Round 17 | Eels 12-20 Knights @ Parramatta | Sat 7.30pm

[Jono078]

Can't wait to watch the game, what happened with Snowden?

 

[Nuffy]

Can't wait to watch the game, what happened with Snowden?

They said it was likely a medial ligament, missed most of the game.

 

[MC DUI]

Can't wait to watch the game, what happened with Snowden?

They said it was a medial ligament injury on the Fox Sports coverage.

Normally that sort of injury is around 4-6 weeks... though I'm happy for somebody to say I'm wrong!

Great game by a lot of the guys tonight, they didn't have the greatest effort in the forwards, but some of the individual efforts defined the win for sure.

Danny, and McManus were inspirational, ran and ran both of them, much respect!

 

[Jono078]

Snowden's carried the forward pack for most of this season, now that he's out we're def on struggle street in the forwards.

 

[MC DUI]

Snowden's carried the forward pack for most of this season, now that he's out we're def on struggle street in the forwards.

Yeah not good at all...

 

[Frederick]

I watched the press conference this morning and did find something interesting...

Reporter: "Wayne, when did you decide to play Kevin Naiqama"
Wayne: "about a week ago"


Seems like Mata'utai was never going to play despite being named

 

[Rolla]

Anyone know why Jimmy and Kev switched after Kev's try?

It is funny that a few weeks ago we were worried we had no strike weapons in the backline.... Boyd clicks and Gagai arrives..... Suddenly we have 4 (5 if you count Mullen).

 

[Burwood]

Was wondering the same thing Rolla. I'm guessing that Kev picked up a slight injury after the try he scored and they didn't have the luxury of taking him off. Would have been nice to see aku slot in but looks like it will never happen.

 

[Spot On]

Was wondering the same thing Rolla. I'm guessing that Kev picked up a slight injury after the try he scored and they didn't have the luxury of taking him off. Would have been nice to see aku slot in but looks like it will never happen.

Yeah, he wasn't right after his big run. He was struggling the last 20m or so of his solo try. Great effort from him. Liked what he did last night. He looked a lot stronger than his last start.

 

[Frederick]

It was purely to give him a rest following his try. He wasn't injured or anything, just worn out

 

[Burwood]

I still think Kev is too small for first grade- he had very little impact returning the ball (except for that one obvious run of course) and he doesn't seem to have the same elusiveness as a player like Barba. I'm not sure if it was just Roopy talking him up, but I was expecting him to be a lot more of a live wire and far more difficult to tackle. Filling in at fullback or on the wings is about all I can see him doing at the club.

 

[KempoKnight]

I still think Kev is too small for first grade- he had very little impact returning the ball (except for that one obvious run of course) and he doesn't seem to have the same elusiveness as a player like Barba. I'm not sure if it was just Roopy talking him up, but I was expecting him to be a lot more of a live wire and far more difficult to tackle. Filling in at fullback or on the wings is about all I can see him doing at the club.

I agree 100%. He did alot of good things last night and was safe all night but his kick returns and hit ups... jeez all the defender had to do was lay a hand on him and they would swing him around and down to the ground like a rag doll.

 

[K-Man]

As cover for the top 1-5 I think Kev can be handy if we sign him for another year.

He definitely doesn't have the elusiveness you might expect given his speed and footwork is obviously there.

We haven't seen any of his ball-playing in first grade but he does have some in his game and I think he would start to show that if he spent a bit of time at fullback.

All in all not top class, but a decent enough reserve.

 

[Rolla]

It was purely to give him a rest following his try. He wasn't injured or anything, just worn out

Thanks mate... Jimmy would of been about my 4th choice to swap with him lol, but at that stage of the game no biggie.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Kev deserves credit for a solid effort. His size may still make him a liability against better sides but I think he should be given a go wherever he fits the plan by Bennett such as covering for origin commitments.

 

[Joker's Wild]

He wasnt really tested in defence on Sat night either. Whats his 1-1 tackling been like in NSWCup?

 

[Jobdog]

I'm stealing Serc's thunder a bit here, but I know some of us (myself included) do like a good stat. So here's a few!

Jarrod Mullen’s kicking game was at the forefront of Newcastle’s second straight victory on Saturday night over Parramatta at Parramatta Stadium.

The Knights five-eighth plugged the ball deep into Parramatta territory 23 times for a whopping 789 kick metres, just 80 metres less than Parramatta’s entire team total. In fact Mullen’s personal tally would have easily eclipsed many team totals from a vast amount of games this year (Newcastle had just 747 total kick metres last weekend against the Tigers).

Mullen also scored the opening try of the second half to kick the Knights out to a 12-6 lead in the 43rd minute.

Here are a few more stats coming out of Newcastle’s 20-12 win over Parramatta in Round 17.

| STAT |
The completion rates of both sides was excellent - purring along at 83%. Newcastle and Parramatta completed 33 of 40 sets during the match, but while Parramatta had 198 runs to Newcastle’s 172 - they only made 53 more total run metres (1553m to 1500m). Interestingly despite running the ball 26 more times, Parramatta actually made more tackles than Newcastle with 367 to 341.

| STAT |
Kevin Naiqama made the most of his chance to start at fullback - scoring a sensational length of the field try to turn the game in the second half and gives Wayne Bennett a great backup option for Darius Boyd post-Origin.

By the end of the night Naiqama had run for 247 metres on 16 runs with 3 tackle breaks and a line break.

| STAT |
Zeb Taia and Adam Cuthbertson provided plenty of grunt from the bench when injected into the contest. Taia has been playing as a prop in recent weeks and ran 15 times for 127 metres and Cuthbertson - also playing a hybrid role up front - had 15 runs for 104 metres with 3 offloads.

| STAT |
With four forwards on the bench and no backup hooker selected against the Eels, Danny Buderus worked his butt off to keep the team moving around the park.
Buderus made 45 tackles for the Knights, and along with backrowers Chris Houston and Joel Edwards were mainstays on the field for the entire game.
Edwards made 34 tackles and Houston a game-high 48 tackles as the Knights held the Eels to just 12 points.

LINK

 

[Burwood]

I'd like to know how many of Mullen's kicks found the grass. It's all well kicking the ball long, but not if it goes down the fullback's throat every time.

 

[perverse]

I'd like to know how many of Mullen's kicks found the grass. It's all well kicking the ball long, but not if it goes down the fullback's throat every time.

Heaps of them did, and most of those that didn't were from our 20-30m area. Did you not watch the game, or just searching for reasons to be unhappy with Mullen?

He did put a fair few kicks dead, you could whine about that. In the grand scheme of how he has played this year it would be petty, but at least it is valid. When his team has worked for him, Mullen has been fantastic this year.

 

[K-Man]

Heaps of them did, and most of those that didn't were from our 20-30m area. Did you not watch the game, or just searching for reasons to be unhappy with Mullen?

He did put a fair few kicks dead, you could whine about that. In the grand scheme of how he has played this year it would be petty, but at least it is valid. When his team has worked for him, Mullen has been fantastic this year.

I'm one of Mullen's biggest critics, but his long kicking in this game was superb for sure.

In some cases kicking it 50 on the fly and not finding the grass is still just as good or better as the ball technically not being caught on the full but bouncing straight into the hands of a fullback/winger coming forward with momentum. Jarrod's long raking kicks had them back-pedaling all night I thought.

Short kicking is a whole different story as always, but to be fair he had some success with bombs - probably thanks mostly to Gagai.