Round 1 | Knights 14-15 Dragons* @ Hunter Stadium | Thu 1st March @ 7.35pm

[Johns Magic]

37 minutes to be exact. Puts a bit of pressure on the frontrowers to do big minutes when Edwards spent most of the game at lock.

We'd look more balanced going(in my opinion):

8. Snowden
9. Bennett
10. Costigan
11. Houston
12. Taia
13. Hilder

14. Faas
15. Cuthbo
16. Edwards
17. McKinnon

It's tough with Hilder though because he is absolutely an 80 minute player, but Eddy just gives us so much punch in defence for 40-50 minutes when he comes on at lock.

Bedsy is clearly going to play 65+ minutes a game this year, so Hilder will only do short stints at hooker I imagine.

I thought Taia and Houston were both poor last night, it'll be interesting to see if McKinnon continues to show them up.

 

[billy2]

That was Zeb's second real game in a year or so, and he needs to get back in the groove.
I think we should stick with him. We know he will get better every game - although he was obviously not up to playing in the Muswellbrook trial and got replaced by Filipo who gave a good account of himself.
Tets has also been putting in big minutes in the trials in the second row and him and McKinnon would probably have a very similar skill set right now.
If Tets put in a big one tomorrow he might have Zeb's spot next week.

 

[billy2]

9. Bennett

I think Tuafua would fold him like a card.
Anyway, he is a specialist winger.

 

[Adsy]

lol classic

 

[Johns Magic]

Haha, sorry guys.

Sub in the obvious answer.

 

[billy2]

McKinnon was packing into scrums at prop and playing in the middle for at least part of the game, and the guy is already big and strong enough to do time at prop.
I really can see him being the 'Chief' when he fills out a bit more.
Chief was once a centre too.

I didn't get to see him play last year, but i suspect he has increased in size and strength, and has some way to go yet.

 

[Johns Magic]

McKinnon was packing into scrums at prop and playing in the middle for at least part of the game, and the guy is already big and strong enough to do time at prop.
I really can see him being the 'Chief' when he fills out a bit more.
Chief was once a centre too.

I didn't get to see him play last year, but i suspect he has increased in size and strength, and has some way to go yet.

Packing in at prop means nothing though roop...

He came on when Taia came off, and from what I saw stuck to the left edge as Taia's replacement. Houston was on the right, with Eddy in the middle.

Would gladly be corrected there but I really though McKinnon played second-row last night.

 

[perverse]

i was really impressed by Edwards, too. he looks better than ever with his new physique. i'm still not sure he can do anything with the ball, but if he's going to be that good in defence, then he may not need to in order to have a good career. he very well may be pressing for a starting Lock spot before long. i was pretty wrong about him in particular over the off season. Nev should keep an eye over his shoulder.

agree that Zeb and House were poor by their own standards. we know they have much more in them. I didn't think Cuthbo was as bad as most of LU seem to be making out that he was. crucial errors, but i didn't see anything after 1 game that would make me jump to the conclusion that he can't be a starting prop. another work in progress.

McKinnon looks very promising and is going to pressure the back row into performing. we still have a lot of depth that im sure will get a run during the year.

Richie is still Richie, and i love him muchly. i think there is a case to be made for him to be a starter. he's done really well in the past when starting. we'll see if that eventuates in the future, it'll depend on how Cuthbo goes, i guess. i think Nev needs to find a bit more impact in his play, we still havent seen his best footy yet in the red and blue.

Hilder seems to have gobbled up every word Danny has had for him in the off season. he may well just move to 80min hooker for us next year. his dummy half game has improved out of sight.

that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the forwards... the less said about the back line the better, i think. Gidley hasn't changed. Mullen was ok, but his kicking wasn't great... i'll probably need to watch a replay to get a real feel for how he went, but he seemed fine at the ground - my eyes were focused elsewhere for most of the match. Tahu is still a moron, needs to pull his head in big time. Wes wasn't interested in Aku at all. Aku was more or less played out of the game by his own team - but seemed to get jack of it after a while and went hunting for the ball, which is great - but shouldn't be necessary. McManus was brilliant, our best on the park. safe as houses, seems to have picked up a little pace.

 

[hellteam]

I'm with Dragon2010 when he says we shouldn't be too critical of the Knights performance last night. Yes we need to see significant improvement right across the team, but there's no point singling out individual players for a few dropped balls in fairly wet and humid conditions. It will take time for Bennett to get his structures in place and I wasn't expecting us to go out there last night and play like the NRL equivalent of Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. The one thing I did notice was we didn't really fade out towards the back end there. If anything I think our intensity actually lifted after a woeful first half effort. That's a positive sign.

