Post Game - Knights V Broncos.

[Big Pete]

Whitchurch was very good in limited opportunities. Came up with some very good tackles including one on Leilua from marker that forced the ball loose and he had a couple of strong carries as well.

Only complaint I have is that he didn't chase one of Milford's kicks. It forced our defence to come in, giving Newcastle space down our left and they nearly scored from it. Thankfully Maranta came up with a great tackle on Leilua. It was timely because Maranta's inability to lock up the ball gifted Leilua his try.

 

[CaptainHook]

I totally agree with this. I love maranta for this reason. The amount of players that are loaded with natural talent that just **** it away and if he had a quarter of their natural talent he would be a superstar, yet he just chips away, gives his all and works on his flaws as best he can.

Go Lachy!

Wonderful post, b4l and it perfectly sums up my thoughts as well. Personally, I'm sick of seeing guys in the team skate by on potential the last few years. Some of you are quite happy to see an awesome game by Vidot and a few others sandwiched in between 3 or 4 poor performances and that's fine but I'm sick of it. If I wanted to keep seeing that crap, they should've just retained Griffin. I'm glad that Bennett keeps rewarding players like Maranta who is probably the most improved player at the club, imo.

I do get why people make such strong case for Vidot and Copley. When you compare guys like that to Maranta, it's obvious they're bigger, stronger and faster - why does Bennett keep persisting with this little guy despite having more talented options at his disposal? Doesn't make sense. I believe the reason is those players just don't deliver on a consistent basis and they haven't worked on the errors in their game as effectively as Lachlan has. People are entitled to their own opinions but they're not entitled to their own facts. Maranta is playing better than Copley and company - that's a fact. Whether he actually is a better player than them is what those guys have to prove.

Personally, I always envisioned Maranta evolving into a Jason Nightingale type of player. Not overly flashy but he sure knows how to take a bomb as well as score and save plenty of tries. I sometimes wonder if Dragons fans bag him the way Maranta gets hammered. Is there a Dragons forum? If such a dark and dreery place exists what did they make of his double in the 2010 decider. Was rubbish about how his tries weren't exciting or flashy enough posted? Did they say 'I'll take the trophy but I'm still not happy you can't score unless you're within 20m'? Do they now just accept that if he's been in the team this long he must have something going for him? Does Maranta dare to dream?

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

Wonderful post, b4l and it perfectly sums up my thoughts as well. Personally, I'm sick of seeing guys in the team skate by on potential the last few years. Some of you are quite happy to see an awesome game by Vidot and a few others sandwiched in between 3 or 4 poor performances and that's fine but I'm sick of it. If I wanted to keep seeing that crap, they should've just retained Griffin. I'm glad that Bennett keeps rewarding players like Maranta who is probably the most improved player at the club, imo.

I do get why people make such strong case for Vidot and Copley. When you compare guys like that to Maranta, it's obvious they're bigger, stronger and faster - why does Bennett keep persisting with this little guy despite having more talented options at his disposal? Doesn't make sense. I believe the reason is those players just don't deliver on a consistent basis and they haven't worked on the errors in their game as effectively as Lachlan has. People are entitled to their own opinions but they're not entitled to their own facts. Maranta is playing better than Copley and company - that's a fact. Whether he actually is a better player than them is what those guys have to prove.

Personally, I always envisioned Maranta evolving into a Jason Nightingale type of player. Not overly flashy but he sure knows how to take a bomb as well as score and save plenty of tries. I sometimes wonder if Dragons fans bag him the way Maranta gets hammered. Is there a Dragons forum? If such a dark and dreery place exists what did they make of his double in the 2010 decider. Was rubbish about how his tries weren't exciting or flashy enough posted? Did they say 'I'll take the trophy but I'm still not happy you can't score unless you're within 20m'? Do they now just accept that if he's been in the team this long he must have something going for him? Does Maranta dare to dream?

Awesome post

I feel the same about Maranta.

He deserves everything he's getting right now. Glad we don't have a Blake Ferguson type player sapping opportunities and life out of our club.

 

[Morkel]

Wonderful post, b4l and it perfectly sums up my thoughts as well. Personally, I'm sick of seeing guys in the team skate by on potential the last few years. Some of you are quite happy to see an awesome game by Vidot and a few others sandwiched in between 3 or 4 poor performances and that's fine but I'm sick of it. If I wanted to keep seeing that crap, they should've just retained Griffin. I'm glad that Bennett keeps rewarding players like Maranta who is probably the most improved player at the club, imo.

I do get why people make such strong case for Vidot and Copley. When you compare guys like that to Maranta, it's obvious they're bigger, stronger and faster - why does Bennett keep persisting with this little guy despite having more talented options at his disposal? Doesn't make sense. I believe the reason is those players just don't deliver on a consistent basis and they haven't worked on the errors in their game as effectively as Lachlan has. People are entitled to their own opinions but they're not entitled to their own facts. Maranta is playing better than Copley and company - that's a fact. Whether he actually is a better player than them is what those guys have to prove.

Personally, I always envisioned Maranta evolving into a Jason Nightingale type of player. Not overly flashy but he sure knows how to take a bomb as well as score and save plenty of tries. I sometimes wonder if Dragons fans bag him the way Maranta gets hammered. Is there a Dragons forum? If such a dark and dreery place exists what did they make of his double in the 2010 decider. Was rubbish about how his tries weren't exciting or flashy enough posted? Did they say 'I'll take the trophy but I'm still not happy you can't score unless you're within 20m'? Do they now just accept that if he's been in the team this long he must have something going for him? Does Maranta dare to dream?

