The game - some thoughts

[Nuffy]

Frankly we've managed to lose a certain 2 points. Look at the facts,

We are at home,
Coming off a disappointing game against the Tigers,
Bedsy back,
Warriors haven't won a game in Aus in 08,
Warriors having players out or returning from injury ala Price.

And yet we've turned in the worse game this year and one of the worse for 2-3 years.

It was a team that lacked passion, enthusiasm and purpose, the attacking options were non existent and its only the competitiveness of some of the players that kept us in it.

Quite a few of those players are at a cross roads, I'm sure that all of the newbies are on fair money but aren't offering fair value.

Lulia needs some time in PL, ineptness can't keep being rewarded.

Houston - ditto, his drop balls are killing us, he may have been a little unlucky in the 2nd half but his ball security is woeful.

Fa'aso - whats the point in having him in the team, at least one critical mistake every game............. this week it lead directly to a try.

Ciraldo - adds nothing, constantly dominated by the defence.

Wicks - added nothing more than Sargent would have but without the experience.

Wes - adds nothing in attack nor defence, can someone tell him to return the ball with some urgency instead of jogging back and then getting dominated.



We relied on the commitment of Simpson, Mullen, Bedsy, Patto to keep us in the game. Royal, Taia, Jim Mac, Dog went ok, no complaints.

We are the masters at running teams back into winners, how many more games can we squander. Also Dureau - deadset shocking game, give Walsh a chance.

If Smith was even half fair dinkum, he should have ripped that team a new one over that performance and they should be verballed all week over such a pathetic display.

One more comment;

Jared Maxwell can get fu*ked, irrespective of the Knights performance, he deadset murdered us. He let the warriors set the tone for the game and it was allowed to be played at their pace. Plus, forget the 50/50's, the Warriors got every single possible decision in their favour.

We had absolutely no luck once again, its becoming a bit of a habit where the opposition seems to have a run of incredible luck against us, the Tigers did also.

If the club has any brains, they'd give Smith 10K so he can have a massive lash against the referees because its now becoming more than a joke the way they treat this team, we got the rough end of the stick against Melbourne, then the Tigers and now the Warriors.

I for one am sick of it.

 

[perverse]

agree with everything except fa'aoso. he's a keeper. wes needs to get out of the fullback position asap. i believe him as a back-up fullback is a complete myth. wes in the centres or the wing is fine, and he's been good at centre this year (although i haven't seen him service his winger too often).

i'm starting to believe there must be something behind our bizarre penalty record this year. something doesn't feel right about it anymore - it's beyond a joke and the pattern continues to repeat. once again - it's not necessarily the penalties we're conceding.. most of them we deserve... however it's the ones that we arn't getting that are suspicious. you can't tell me that every team this year has got their act together and been squeeky clean just for our match. it's bullshit.

 

[Frederick]

There was a play early on in the game where Simpson was tackled and in trying to get to his feet was impeded by the tackler climbing all over him to marker...rule book says that's a penalty. Maxwell says "derrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr there's a rule book?"

 

[perverse]

There was a play early on in the game where Simpson was tackled and in trying to get to his feet was impeded by the tackler climbing all over him to marker...rule book says that's a penalty. Maxwell says "derrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr there's a rule book?"

i had the ref mic on the TV while watching. he was actually singing "I FEEL LIKE CHICKEN TONIGHT! LIKE CHICKEN TONIGHT!" and flapping his arms about. bizarre.

 

[NthKnight]

**** me did anyone else nearly throw their beer at the telly when Maddog didnt pass to Jimmy Mac when he should have. He is such a ball hog and is vvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy lucky he ran through that Warriors winger to score

 

[chinorocks]

[QUOTE
Wes - adds nothing in attack nor defence, can someone tell him to return the ball with some urgency instead of jogging back and then getting dominated.][/QUOTE]

Couldn't agree more. He takes 5 minutes to pick the ball up if it hits the turf, then lumbers back into 2 or 3 defenders who drive him back 5 metres time after time. Show some ****ing enthusiasm . Charge back at them...if you get smashed...stiff ***.

 

[perverse]

**** me did anyone else nearly throw their beer at the telly when Maddog didnt pass to Jimmy Mac when he should have. He is such a ball hog and is vvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy lucky he ran through that Warriors winger to score

i was just cheering that it was always going to be a try from there. it was a fair dinkum money ball from mullen.

 

[IanG]

I've expressed my thought in another thread. NOT HAPPY!!!!!!!

 

[Frederick]

Fire up, Ian!

 

[Frederick]

Just remembered another thing that pissed me off to no end...when we kicked off after one of the Warriors tries, and the ball goes straight through Fiens hands while he is facing our goal line, and Maxwell rules knocked back...how the **** could he knock it back when he was facing the wrong way?

 

[Apey]

**** me did anyone else nearly throw their beer at the telly when Maddog didnt pass to Jimmy Mac when he should have. He is such a ball hog and is vvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy lucky he ran through that Warriors winger to score

I tried explaining it to my mum but she is the most biased fan I know. I would have ****ing run down onto the field if he screwed that one up.

 

[perverse]

Just remembered another thing that pissed me off to no end...when we kicked off after one of the Warriors tries, and the ball goes straight through Fiens hands while he is facing our goal line, and Maxwell rules knocked back...how the **** could he knock it back when he was facing the wrong way?

the call was farcical to epic proportions. colossal cock-up, one of many he made tonight.

 

[Jono078]

There was also the Fai knock on which wasnt called a knock on, we should have had the scrum 10 metres out.

So much annoyed me about tonight id rather not talk about it, way to **** the season up and make it that much harder though.