Also it doesn't help when the usual suspects are hanging s*** on our team after we lost by a point in golden time during round 1. Including this Drongo f***wit who obviously feels threatened enough by our team to come in here and offer his utterly worthless opinion...



News flash genius. We've got a lot of improvement in us and we're going to get better. When we do, we'll be gunning for you. I realise you must feel pretty damn insecure now that Gravelmouth is gone and you've installed Third Man In as "captain" but we don't need to hear from you. I realise every Drongo fan has this sense of entitlement that their team will always be up the top end of the ladder, but nothing good lasts forever cupcake. I will be there in person at Suncorp Stadium when our vastly improved squad arrives and if we win, I'm going to ram it down your throat.

Please Gidley has been shit his whole career, god knows how he has made the Kangaroos. You'd struggle to find anyone but Knights fans who thinks otherwise.

All he does is get in the way, crab across field and throw poor balls at his runners. Which is made worse when he plays at five eighth, now he gets the ball 2-3 times a set to stuff it up instead of the usual 1 at fullback.

Not sure why you are bringing the Broncos into it, we're talking about the Knights here. I'm happy to take critisicm of our team after our game tonight, and I know we won't have a great year. At least our fans don't think we are suddenly confirmed to win a premiership because of a coach.

 

[billy2]

Packing in at prop means nothing though roop...

He came on when Taia came off, and from what I saw stuck to the left edge as Taia's replacement. Houston was on the right, with Eddy in the middle.

Would gladly be corrected there but I really though McKinnon played second-row last night.

i don't think he is ready to be a prop yet, but i'd nearly bet money that he will end up there, and be great at it.

 

[perverse]

Packing in at prop means nothing though roop...

He came on when Taia came off, and from what I saw stuck to the left edge as Taia's replacement. Houston was on the right, with Eddy in the middle.

Would gladly be corrected there but I really though McKinnon played second-row last night.

to be honest, at the ground i thought McKinnon replaced Tahu and was playing inside McManus, but i could easily be wrong. he was definitely defending inside McManus at one stage that i can remember... but im not sure exactly when he came on, nor am i sure who went off at the time. kinda hard to keep track of such things at the ground, in the rain and first game into the new season. usually takes me a few rounds to "get my eye in". lol.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Please Gidley has been shit his whole career, god knows how he has made the Kangaroos. You'd struggle to find anyone but Knights fans who thinks otherwise.

All he does is get in the way, crab across field and throw poor balls at his runners. Which is made worse when he plays at five eighth, now he gets the ball 2-3 times a set to stuff it up instead of the usual 1 at fullback.

Not sure why you are bringing the Broncos into it, we're talking about the Knights here. I'm happy to take critisicm of our team after our game tonight, and I know we won't have a great year. At least our fans don't think we are suddenly confirmed to win a premiership because of a coach.

I think you'll find that not one single Knights fan on LU thinks this way. We expect to be competitive again and be a real force in the NRL like we used to.

This perception that we all think we are certainties for a premiership is projected by fans of other clubs, not us.

 

[Johns Magic]

to be honest, at the ground i thought McKinnon replaced Tahu and was playing inside McManus, but i could easily be wrong. he was definitely defending inside McManus at one stage that i can remember... but im not sure exactly when he came on, nor am i sure who went off at the time. kinda hard to keep track of such things at the ground, in the rain and first game into the new season. usually takes me a few rounds to "get my eye in". lol.

Apologies, he did replace Tahu but only in the dying stages.

He definitely came on for Taia around the 50th minute mark, then stayed out there for the rest of the game. I thought he played second-row until forced to shift out to centre when Tahu came off late.

 

[Joker's Wild]

to be honest, at the ground i thought McKinnon replaced Tahu and was playing inside McManus, but i could easily be wrong. he was definitely defending inside McManus at one stage that i can remember... but im not sure exactly when he came on, nor am i sure who went off at the time. kinda hard to keep track of such things at the ground, in the rain and first game into the new season. usually takes me a few rounds to "get my eye in". lol.

That was in extra time mate. He was in the forwards leading up to the 80min mark

 

[Mr Angry]

I think Costigan struggled with the workload and see Hilder starting @13 by round 5.

