Stone cool over leaky left edge
BY ROBERT DILLON
05 Apr, 2011 04:00 AM
KNIGHTS coach Rick Stone says it would be premature to worry about his teams left-edge defence despite conceding seven of their past 10 tries down that side of the field.
An early-season statistical review suggests that Newcastle have improved markedly, in both attack and defence, on the corresponding stage of last year.
But the number of tries Newcastles right-edge opponents have scored is one area that Stone admitted his coaching staff and players would scrutinise before Monday nights clash with in-form Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium.
Until the 74th minute of their round-two clash with North Queensland, Newcastle had not conceded a point down their left-hand flank.
But two late tries by Cowboys right winger Ashley Graham were followed a week later, in the loss to Manly, by a double from right-side centre Will Hopoate and another from his wingman David Williams.
In Sundays loss to St George Illawarra, the Dragons first two tries were scored by fullback Darius Boyd and winger Jason Nightingale in Newcastles left corner.
At that point, the Knights had leaked nine tries in the space of 112 minutes over three games seven of them down their left-hand edge.
Of those seven tries, three have come from overlaps, two from line breaks, one from a grubber kick and one from a cross-field bomb.
Stone was confident the lapses were a coincidence rather than a recurring theme and backed his left-edge pairing Junior Sau and James McManus to bounce back.
Im not really concerned about it, Stone said.
If it was a trend over 10 games, I think it would be cause for alarm.
But at this stage, Im happy to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Obviously were not happy letting in tries, anywhere ... well shortly do a tally of left, right and middle to see where our points are leaking, but we normally take a few weeks so weve got some sort of consistency in our readings.
Of the 13 tries Newcastle have conceded this season, seven have come down the left edge, two down the right edge and four through the middle.
Given that Brisbanes right edge features former Test centre Justin Hodges and their leading tryscorer, Jharal Yow Yeh, Sau and McManus who have been partners since the start of this season face another daunting challenge.
Theyre the strength in the Broncos side, and if you look at Mark Gasnier, hes a strength in the Dragons side, Stone said.
Any time teams are close [to scoring] and can get the ball in the hands of those sort of guys, theyre going to be doing it.
I dont think the Broncos will do anything differently.
Stone said he was seeking defensive improvement across the board, although statistics indicate his team have taken impressive strides since last season.
Newcastle have scored 106 points and conceded 76 from their first four games this year.
In their first four games last year, they scored 70 and conceded 102.
That represents a turnaround of 62 points or 15.5 points per game.
Over the course of last season, Newcastle scored an average of 20.8 points per game and conceded 23.7. This year they are averaging 26.5 points for and 19 against.
And Stone remains confident the best is still to come from Newcastle, who have yet to field their strongest line-up this season after having Kurt Gidley, Adam MacDougall, Neville Costigan, Cameron Ciraldo, Beau Henry, Mark Taufua, Ben Rogers and Shannon McDonnell sidelined at different stages.
Weve got to be better at whatever we do, on either edge, Stone said.
It takes a little bit of time to form combinations and confidence.
The Herald
