Sometimes you make your own luck. Sometimes the referee makes it for you. Yesterday's result was the former -- I think we had enough opportunities but once again it was a case of poor execution. That we managed to still be in the game with five seconds to go was a credit to the heart they all played with, but sometimes that isn't enough. A quality team like the Roosters doesn't like being caught out by an under-rated outfit like Newcastle. We caught them out last time on the Central Coast, but they just seemed to hang on enough to keep us out a second time.
I always find it fascinating how we seem to be on the end of decisions and penalties that should, in a normal circumstance, be called but are rarely blown. The Knights can't buy a penalty some days -- even if they're constantly the targets of flops and lazy markers who always seem to be called onside even if they're clearly not. Suffering under such circumstances would be OK if it weren't for the fact that the Knights, in accordance with the notion of a consistent rule for all, adapt their play accordingly and then find themselves defending back-to-back sets because a referee has decided he won't put up with such sloppiness. The bigger problem is benefit of the doubt. It's puzzling, sometimes, to see how the Knights will be denied a try one week, only to watch as another team is awarded a similarly 50-50 (some would say debatable) try the next week (or sometimes in the same game). I know this as "the Newcastle rule", but less one-eyed fans would describe this as a ridiculous concept. All I do know for sure is that the referees do target teams and particular players in the same way teams target other teams. Danny Buderus is known to try to get cheap penalties from dummy-half, so the referees go into the game conscious of not letting him milk any. A lesser hooker, in the same circumstances, I would argue would have to do less to convince the referee of the opposition's crimes.
Rest assured, though, I'm not suggesting there were many dud calls in this regard yesterday. The tries were a bit dodgy, but the ref probably got them right from my perspective. The Knights just need to work on their discipline and stop dropping the ball. There is only so much dropped ball in your own territory that you can get away with before the opposition will capitalise on the handy field-position. Become more disciplined, both in attack and defence, and you start to get in the referee's good books and you're more likely to get those 50-50 calls. Or so I reckon, but who am I to suggest I know what is going on most of the time. Even the experts can't agree on the correct ruling.
