair and give the fans something to cheer for. At the moment I just want to tear my hair out at the boring as bat shit play style that we have.

Wayne won't change though, he'll trot out the same line each week about how the effort is there and we need to keep trying. Not good enough Wayne! How about dropping that imposter Darius Boyd first and making a statement with team selections that you have to earn it on the field.

If we end up outside the top 8, which seems highly likely now. I'd like this season to be Wayne's last with us, but I know that won't happen.

 

[Misanthrope]

I hear that, mate. I watch us every round if possible, but I've yet to enjoy a game this arson. It's downright brutal sometimes.