 

[General Knight]

Surely Smith has to drop some of the guys mentioned above. Like I said in another thread, we rant about how good the depth is this year. Well about bloody time we use that depth.

 

[perverse]

it is indeed General Knight - it absolutely is. smith would have to recognise this after the last 2 starts i would think. i believe there are 1 or 2 forwards bashing the door down for selection... and i can't help but think we'll see uate or sau next week too.

 

[Hanscholo]

I guess we are all annoyed.

Im trying to look at it in a way that explains it, and frankly its not like we havent seen this all before. We have been losing to **** teams at home for 10 years.

For the first 5 or so games of the season we seemed to go out and try as hard as we could with little to no pressure on us, we were expected to lose. All of a sudden we roll GC, we roll Roosters we lose in a points decision to Brisbane and Melbourne and people start thinking, **** we are pretty good.

Problem with the players thinking that is, we have built our mental effort this season out of being under dogs, about having no pressure on us. Then when we least expect it, we lose to two **** teams ( sorry tigers and warriors ).

The last two games i have watched a side run out that was expecting to win, was unsure how to do it, and from that doubt came a lack of direction which showed up in numrous ways. Poor ball control is a sign of no concentration or nerves, the line not moving up in defence is also a sign of that. We seem to be waiting for someone to win the game for us, and then when it doesnt happen they start to realise that its things like hitting the line hard, making the extra effort in a tackle, getting a repeat set...wins you games.

They are the poorest favourites in the comp. As it stands now, i wouldnt bet on them in any game they are faves. Problem now is, the mentality is going to flow over into games we are expected to lose as well and we might get some thumpings from it.

Imo, its all up to Brian and the guys to mature. To sit down and really understand why it is that we lost those last two games, why the effort wasnt there and how we go about preparing for matches we are supposed to win. I gues thats phase II of the rebuilding, not just getting some good players together but making them into a mentaly tough outfit.

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

It has to be Mullen and Bailey 5/6 combination for the rest of the year...end of story.
Enuff of this playing out the back ****..
every team can defend it now...hit holes with runners!!!.
And i reallly hope someone gives a cheque to Smith for him to really have a go at the Maxwell arsehole...if someone doent tell him hes a f**kstick then how else is he going to know it
Let losseee smithy!!!!!!

 

[strewth_mate]

wes needs to get out of the fullback position asap. i believe him as a back-up fullback is a complete myth.

His first game at fullback for us (Roosters?) he was absolutely outstanding I thought. But quite so, the majority of performances there are against him. Tonight he switched to the wing for a while in the second half and Vuna dropped back, but even he was unconvincing. Conceding the 40/20 brought on an inkling of upsetness.

Just remembered another thing that pissed me off to no end...when we kicked off after one of the Warriors tries, and the ball goes straight through Fiens hands while he is facing our goal line, and Maxwell rules knocked back...how the **** could he knock it back when he was facing the wrong way?

Couldn't see it properly but did it come forward off his hands and then back off his leg? I mean, I don't know but maybe Maxwell saw it like that and then happily started his chicken tonight song.

 

[perverse]

holla. that is a ****ing woeful post.

put our best player in a position he isn't nearly as effective in - and put another player in his position that we wont have after this season. yep, that's planning for the future buddy. nice one.

mullen MUST be our 5/8th. no ifs. no buts. no or's. nothing. he is our 5/8th. he could play for australia in the future as a 5/8th. he will never amount to anything special as a halfback. he's not a controller, he's a distributer and a runner - i.e a 5/8th.

 

[Knight87]

agree with everything except fa'aoso. he's a keeper. wes needs to get out of the fullback position asap. i believe him as a back-up fullback is a complete myth. wes in the centres or the wing is fine, and he's been good at centre this year (although i haven't seen him service his winger too often).

i'm starting to believe there must be something behind our bizarre penalty record this year. something doesn't feel right about it anymore - it's beyond a joke and the pattern continues to repeat. once again - it's not necessarily the penalties we're conceding.. most of them we deserve... however it's the ones that we arn't getting that are suspicious. you can't tell me that every team this year has got their act together and been squeeky clean just for our match. it's bullshit.

I'd have to say, so far, this year, along with 2000, have been the years the Knights have been most dudded by, in terms of crap refereeing. You are 100% right about what you have said.

I know you guys have probably heard enough crap and whinging about refs this year, yet youll keep hearing it all year. The quality of reffing (across the NRL) is below average, and has been for quite a long time, yet nothing is being done about this. The majority of refs are simply not up to standard, but it doesn't help when you've gotta ref boss (Robert Finch), whos not only not reffed a game, but doesn't know anything about refereeing. That's just like saying that you can cook a better beef steak than Gordon Ramsay, when you've never cooked anything in your life. Of course clubs shouldn't be surprised to see Finch doing nothing about many clubs complaints about referees.

In 2000, there were at least 7 games we lost off the back of crap ref decisions (including that prelim vs Roosters). Not so much that, but what Peverse is trying to say is more so getting crap decisions AT CRUCIAL POINTS IN THE MATCH (ie match turning decisions). Perverse, I share the exact thought as you. It reminds me of that game vs Canberra in 2000. We didn't receive one penalty throughout the ENTIRE 80 MINUTES!!!! So, in other words, what was being implied was that Canberra played the perfect game throughout the entire 80 mins, were never offside once, never slowed down play the balls etc.??? RUBBISH! They were doing it all game, like against the Storm game 3 weeks ago. Yet, nothing gets done about it. Seriously Robert Finch, just resign. Not only is he showing he's incompetent in the ref boss position, but also stabbed the Knights in the back during the SL war when he jumped board to the Hunter Mariners.