Where will the Newcastle Knights finish in 2019?

[perverse]

Fix the defense? It's only problematic on the stat sheet, we've defended well enough to win every game we've played this year. Fix the offense and our direction, and we will start winning again.

 

[Spot On]

Yes the defence. Same as every year.

Good attacking sides will murder us.

Cronulla bombed four or five tries in R1 and have improved in every facet the last 2 weeks, Penrith are playing terribly with no attack whatsoever atm and Canberra have Sam Williams at halfback.

Our defense has gone backwards already. Friday night was deplorable - 54 missed tackles. How that can be sold as an improvement is puzzling to say the least.

Yes points will help balance the side up and take some pressure off the defense and hopefully we see that this w/e.

I have said our structures look a little bit better this year and so it should have with the afdition of Klemmer and Glasby plus Ramien out wide but I'm far from convinced till we play a decent attacking side.

Sorry to rock the boat everyone but it's just an opinion.

 

[perverse]

Sorry to rock the boat everyone but it's just an opinion.

No boats rocked (huh?)... I just don't believe we can win a game right now by defending better. We need to score points when given the opportunity, of which we've had plenty. We were straight up out-energised and enthused by the Raiders on both sides of the ball.

I'm not saying our D is world class by any stretch, but it has put us in a position to compete. Our attack has been deplorable.

 

[slotmachine]

The defence against the Sharks was superb. Raiders was a disgrace. The Panthers performance looks worse after yesterday.

We have a very soft draw, only play Storm/Broncs/Souths once.
Get the Dogs/Eels/Manly/Tigers/Titans/Warriors twice. Going into the season you're saying that's 12 wins right there, but with the attitude shown against the Raiders more likely to get the spoon.

 

[perverse]

The defence against the Sharks was superb. Raiders was a disgrace. The Panthers performance looks worse after yesterday.

We have a very soft draw, only play Storm/Broncs/Souths once.
Get the Dogs/Eels/Manly/Tigers/Titans/Warriors twice. Going into the season you're saying that's 12 wins right there, but with the attitude shown against the Raiders more likely to get the spoon.

Agreed, attitude is my biggest concern. The guys have everything to play for, and have looked pedestrian more often than not. It isn't even a stretch to say that complacency could be affecting their timing and execution in attack, either. Feels like there's a lot of waiting for the blokes beside them to do something. They need to go out there willing to work hard for 80 minutes before anything is going to get better.

 

[Pedge1971]

Same old one out shit. No one pushing up to support the ball carrier in games 2 and 3 meaning no kne expects and offload and that kills the opportunity to offload.

The good teams have superb defence but more importantly a killer counter attack when the ball is turned over.

 

[aqua_duck]

Based on tonight's game, worse than last year

 

[Burns]

1-3.

Match against Manly at home, without Tommy playing for them. If we lose, and go 1-4, we’ll thats our season tbh.

 

[Silent Knight]

At this rate, bottom four. I’m going to see the Knights play the Bulldogs for Magic Round, and based on our current form I reckon they’ll beat us.

 

[K-Man]

Based on a combination of what I'm seeing on the field and the fact of being 1-3, I'd say we finish 9th or 10th. We will look back on this part of the season as where we blew it. Not smart enough, not desperate enough, not polished enough. Sadly, not well coached enough.

But I think we will improve and get quite a few wins. Problem is, I don't think we're good enough to make up for this start. If we lose next week, it's season over.

 

[aqua_duck]

At this rate, bottom four. I’m going to see the Knights play the Bulldogs for Magic Round, and based on our current form I reckon they’ll beat us.

Yep, our roster is much better but they actually move the ball around and play some footy not just one out hits and pass to Ponga and hope for the best like it's under 10s

 

[Yosh]

I think we will go on massive run and win 10 plus in a row soon. Something crazy like that. I still think we will finish at least top 6.

Watching Newcastle in seasons gone by felt like watching a bunch of Sunday footballers playing against elite athletes. We look elite player wise. It's just we are playing badly. Once it clicks, I can see us tearing teams apart.

 

[Jono078]

don't know where we'll finish but as of RIGHT NOW. We are last on the ladder. Back to what we've been familiar with for the past 5 or so years.

Yay Knights.

 

[Mr Angry]

where do u have the Sharkies finishing?

1-4, same day I did newy.

I posted in all these threads

 

[NK Arsenal]

Gee haven’t things turned around...

Keep Pearce fit and we are a top 6 minimum side

Glad the NRL have changed the rules about week 2-3 finals. I’m dreaming of a preliminary final at home.

 

[Knight Vision]

Gee haven’t things turned around...

Keep Pearce fit and we are a top 6 minimum side

Glad the NRL have changed the rules about week 2-3 finals. I’m dreaming of a preliminary final at home.

How many minimum points do you think will be needed this year to make the 8? Last year it was 32. I know some years its been as low as 28.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

I'm going top 6 at this stage.
We are in a position that we are a bit away from the top few but have enough of a buffer below us that we can afford to lose some and still not battle to just scrape into the 8. F/A is a big advantage for us.

A home finals game would be a major boost for the fans.

 

[Spot On]

Well, the defence is now winning games for the side so if that aspect of our game continues and maybe even improves and injuries are kind then we can make the top 6.

Some tricky games coming up over the next 5 rounds - Storm, Broncs and Roosters again.

Grab at least 3 wins in that stretch and we keep touch with our current position you'd think.

Then Klemmer should be back, Levi close and hopefully J Saf somewhere in the mix too.

 

[perverse]

I think we will go on massive run and win 10 plus in a row soon. Something crazy like that. I still think we will finish at least top 6

Only 4 more to go, Yosh.

 

[Knight Vision]

To make the 8

28 points we need another 6 wins from the remaining 11 rounds

32 points we need another 8 wins from the remaining 11 rounds

2018 ladder after 13 rounds https://www.nrl.com/ladder/?competition=111&season=2018&round=13

2019 ladder after 13 rounds https://www.nrl.com/ladder/

2018 ladder after 24 rounds https://www.nrl.com/ladder/?competition=111&season=2018&round=24