Round 9 vs Roosters 2016 Game Discussion

[slotmachine]

Anyone over 200/250k isn't giving us anything in return for their value bar perhaps Sione (tonight was poor but overall he's been good); .

Everyone wants to bag fat slow pat but at least he has broken the line this year.

3 tries and 2 line breaks in 18 months...

 

[Misanthrope]

I think most of the team has given up on the season already.

This is where Brown's credentials will be judged. We know we have a shit team that won't win many games, but how many will they give their best efforts in.

That's a real concern for me. If their attitude is that poor, they're basically saying 'f**k you' to the fans.

I'd rather have a team of plodders giving their all than a team of plodders who aren't.

There are signs of effort out there, no doubt, but the basics are sorely lacking.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

As much as it seems we're all giving Brown a free pass for the moment, I must admit I'm wondering what the f**k he's actually coaching them to do out there, other than be very bad and make basic football look like the most impossible thing in the world.

We need to give him a pass...

We have had 4 coaches in 3 years with no real success. If we just jump to the next guy after 9 weeks with Browny, how long do we give him?

I mean, if we could have Mick Potter in the big chair next week and be done with him before Origin......

 

[macavity]

That's a real concern for me. If their attitude is that poor, they're basically saying 'f**k you' to the fans.

I'd rather have a team of plodders giving their all than a team of plodders who aren't.

There are signs of effort out there, no doubt, but the basics are sorely lacking.

They try hard until the game is over, then get sloppy. To be expected really.

 

[Misanthrope]

They try hard until the game is over, then get sloppy. To be expected really.

First set today. Kick out on the full.

Second set. Knock-on.

That's pretty much us every game this season, regardless of if it's inside the first twenty or in the last twenty.

I'm not saying they're not trying. I'm saying their failing abysmally at doing the bare essentials to be competitive.

We don't have a side that will win many football games, but when you're missing 40+ tackles, failing to get through your sets, and giving away needless penalties for fun - you're not even going to compete.

 

[macavity]

We aRe a dozen players off a first grade squad

 

[Nuffy]

We aRe a dozen players off a first grade squad

May as well be a dozen years.

It's quite sad to see the grand old club slowly dying.

 

[CycloneSteve]

I've been supporting the Knights since Day 1.
I sat on the hill almost every match from 1988 to 1992 before I moved away from the area. I supported the team in those first few hard years when we had little success. But tough men from a tough area fought for every inch of those matches. I remember when opposition teams used to hate coming to Newcastle because of the reception they would receive from some big tough hard footballers.
Yes have had our ups and downs. And yep we collected a spoon in 2005 but at least in that year we actually looked pretty competitive in a lot of matches Oh and in that year we also had A. Johns who came back from injury to make our season look a little better.
That isn't going to happen this year.
This is easily the worst Knights team I have ever seen in all 26 years of supporting this team. They have no heart, they are not tough and they would struggle to be competitive in NSW Cup.
I am so disappointed in the direction this club has gone in the past 5-6 years.
I'm not going to watch them on TV anymore and I won't be paying money to go to the few games I usually would go to in recent years.
I'll still support them. They are still my team.
But I've had enough.
I'm done.

 

[CycloneSteve]

On another note....our all-time Win/Loss record is about to go in the red zone.
Games: 692
Wins: 341
Draws: 16
Losses: 335

 

[Spark Plug]

I've been supporting the Knights since Day 1.
I sat on the hill almost every match from 1988 to 1992 before I moved away from the area. I supported the team in those first few hard years when we had little success. But tough men from a tough area fought for every inch of those matches. I remember when opposition teams used to hate coming to Newcastle because of the reception they would receive from some big tough hard footballers.
Yes have had our ups and downs. And yep we collected a spoon in 2005 but at least in that year we actually looked pretty competitive in a lot of matches Oh and in that year we also had A. Johns who came back from injury to make our season look a little better.
That isn't going to happen this year.
This is easily the worst Knights team I have ever seen in all 26 years of supporting this team. They have no heart, they are not tough and they would struggle to be competitive in NSW Cup.
I am so disappointed in the direction this club has gone in the past 5-6 years.
I'm not going to watch them on TV anymore and I won't be paying money to go to the few games I usually would go to in recent years.
I'll still support them. They are still my team.
But I've had enough.
I'm done.

Amen, brother.

 

[Misanthrope]

I've been supporting the Knights since Day 1.
I sat on the hill almost every match from 1988 to 1992 before I moved away from the area. I supported the team in those first few hard years when we had little success. But tough men from a tough area fought for every inch of those matches. I remember when opposition teams used to hate coming to Newcastle because of the reception they would receive from some big tough hard footballers.
Yes have had our ups and downs. And yep we collected a spoon in 2005 but at least in that year we actually looked pretty competitive in a lot of matches Oh and in that year we also had A. Johns who came back from injury to make our season look a little better.
That isn't going to happen this year.
This is easily the worst Knights team I have ever seen in all 26 years of supporting this team. They have no heart, they are not tough and they would struggle to be competitive in NSW Cup.
I am so disappointed in the direction this club has gone in the past 5-6 years.
I'm not going to watch them on TV anymore and I won't be paying money to go to the few games I usually would go to in recent years.
I'll still support them. They are still my team.
But I've had enough.
I'm done.

Reading this made me bloody sad.

I've had it pretty 'easy' as a Knights fan, having jumped on the bandwagon post 1997 premiership (although prior to that, I didn't really know league existed).

I've got to witness another premiership not long after and enjoy the 'glory days' of Newcastle. Even in 2005, when I moved to Newie just in time to watch us collect our first spoon, I was hopeful in most games. We were outmuscled and outgunned, but never out-enthused.

