Under fire: Knights fans unload on Danny Wicks
BY ROBERT DILLON
A FEW months ago he was the toast of Newcastle after his memorable, runaway try against the Roosters.
Now heavyweight forward Danny Wicks rates as the most maligned player in the Knights line-up and a popular scapegoat after Sunday's loss to the Raiders at Canberra Stadium.
Wicks and Knights coach Brian Smith have attracted heavy fire from supporters after the 38-18 defeat that left Newcastle in a precarious position with just three rounds left before the play-offs.
Fans on The Herald's website and other forums hammered Smith for dropping wholehearted toiler Matt White from the team that played Canberra to include Wicks, who had missed the previous three games with an ankle injury.
Smith said yesterday that people were entitled to their opinions but felt it would be unfair to single out any player after such a one-sided result.
He said "faceless people who make outrageous and outlandish comments" on website forums were not worth worrying about.
"Everybody's open to criticism," Smith said.
"If you're an NRL player or coach, people have got the right to criticise . . . you can pull things out and hammer anybody if you want.
"But it is a team game and, as a group, we'll survive and flourish together, or we'll suffer, depending on whether we win or we lose.
"That's how good football teams handle themselves."
Smith said Wicks was far from Newcastle's worst player against Canberra.
The former St George Illawarra prop played 37 minutes off the bench, gaining 68 metres in attack and making 11 effective tackles of the 16 he attempted.
The Raiders already had two tries on the scoreboard and were on the front foot by the time the 22-year-old entered the game.
"Wicksy and Richie Fa'aoso put a bit of spring in our step when they came on," Smith said.
"They made a real difference in terms of our go-forward.
"The reason we lost the game wasn't down to any one player. Even if it was, it certainly wasn't down to Danny Wicks."
Newcastle had won three successive games before the loss to Canberra and four of five games since White was promoted from reserve grade during an injury crisis.
But the return of Ben Cross, Jesse Royal and Wicks from injury meant that White, who has agreed to a one-year contact with the Gold Coast for next season, was squeezed out of Newcastle's squad.
"Whitey did a good, tidy job for us, and we weren't disappointed with him, but the calibre of the team we played on the weekend was ridiculously different to the three we had played previously," Smith said.
"The coaches had been saying for three weeks that we weren't happy with a number of aspects in our games."
Smith pointed out that Newcastle has been competitive in most games this season, despite the fact that senior forwards Steve Simpson and Cross had played only 10 and six games respectively.
"The improvement that we've made as a team this year largely on the back of the younger players in our team our forward pack has had an awful lot to do with it," Smith said.
The coach acknowledged that the 118-kilogram Wicks was still a work in progress.
"He's like a lot of players in our team," he said.
"He's got improvements to make, he's done some good things this year, and he's got a way to go before we're dominating teams."
As for criticism on websites, Smith dismissed it as irrelevant.
"I'm not disappointed at all," he said. "I pay no attention to it."
The Herald was unable to contact Wicks yesterday.
Wicks retained his place on the bench yesterday when the Knights named their team to play North Queensland in a do-or-die home game on Saturday night.
Back-rower Chris Houston will miss his first game of the season after being rested. Cooper Vuna, Akuila Uate and Marvin Karawana have also been omitted.
Smith has reinstated Adam MacDougall, Wes Naiqama, Scott Dureau and Chris Bailey to his squad. He has also named Mark Taufua as 18th man, but there is a chance the rugged bench forward could play.
"We've got a number of guys who need to be cleared medically, so we'll see how it goes," Smith said.
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