 

[perverse]

Apologies, he did replace Tahu but only in the dying stages.

He definitely came on for Taia around the 50th minute mark, then stayed out there for the rest of the game. I thought he played second-row until forced to shift out to centre when Tahu came off late.

That was in extra time mate. He was in the forwards leading up to the 80min mark

cheers guys. i'll probably watch the replay when it comes online.

 

[Yosh]

Honestly i was probably just angry at Cuthbo for dropping the pill 2m out from the line... He didn't have a big impact as i thought he would but played okay.

I'm honestly worried about our right hand side... It looks potent but it's not... Wes is having a field day because peo

 

[Yosh]

People are overoccupied with Aku, it's giving him room to make half breaks. I personally don't care who or how but we need at least 30 tries coming down from that flank this year.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

The failure to take the drop-goal when it was on offer early in the tackle count was a huge let down to me. The opportunity was clearly there.
It tends to highlight a general problem that the Knights have had of building up to a last play by taking those banana kicks to the wing on tackle 6 or maybe 5. Same sort of attitude was used. If we have an opportunity we need to take it regardless of the tackle count.
All the hits up the middle also seemed to be building up to a play later in the tackle count and it wasn't really getting us much ground.

Some of the players really need to watch their discipline and cut the retaliation.

On a positive it was good to see us life the enthusiasm and pace and to hold St George to such a close result given their intensity and execution was a job reasonably well done.

 

[Serc]

The thing I enjoyed the most was the way Mullen spied an opportunity to run the ball himself on the 6th, and from dummy half at that, backed himself and pulled it off. That's the sort of confidence to pull of quality plays I was hoping to see return on a regular basis this year - great to see it in the first round! Hopefully it continues

Stats time:

Completions
Knights 24/36
Dragons 26/36

Possession
Knights 46%
Dragons 54%

Tackles/missed
Knights 350/23
Dragons 319/19

All runs/all metres
Knights 175/1332m
Dragons 195/1484m

All the other stats were very even - offloads, errors, penalties etc...though the Dragons had 12 ineffective tackles to 21 from us.

McManus 154m (17 runs, 1 line break)
Boyd 128m (14 runs)
Uate 125m (14 runs)
Naiqama 118m (10 runs)

Of Uate's 14 runs, 8 were hitups, 4 were dummy half runs, 1 was a kick return and one was a 'normal' run

Combining Uate's kick return stats with McManus's runs (also he got 6 kick returns and Boyd 5) tells you that the ball wasn't kicked Uate's way very often.

Nothing really notable in the tackle breaks department, Mullen and Uate got 4 each.

Errors
Boyd, Naiqama, Cuthbertson 2

Offloads
Cuthbertson 2

Penalties
Tahu 2

Forwards hitup stats
Cuthbertson - 9 hitups for 59m (66 mins)
Snowden - 8 hitups for 56m (49 mins)
Uate - 8 hitups for 55m (85 mins)
Fa'aoso - 6 hitups for 49m (37 mins)
Costigan - 6 hitups for 47m (37 mins)
Naiqama - 4 hitups for 45m (85 mins)
Taia - 6 hitups for 39m (58 mins)
Tahu - 3 hitups for 23m (80 mins)
McKinnon - 4 hitups for 23m (35 mins)
Edwards - 3 hitups for 20m (50 mins)
Houston - 2 hitups for 14m (85 mins)

Tackles
Buderus 42 (missed 2, 0 ineffective)
Cuthbertson 40 (missed 0)
Edwards 38 (missed 1)
Houston 35 (missed 4)
Snowden 29 (missed 4, 0 ineffective)
Fa'aoso 28 (missed 1, 0 ineffective)
Gidley 26 (missed 1)
Taia 24 (missed 3, 5 ineffective)

Missed tackles (not already mentioned above)
Uate 2 (made 2)

Also worth noting that Uate missed the only 2 tackles out of all the outside backs.

Players on their first game for the Knights (in a while/ever) that didn't get too much of a mention above:
Tahu - 8 runs for 76m, 1 try assist, 1 offload, 16 tackles with none missed (2 penalties also)
Buderus - 5 runs for 28m, 42 tackles with 2 missed and 0 ineffective (in 70 mins)
McKinnon - 7 runs for 34m, 13 tackles with 0 missed and 0 ineffective (in 35 mins)
Snowden - 12 runs for 82m, 1 offload, 29 tackles with 4 missed and 0 ineffective