I tend to agree with this assessment of Korbin at the moment...his intent is there but it doesn't seem to translate into dominance in his hit ups or his defence.
One think I do notice with Newcastle is the difference from the defensive pattern of every other competitive team. The main elements of difference are closing off the space(i.e. moving up off the line consistently) but more importantly getting 3 men plus in every tackle.
The time latitude referees provide a 3 man tackle versus a 2 man tackle (consistently what Newcastle defences achieve) is a good 2 seconds per tackle on average...that equates to more time to get your defensive line set, more time for a breather in between tackles, more chance of effecting fumbles from the offence, less chance of lying in the ruck penalties (it is strange but it seems to work out that way), more chance of limiting offloads, etc. etc. etc.
I recommend you watch this over the whole period of a game, particularly with teams that have this consistent defensive pattern (Dragons did it on the weekend, Bulldogs, Storm and others are specials at it, etc.) and see how much time and effort we have to use scrambling in defence versus the opposition
