Round 3 vs the Knights

[alexwilliams_66692007]

No excuses from me. Knights are ordinary we should beat them

Good call

 

[franklin2323]

Good call

You don’t think we should of?

 

[herbert henry1908]

May showed more in the pre-season trial and his games before he was suspended than Luai has. He is a street smart natural footy player, something we sorely need.

Must admit I didn’t see much of that, but I’d still have reservations about trying him before Burton. We struggle in attack, a Cleary/May combo feels quite uncreative.

 

[herbert henry1908]

As it stands that those halves put in ordinary performances like that

It’s one game after a long break, Burton hasn’t even played FG this season. For a team that struggles in attack, adding May to the halves doesn’t seem like the right option.

 

[franklin2323]

It’s one game after a long break, Burton hasn’t even played FG this season. For a team that struggles in attack, adding May to the halves doesn’t seem like the right option.

I get that and no NSW Cup either so it is very hard on the young guys to find form.

 

[herbert henry1908]

I get that and no NSW Cup either so it is very hard on the young guys to find form.

That’s going to be the same for May. He’s not exactly an experienced footy player, and he hasn’t played a proper game in 20 months. He’s not available until round 8 I think as well.

 

[franklin2323]

That’s going to be the same for May. He’s not exactly an experienced footy player, and he hasn’t played a proper game in 20 months. He’s not available until round 8 I think as well.

A spine of Edwards. Luai. Cleary. Api won’t cut it either. So it is a hard one

 

[mxlegend99]

Stats wise we were good. Just some dumb things cost us. Hopefully it was just rust and can come good

Some stats were good. But they honestly make us look worse considering the scoreboard.. Incompetence cost us. Starting with team selection tbh... Although I guess that could be considered dumb too.

We had 59% possession and were outscored 3 tries to 2 by a mid-game injury depleted side with no spine at all. No Ponga and then losing Pearce 4 minutes in should have been enough for even us to run away with it.

We dominated field position and possession yet struggled to score and Knights with no spine at all and a huge defensive workload managed to score very easily when they got to our line. Makes us look bad on both sides of the ball.

Everything went our way to make this an easy win. But when we know 3/5ths of our backline can't score it's our fault for picking them. Cleary needs to pick a team that can score points. We seemingly keep guys for doing things that don't contribute to the scoreboard ahead of those who do.

Aekins. 0 tries in 7 games. No try assists either.
Mansour. 1 try in his last 24 games.
Whare. Only 1 try in his past 24 games also.

Yet we drop Naden who has 10 tries in 14 appearances to fit in Crichton? Naden can be brain dead. But he can find the try line.

Crichton needed to start. But you don't drop one of our only 2 try scoring backs to fit him in. I didn't think he was dropped before the game as it made no sense to drop him of all players. But in the press conference after the game Cleary basically said he was dropped to fit in Crichton.

It's good to be undefeated still. But we threw away a point yesterday and a chance to boost our for and against. Come finals time our form now won't mean shit. But that could have helped us on the ladder big time. Thankfully we didn't hurt our spot on the ladder either. Means f/a only matters vs Knights for now.

 

[franklin2323]

Some stats were good. But they honestly make us look worse considering the scoreboard.. Incompetence cost us. Starting with team selection tbh... Although I guess that could be considered dumb too.

We had 59% possession and were outscored 3 tries to 2 by a mid-game injury depleted side with no spine at all. No Ponga and then losing Pearce 4 minutes in should have been enough for even us to run away with it.

We dominated field position and possession yet struggled to score and Knights with no spine at all and a huge defensive workload managed to score very easily when they got to our line. Makes us look bad on both sides of the ball.

Everything went our way to make this an easy win. But when we know 3/5ths of our backline can't score it's our fault for picking them. Cleary needs to pick a team that can score points. We seemingly keep guys for doing things that don't contribute to the scoreboard ahead of those who do.

Aekins. 0 tries in 7 games. No try assists either.
Mansour. 1 try in his last 24 games.
Whare. Only 1 try in his past 24 games also.

Yet we drop Naden who has 10 tries in 14 appearances to fit in Crichton? Naden can be brain dead. But he can find the try line.

Crichton needed to start. But you don't drop one of our only 2 try scoring backs to fit him in. I didn't think he was dropped before the game as it made no sense to drop him of all players. But in the press conference after the game Cleary basically said he was dropped to fit in Crichton.