The Dragons fans I know love Florence. In my opinion though Nightingale has far more talent and is a way better finisher than Maranta. One of the best wingers in the comp in terms of all-round ability and consistency. That's not to say that Maranta can't get there though.

 

[Socnorb]

Just watched a replay. 3 things I noticed . McCloullogh defensive technique is outstanding. JoeO was really good in his first game with long minutes. Reed and Oates , although good at times seem to lack communication. If I had to pick it I'd say Oates need to do more talking.

 

[Big Pete]

JoeO was really good in his first game with long minutes.

Ofahengaue should be better for the experience but I thought he was poor in all departments and was a big reason why the Knights piled on 18 points.

 

[Danoz Direct]

Ofahengaue should be better for the experience but I thought he was poor in all departments and was a big reason why the Knights piled on 18 points.

I don't think he is given the ball in the right places for him to make an impact, but I agree his defence was poor.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Jo.O got a bit lost in the pace of the game in the first half.....I wouldn't describe his performance as good (certainly not really good), although poor is a bit overstated as well. His stats weren't too bad for the game.

I'm not sure about him....at this level.

 

[Morkel]

Just watched a replay. 3 things I noticed . McCloullogh defensive technique is outstanding. JoeO was really good in his first game with long minutes. Reed and Oates , although good at times seem to lack communication. If I had to pick it I'd say Oates need to do more talking.

Wow, speaking of typos. That sounds like someone talking with a mouth full of water. I think you've eclipsed the common Maguire trend, bravo.

 

[Socnorb]

Wow, speaking of typos. That sounds like someone talking with a mouth full of water. I think you've eclipsed the common Maguire trend, bravo.

Your welcome.

 

[Socnorb]

Ofahengaue should be better for the experience but I thought he was poor in all departments and was a big reason why the Knights piled on 18 points.

Yeah, but despite a few defensive errors, he seemed to be in everything. I'm not sure how that showed up in the stats.

 

[K-Style]

Im sure Big Pete noticed more than I but i thought Offa went alright with the ball. Defensively might be lacking a bit but he has huge boots to fill in that position.
NRL stats have him at 2 missed ad one inneffective. One of those would have been the effort on Sims at the tryline.

It was dissapointing that Blair and Offa couldnt stop Korbin Sims. I'd blame those 2 before Maranta for that try.

 

[K-Style]

Not sure if the stats are finalised yet but they have
Blair, Boyce, Offa, Stagg and Molo each with 2 missed tackles. I thought Boyce had more than that despite improving in the second half.

Maranta had the most at 5 missed but it was ridiculous to play him at centre opposite Leilua. Also, Kahu should have been fullback from the start.
Maranta has benefited from playing fullback to remind him what its like to get the ball but with the inexperience of our forwards he was going to be tested more than ever.

 

[Unbreakable]

Boyce showed something, I'm not quite sure what it was, because he didn't really make any big metres or any big tackles, but he was getting involved a lot, which I like to see.

 

[Huge]

One thing I've noticed is a lack of references to Shitchurch ! I had not seen his earlier games so that was my first viewing of him and he didn't seem to do much wrong. I had read a lot of posters comments on Whitchurch and the overwhelming majority were very negative but I ask, where's the comments that are a bit kinder ? For 60 minutes of the match we were the better team so finding fault is a bit surprising although criticism is not always unwarranted . We won away from home and against the odds and our worst player was still pretty good . Btw, Stagg played his guts out and for someone who plainly is hardly wanted he did the jersey proud, I was very happy with his lionhearted effort.

 

[Big Pete]

Im sure Big Pete noticed more than I but i thought Offa went alright with the ball. Defensively might be lacking a bit but he has huge boots to fill in that position.
NRL stats have him at 2 missed ad one inneffective. One of those would have been the effort on Sims at the tryline.

It was dissapointing that Blair and Offa couldnt stop Korbin Sims. I'd blame those 2 before Maranta for that try.

I thought he didn't make the most with his carries.

Look at Stagg. He's basically a walking crash-test dummy out there yet he made the exact same contribution with the ball and I'd day say he 'won' more runs than Ofahengaue who either let himself down with poor body positioning, poor aggression or an inability to fight for a quick play the ball even when he satisfied the initial two departments.

I thought his defence was poor as well. He's always struggled with initial contact and can find himself on the ground or struggling to lock up the ball, which lead to two tries (albeit the Snowden call was rubbish). The one defensive play that really annoyed me was the strip late in the tackle count. That was inexperience and I'm sure Wayne will teach him how unacceptable and selfish that play was.

I'm not saying Ofahengaue is a dud by any means and I'm sure he'll take a lot out of his run-on debut. However, he was the Broncos weakest forward and has plenty he needs to work on if he wants to make it at this level.

 

[austin71]

Makes you wonder how well the team is going this year if Bennett would have improved Dave Halas game...

 

[abashii]

Makes you wonder how well the team is going this year if Bennett would have improved Dave Halas game...

Not much Wayne could do for Dave I think, the poor bastard spends more time in the physio than on the field. Hasn't played for the Titans yet has he? He did a knee in the trials and I haven't seen him on any team lists since.