It's been a long while now since I've felt anything more than frustrated at the team, and I can only imagine how much worse it is when you've seen us in lows where we were trying harder than we are now.

 

[Sydney Knight]

If you refuse to watch them on TV or go to a game how will you be still supporting the team?

I've been supporting the Knights since Day 1.
I sat on the hill almost every match from 1988 to 1992 before I moved away from the area. I supported the team in those first few hard years when we had little success. But tough men from a tough area fought for every inch of those matches. I remember when opposition teams used to hate coming to Newcastle because of the reception they would receive from some big tough hard footballers.
Yes have had our ups and downs. And yep we collected a spoon in 2005 but at least in that year we actually looked pretty competitive in a lot of matches Oh and in that year we also had A. Johns who came back from injury to make our season look a little better.
That isn't going to happen this year.
This is easily the worst Knights team I have ever seen in all 26 years of supporting this team. They have no heart, they are not tough and they would struggle to be competitive in NSW Cup.
I am so disappointed in the direction this club has gone in the past 5-6 years.
I'm not going to watch them on TV anymore and I won't be paying money to go to the few games I usually would go to in recent years.
I'll still support them. They are still my team.
But I've had enough.
I'm done.

 

[Misanthrope]

If you refuse to watch them on TV or go to a game how will you be still supporting the team?

If he's paying a membership, he's doing more to support them than a person watching every Knights' game on TV is, technically.

 

[Alex28]

I won't ever be done with them. I've been there for the highs, I'll stick around for the lows.

It's going to be a tough few years...

 

[mozza91]

Forget 97 and 01 this current wave of incredible shitness makes me pine for the days of the 7th or 8th place finish and and the finals week one exits.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

The frustrating thing tonight was that the boys seemed to be playing this game like it was a training run. I wanted to see some grit and mongrel and a bit of physicality but they just seemed to go through the motions the whole game. I still just don't understand why we don't ever try to create second phase play, We threw 5 offloads all game and I reckon that's probably one of our better games as far as that stat is concerned, how is it that no one in the club has spoken to the coach or the players and said "hey you know that offload thing that other teams keep doing to us. Why don't we try that too?"

The only players who can hold their heads up today are Uate, Stockwell, Lamb who all had a go, just about everyone else should be ashamed of themselves for what they dished up.

 

[Apey]

Our ball movement is f**king DREADFUL. We look so, so slow in everything we're doing at the moment. Jesus, someone fire the f**k up.

We look like the under 6s that play at half time. They usually at least have one player who makes the other side look like total fools though.

Looking forward to going next week. Love watching the Sharkies play.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I won't ever be done with them. I've been there for the highs, I'll stick around for the lows.

It's going to be a tough few years...

I keep coming back because these bad years make the success (even moderate success) that much sweeter.

In truth, we have been on the decline since BSmith left us in 2009. We had a few moments of success in between, but that was only ever a bandaid on a bullet wound.

I want to give Browny a few years, if only to give decent coaches some confidence in coming here (If we ditch him now, we could be ditching our next coach before Origin). But i want most of the squad gone; we need a 2007-style cleanout. The culture here is so terrible we make the few good player we have bad by just from enduring this mediocrity. At this point id be almost happy to see Lamb and the Safiti brothers go just so we dont ruin them...

The frustrating thing tonight was that the boys seemed to be playing this game like it was a training run. I wanted to see some grit and mongrel and a bit of physicality but they just seemed to go through the motions the whole game. I still just don't understand why we don't ever try to create second phase play, We threw 5 offloads all game and I reckon that's probably one of our better games as far as that stat is concerned, how is it that no one in the club has spoken to the coach or the players and said "hey you know that offload thing that other teams keep doing to us. Why don't we try that too?"

The only players who can hold their heads up today are Uate, Stockwell, Lamb who all had a go, just about everyone else should be ashamed of themselves for what they dished up.

Yeh, by the second half everyone was jogging yet couldnt seem to figure out why we werent even challenging the Defence...

The few players that were actually trying to lift us (Uate and Lamb are the only ones that come to mind) looked like they were drowning

 

[Still Nutty]

I want to give Browny a few years, if only to give decent coaches some confidence in coming here (If we ditch him now, we could be ditching our next coach before Origin)...

I missed the game so I can only imagine the quality of the game based on the despair and frustration shown on here....

On Brown - I think we all acknowledged that he was up against it to take this job on and he has very little room to move based on the cap situation for 2016 and 2017.

On that basis, whilst acknowledging there needs to be incremental improvement over these next 2 seasons, regardless of how poor the performances are he has to try and find a way to work with the cattle he's got...and that means he has to apply patience to try and get the best out of the squad he has access to. There's an old saying that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

So far he has put players on notice about the attitude and standards expected and has supported that by using 29 or 30 players so far this season already. Some of this has been driven by injuries (Rochow, Mullen, Snowden, Mcmanus, etc)and some by dropping poor performance where he had the capacity to put somebody else in (not that they were necessarily better but he had to at least indicate underperformance was going to see you dropped).

Reality is for this year, Brown seems to be focussing on the basic no frills fundamentals football to give us a framework that aims to achieve high % of completions (ala Bennett ball)giving us some capacity build at least stay in games - this seems to be about the best we can expect from the game plan front and trying to get the execution of that fundamental working for us before more open or complex game plans can be initiated.

I said early on in the season that my judging of Brown will be how this squad is shaping up in the last half dozen games of this season to sense what he is achieving...and until then, all I can do is acknowledge he has the toughest job in rugby league and the biggest factor in addressing that is time because the resources/cattle available to him is limited and is not going to change significantly in the next 18 months.