It's good to be undefeated still. But we threw away a point yesterday and a chance to boost our for and against. Come finals time our form now won't mean shit. But that could have helped us on the ladder big time. Thankfully we didn't hurt our spot on the ladder either. Means f/a only matters vs Knights for now.

Aekins I agree with shows nothing

Mansour has created a few tries this year and almost 300m gained

Whare held up yesterday. Would of scored v Dragons if not for the intercept

Low miss tackle rate. Only gave away 4 penalties 2 of which were for offside from the kick.

Shows we are much better then this time last year. So can build up into the season with a few tweeks to the attack

 

[hindy111]

What worked and would of worked was sticking to quick play the balls and just bashing up the guts till the knights where gassed. I felt they went a bit away from the plan. To much of the game was played in the knights 10mtrs. It's hard to score from there for plenty of sides. They are better from 30mtrs out.
Aitken I watched closely. He just offers nothing at all. He is safe but has no spark at all. Edwards atleast can bust the lone occassionally and is dangerous. Aitken is not a NRL level player.
Mansour is slow but he played ok. Some tidy offloads and good yards but this is his last year I would say.
Penriths biggest issue was not the inability to score but to give newcastle some life. It should of been 20-0 at halftime or at worse 14-0.
That try before halftime never should of happend. Why not just lie on the guy and slow things down with 20 seconds to go. Who cares if they get 6 again. This changed the game.
Defense in general was poor considering Knights scored 3 tries and it should of been 4 bar that bombed pass. Considering no Ponga,Pearce,Watson and no Ball I was suprised how easy Knights found an overlap or space.
Fix the defense and attack will come.
5 points is a good start to the year considering new spine. By rnd 10 things should look better.

Who is due to come back? Edwards,Cleary,Hethrington. Any others?

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

Some stats were good. But they honestly make us look worse considering the scoreboard.. Incompetence cost us. Starting with team selection tbh... Although I guess that could be considered dumb too.

We had 59% possession and were outscored 3 tries to 2 by a mid-game injury depleted side with no spine at all. No Ponga and then losing Pearce 4 minutes in should have been enough for even us to run away with it.

We dominated field position and possession yet struggled to score and Knights with no spine at all and a huge defensive workload managed to score very easily when they got to our line. Makes us look bad on both sides of the ball.

Everything went our way to make this an easy win. But when we know 3/5ths of our backline can't score it's our fault for picking them. Cleary needs to pick a team that can score points. We seemingly keep guys for doing things that don't contribute to the scoreboard ahead of those who do.

Aekins. 0 tries in 7 games. No try assists either.
Mansour. 1 try in his last 24 games.
Whare. Only 1 try in his past 24 games also.

Yet we drop Naden who has 10 tries in 14 appearances to fit in Crichton? Naden can be brain dead. But he can find the try line.

Crichton needed to start. But you don't drop one of our only 2 try scoring backs to fit him in. I didn't think he was dropped before the game as it made no sense to drop him of all players. But in the press conference after the game Cleary basically said he was dropped to fit in Crichton.

It's good to be undefeated still. But we threw away a point yesterday and a chance to boost our for and against. Come finals time our form now won't mean shit. But that could have helped us on the ladder big time. Thankfully we didn't hurt our spot on the ladder either. Means f/a only matters vs Knights for now.

and because Crighton was the goal kicker.

Mansour butchered one try yesterday by refusing to pass to Kikau. I'm sure the defense review will be done in fine detail. Penrith were over the line a couple of times yesterday unable to ground the ball.

Very lucky to keep it to a draw. Penrith lost direction in the 2nd half. Edwards needs to come back or put Crighton at full back.

Mansour even though is numbers were good is on borrowed time. Offers little to nothing in attack. To'o had a good game.

 

[mxlegend99]

Aekins I agree with shows nothing

Mansour has created a few tries this year and almost 300m gained

Whare held up yesterday. Would of scored v Dragons if not for the intercept

Low miss tackle rate. Only gave away 4 penalties 2 of which were for offside from the kick.

Shows we are much better then this time last year. So can build up into the season with a few tweeks to the attack

We need more than metres gained from our wingers.

