Why Are Newcastle So Crap?

[BuffaloRules]

Newcastle won’t let him play Origin . He’s probably only a couple of head knocks away from medical retirement(unfortunately). The lack of depth at most clubs when injuries and suspensions kick in is a major issue and Newcastle probably have less depth than most.

Doesn’t his dad call the shots though ?

 

[Generalzod]

I think O'brien needs to go back fixing windscreens.

 

[Woody90]

Newcastle won’t let him play Origin . He’s probably only a couple of head knocks away from medical retirement(unfortunately). The lack of depth at most clubs when injuries and suspensions kick in is a major issue and Newcastle probably have less depth than most.

Clubs can’t stop players playing SOO if they want to (Ponga just doesn’t seem super interested in rep footy though which infuriates the media).

 

[Chins]

I'm sure paying Dyl Bags 1.6m per year will fix all their issues

 

[This Year?]

I think O'brien needs to go back fixing windscreens.

 

[Generalzod]

O O O O'Brien....

 

[Captain Apollo]

The Knights are crying out for organising halves. Problem is the ones they have in first grade at the moment are more ball runners, which means outside of some Ponga magic they have zero creativity in attack. This makes it very easy for the defence as they all key on Ponga. They have zero guile in the rest of its spine. Hastings can organise, but he is rather on the slow side and appears out of favour to boot.

Thing won't get any better with Dylan Brown's arrival. The guy couldn't organise a wardrobe full of clothes. His playing style is "more of the same" as to what they currently have.

Add in how much money per season is reportedly tied up in paying Brown and Ponga, that means you have to have a lot of players on bare minimum salary to remain under the salary cap. As such the quality of their squad is nowhere near as good as many other clubs.

 

[Bazal]

I actually think DylBro will help, but they need another signing to make an actual big difference.

Neither DylBro or Ponga is an organising player, but they can both be absolutely lethal with space and having two options will take the pressure off the other. A bit of momentum and they will smash lesser sides. The issue will be the games against better sides they need to wrestle back, individual spark can only do so much. They need a halfback who can kick long and control the game plan, just someone who can be their Shane Perry or Rob Jeffson type.

AOB is probably not the man for the gig either, he's Diet BA

 

[Tiger Shark]

You can get away these days with out a clear organising half if your team is well coached and knows it's systems.

Look at Storm or Panthers when a half goes down, everyone still knows their roles and plays and where they should be.

So I think Brown and Ponga can work but not so they are a team that will fall into the above category.

Its the 10 year deal for Brown that is just dumb, why wouldn't you offer him a 5 year deal same money, I'm sure he woudl have taken it.

 

[yakstorm]

Newcastle love a slow start to the season... in fact the only time they've been in the top eight after 7 rounds was in AOB's first season (2020).

Last year they were 15th with 4 points, 2023 they were 11th with 7 points, 2022 they were 15th with 4 points and 2021 they were 10th with 6 points.

As much as I don't like AOB, he seems to be able to get them to lift in the second half of the season and scrape into the finals (only time he's been unsuccessful was 2022) with a squad that just seems really unbalanced.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Thoughts?

If they get Dylan Brown within the next 4 weeks that would help their attack a bit.

Bro, don't start this thread a week before we play them!!!

 

[Fangs]

Bro, don't start this thread a week before we play them!!!

Next time I'll consult my magic 8 ball.

 

[MKCS]

Another poster put it best, they waste a ton of the salary cap and don't seem to care. This year with Hastings, Elliot and Hetherington off contract they'd have cleared up around 1.5 million dollars on those 3 alone but instead of picking up an Origin player and another player that is above average they instead signed Dylan Brown for the next decade.

They didn't really need a running 6, they've already seemingly got a pretty good one in Fletcher Sharpe...

 

[Bazal]

Another poster put it best, they waste a ton of the salary cap and don't seem to care. This year with Hastings, Elliot and Hetherington off contract they'd have cleared up around 1.5 million dollars on those 3 alone but instead of picking up an Origin player and another player that is above average they instead signed Dylan Brown for the next decade.

They didn't really need a running 6, they've already seemingly got a pretty good one in Fletcher Sharpe...

Shit town tax.

Although I personally like Newcastle, they definitely have to pay more than Sydney or Brisbane clubs because it's not a major city.

 

[Chins]

Shit town tax.

Although I personally like Newcastle, they definitely have to pay more than Sydney or Brisbane clubs because it's not a major city.

For young kids sure but any parent choosing to raise their kids in Sydney over Newcastle is a complete merkin.
Its an awesome place to live.

 

[Bazal]

For young kids sure but any parent choosing to raise their kids in Sydney over Newcastle is a complete merkin.
Its an awesome place to live.

Yeah I agree. But plenty don't. And it's different for blokes whose entire industry is pretty much centred in Sydney.

 

[T-Boon]

Lack of recruitment, Wests being tight arses, the town doesn't have enough of a market to attract third party deals, Junior investment was destroyed years ago, nepotism.

Knights fans should boycott Wests Leagues club until they start putting a much bigger effort into the Knights.
The Knights seem to have almost zero relationship with the local league teams like the Pickers.

 

[MKCS]

Shit town tax.

Although I personally like Newcastle, they definitely have to pay more than Sydney or Brisbane clubs because it's not a major city.

Yeah but I feel like North Queensland and St George don't really have these same issues, I know that Canberra have had their struggles in attracting star players but Ricky worked around that by recruiting a lot of English players and now seems to have a good mix of young and experienced players.

Newcastle also has a pretty incredible junior catchment area which they don't really seem to use to their advantage.

 

[Generalzod]

Both clubs have had great half backs in the past Andrew Jones and Peter Sterling they just havent found any players of that calibre that could replace them...

 

[Pjf04b]

1. AOB
2. Poor recruitment
3. AOB