Round 7 | Dragons 12-4 Knights @ WIN Jubilee | Fri 7.35pm

[Nuffy]

Its hard to understand why our defence is so good and our attack is so poor.

Last year we could score points but leaked more. This year we just can't seem to get anything going.

I will say that we remain an unlucky team, rarely do we get the rub of the green and in some instances we just get plain screwed.

Tonight the Dragons got away with murder in the play the ball, they were never really pinged for flops and slow play the balls.

We had a number of really tough calls go against us and the dragons got 3 cheap penalties inside their 10 in the second half. Additionally, if Bedsy had of thrown the number of flat or forward passes that Rein did for the Saints, he'd have been called back a dozen times.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

we were simply outmuscled.
We needed the forwards getting momentum from dummy-half runs and from each other.
Roberts is definitely promising but I think he was shown to be a weak link tonight. He was targeted a lot and put in some very poor kicks. Roberts could always be a better 7 than Gidley ever could but Gidley is needed out there more than Roberts.
Boyd actually chimed into the back line a bit more which shows some future promise.

 

[The Showstopper]

Asotasi for next year if as rumoured Souths want to offload him. i don't give a s### how injury prone he is. He is quality go forward.

 

[perverse]

it did feel that way Nuffy, yeah. not sure if the old "you make your own luck" adage applies here or not. at the end of the day, our defense was good enough to keep us in the game, we just couldn't get over the line.

 

[RABK]

I think people are severely overating our defence.

Good goal line defence perhaps but good defence does not give the opposition endless opportunities in our half in the first place.

The Dragons made 60-70 metres most sets with simple one out steam rolling up the ruck. Mullen would kick the ball to their 10m line yet Soward was kicking from within our half nearly every single time. That's not good defence - that's soft, weak NSW cup defence.

We wouldn't have to show of our goal line defence half as much if we defended decently in the middle third of the field and put pressure on the opposition to kick from within their 40m occassionaly.

Our defence limply lost the field posession battle tonight.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Hilder looked like he split his head open again. Is his head made of gladwrap or something?

You guys have finally seen what Snowden dished up for the Sharks last year hey? SLOW!!!!!!!!

IMO, the issue with the Knights is lack of aggression in the forwards.
Snowden works hard but is slow.
Houston is solid but not intimidating.
Edwards is still developing and doesn't seem fit.
Costigan is an unfit plodder.
Taia is borderline 1st grade at best.
Cuthbertson is LOL

Even Buderus doesn't offer much with the ball in hand. He is very good in defence though.

The backs seem to go OK. Darius needs to get more involved, but the rest are acceptable.

If the knights had a forward pack that is capable of getting a roll on, then watch Buderus shine. Cameron Smith would struggle to play for Australia behind our pack atm.

 

[Stinkler]

If the knights had a forward pack that is capable of getting a roll on, then watch Buderus shine. Cameron Smith would struggle to play for Australia behind our pack atm.

Yeah fair call.

(by the way, those of you hoping Beau Scott will help next year, he'll just add some grubiness, not some toughness or go-forward)

 

[Dragon2010]

When the forward packs shine. Bedsy will you can tell he is sniffing out the opportunities and he is showing glimpses just not enough go forward.

 

[Jono078]

I think people are severely overating our defence.

Good goal line defence perhaps but good defence does not give the opposition endless opportunities in our half in the first place.

The Dragons made 60-70 metres most sets with simple one out steam rolling up the ruck. Mullen would kick the ball to their 10m line yet Soward was kicking from within our half nearly every single time. That's not good defence - that's soft, weak NSW cup defence.

We wouldn't have to show of our goal line defence half as much if we defended decently in the middle third of the field and put pressure on the opposition to kick from within their 40m occassionaly.

Our defence limply lost the field posession battle tonight.

Disagree, the defense is good, it's playing just about the best it can with the personnel we have, if that makes sense?

I don't know what Bennett stresses to the players week to week. But we've had a lot of 'big' games where maybe we have just tried to keep pace with the opponent. But hopefully now the team can relax and start playing some good football and the schedule should be more friendly and start letting us do that.

 

[hugzy]

"sack fergie sell giggs" muppets out again after a loss

 

[Apey]

I think people are severely overating our defence.

Good goal line defence perhaps but good defence does not give the opposition endless opportunities in our half in the first place.

The Dragons made 60-70 metres most sets with simple one out steam rolling up the ruck. Mullen would kick the ball to their 10m line yet Soward was kicking from within our half nearly every single time. That's not good defence - that's soft, weak NSW cup defence.

We wouldn't have to show of our goal line defence half as much if we defended decently in the middle third of the field and put pressure on the opposition to kick from within their 40m occassionaly.

Our defence limply lost the field posession battle tonight.

I actually agree. Our goal-line defence is looking much better but how many line-breaks/tackle-breaks are we conceding? Our defence looks shabby between the two 30m lines, maybe even the 20m lines.

It has a lot to do with our line speed though, as well as a certain few shirt-grabbing.

 

[perverse]

probably true, our goal line defense isn't letting much in though. shouldn't be letting them in that area so often, i agree with that. errors are contributing to that big time, too.

 

[Yosh]

Sau was a dud again this week...

People are saying Snowden was crap this week but I thought he made decent metres tonight.

I thought Costigan was fantastic tonight. Tui has put his hand up and really shown why he should be in the top 17 if you ask me. We looked the most potent the first 15 and last 15 minutes. This was when Costigan, Snowden and Tui were on the field.

Edwards is a 4 out of 10. Not terrible but not good enough... Taia does get a lot of work done but most of it is crap.... House is not running good lines like he used to...

Tahu is looking good. I'd rate him 6/10 tonight but if a couple of things went his way, he would have been a good 8. We need the old Pato back out there lol!

How good was our move to get our try. Best move I've seen from the Knights in 10 years. Pity we did it once in 80 minutes...

 

[Jobdog]

Mullen badly corked thigh but should be ok to play for Country next week if selected.

 

[aqua_duck]

Cuthbo 7 runs for 44m, Eddy 5 runs for 39m, seriously bring back AK 47m

 

[billy2]

Bit of a compliment to our back three that Saints decided to kick out the back rather than have them running it back.
We've done that against sides before, but i think it's the first time anyone has done it to us.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

We just need another 2 big quality props. We lack size and go forward. If we had a forward pack like the broncos there would be no stopping us, give us a hannant, petero, McGuire and Gillett and we would be fine. We would have the lightest pack in the com I reckon, beau Scott will add nothing.

 

[Jono078]

Bit of a compliment to our back three that Saints decided to kick out the back rather than have them running it back.
We've done that against sides before, but i think it's the first time anyone has done it to us.

Didn't watch the game against Melbourne 2 weeks ago?

 

[perverse]

we definitely missed Richie tonight. his stats may not be massive, but his runs are inspirational and get us moving forward. where was he tonight? was he dropped?

 

[Jubes]

Why is our linespeed so shit? We are constantly losing the ruck battle and giving our outside backs no chance.