To'o gets good metres and can score a try. Naden on the other wing would do tough carries but actually be a chance at finishing a try movement. He's not going to match Mansour for those tough carries. But he will more than offset that with his finishing ability

I would take averaging 120 metres and scoring a try or two regularly

 

[franklin2323]

We need more than metres gained from our wingers.

To'o gets good metres and can score a try. Naden on the other wing would do tough carries but actually be a chance at finishing a try movement. He's not going to match Mansour for those tough carries. But he will more than offset that with his finishing ability

I would take averaging 120 metres and scoring a try or two regularly

I get that again how much good ball did they get. The 1st half especially the inside guys Luai and Aekins were getting lost and running into decoy players

Only missing 14 tackles was good. Fitness seemed alright. Completion rate was good. A few dumb errors cost

The attack was horrible. It showed they had 10 weeks off. I don’t think Whare and Mansour last the season out but atm the attack structure inside needs to sort out then can get them out as the last step

 

[Dufmack]

The issue with our clunky attack last year was the lack of a genuine 9 and fullback. Only half of this was addressed in the offseason. Numerous times yesterday caleb would get the ball in some space and then wig out, his lack of ball playing ability combined with being no threat at all running the ball means he is useless in first grade. We didnt run a single effective backline move in the opposition 20, weve been missing this since moylan left.

We need to give Dylan a chance when he returns but he has never been a very talented distributor of the ball. Keeping chrighton at centre for now will get him closer to the action and hopefully more prepared if he has to take over fullback if Dylan cannot kickstart something in the backline. Also Mansour is completely unable to take advantage of space and half chances that are created and Naden has to come in straight away.

 

[herbert henry1908]

1. Edwards
2. Naden
3. Crichton
4. Whare
5. To’o

Would be my back 5 ASAP.

 

[franklin2323]

1. Edwards
2. Naden
3. Crichton
4. Whare
5. To’o

Would be my back 5 ASAP.

I think Mansour has been playing better than Whare. So I would put Naden centre

 

[franklin2323]

The issue with our clunky attack last year was the lack of a genuine 9 and fullback. Only half of this was addressed in the offseason. Numerous times yesterday caleb would get the ball in some space and then wig out, his lack of ball playing ability combined with being no threat at all running the ball means he is useless in first grade. We didnt run a single effective backline move in the opposition 20, weve been missing this since moylan left.

We need to give Dylan a chance when he returns but he has never been a very talented distributor of the ball. Keeping chrighton at centre for now will get him closer to the action and hopefully more prepared if he has to take over fullback if Dylan cannot kickstart something in the backline. Also Mansour is completely unable to take advantage of space and half chances that are created and Naden has to come in straight away.

good summary. Edwards can’t pass the best but he can score tries in those situations he would of straightened up and created doubt atleast

 

[Pomoz]

Must admit I didn’t see much of that, but I’d still have reservations about trying him before Burton. We struggle in attack, a Cleary/May combo feels quite uncreative.

I actually compared him to Luai and I would drop him first. May is more creative than Cleary, or Luai. I need to see Burton play more often before I will judge him.

All this talk about "rust" and "lay offs". The Knights had the same issues and they still looked more dangerous than us with the ball in hand and created an overlap. If it wasn't for "fumbles" Lee, they would have beaten us 4 tries to 2 on the back of 41% possession. Huh, WTF?

Seriously, we are woeful, just woeful. Effort and tackling and metres up the middle mean nothing, if you can't even work out how to create an overlap and when you create space you give it to carthorses like Mansour and Whare. If they were any slower they would be in reverse. Kikau was keeping up with Mansour when he made the break and he weighs as much as a Deathstar and has the drag of a house brick.

Cleary continues to pick them because he is a conservative, no risk coach scared of picking younger players and taking a chance. A tax accountant without a briefcase.

 

[The_Frog]

Low miss tackle rate. Only gave away 4 penalties 2 of which were for offside from the kick.

Penalties 4-2. One of those two was from the bunker, the other was Luai tackled without the ball. Six agains 4-0. Cummins gave us nothing. But that didn't stop us having 56% of possession and that should have been plenty.

 

[franklin2323]

Penalties 4-2. One of those two was from the bunker, the other was Luai tackled without the ball. Six agains 4-0. Cummins gave us nothing. But that didn't stop us having 56% of possession and that should have been plenty.

of course. My point was it wasn’t as though we were error riddled