Before the season started I said our forward pack wasn't good enough, and people were carrying on about how "tough" they were. I was shocked at how much optimism there was about a forward pack of old tough guys who haven't broken a tackle at pace or beaten anyone with footwork in about 5 years. It's a pack of solid plodders, but that doesn't cut in the NRL.
Start writing a list of the most dangerous attacking forwards in the comp from the best down. Don't worry too much about getting it exactly right, just go with your own rough opinion, and see how long it takes you to get you to the second and third Knights players.
Snowden's going well as a genuine metre eater, but in terms of a tackle busting and skillful threat I'd estimate your list gets to about 70 before you find your second Knights forward. And I don't even know who you would have there, Mason? He makes like 5 runs a game.
In my opinion it all starts and ends with the forwards. At the start of the season I think you look to the quality and depth in each team's forwards to best gauge how the season will pan out, not just the first 6 weeks which can be misleading because nobody is at their best and sometimes the backs can really capitalise on all the errors etc.
But as the grind of a season drags on, you simply have to have some real punch and variety in the forward back. We don't have it, we didn't have it in pre-season, and we won't discover it this year or next. To me it's just a lack of real class, and a bit of youth.
Individually I don't have an issue with Mason, Snowden, Cuthbertson, Smith, Scott, Rochow, McKinnon or Sims - all decent to fairly good players in their own right. But they don't work as a unit because there's no genuine power, footwork, skill, second phase, tackle breaking ability, offloads etc. It's all too same same. They try hard, they're "tough" (so sick of hearing that, it's an overused plaudit for a forward who offers little else).
Unfortunately for us I think everyone is right, about everything. Every point someone has made in this thread has been a sound one, meaning we have a lot more than just one specific deficiency in our team.
Start writing a list of the most dangerous attacking forwards in the comp from the best down. Don't worry too much about getting it exactly right, just go with your own rough opinion, and see how long it takes you to get you to the second and third Knights players.
Snowden's going well as a genuine metre eater, but in terms of a tackle busting and skillful threat I'd estimate your list gets to about 70 before you find your second Knights forward. And I don't even know who you would have there, Mason? He makes like 5 runs a game.
In my opinion it all starts and ends with the forwards. At the start of the season I think you look to the quality and depth in each team's forwards to best gauge how the season will pan out, not just the first 6 weeks which can be misleading because nobody is at their best and sometimes the backs can really capitalise on all the errors etc.
But as the grind of a season drags on, you simply have to have some real punch and variety in the forward back. We don't have it, we didn't have it in pre-season, and we won't discover it this year or next. To me it's just a lack of real class, and a bit of youth.
Individually I don't have an issue with Mason, Snowden, Cuthbertson, Smith, Scott, Rochow, McKinnon or Sims - all decent to fairly good players in their own right. But they don't work as a unit because there's no genuine power, footwork, skill, second phase, tackle breaking ability, offloads etc. It's all too same same. They try hard, they're "tough" (so sick of hearing that, it's an overused plaudit for a forward who offers little else).
Unfortunately for us I think everyone is right, about everything. Every point someone has made in this thread has been a sound one, meaning we have a lot more than just one specific deficiency in our team.
