Round 14 Discussion

[broncos4life]

Biggest highlight was Issac Luke supporting Qld Wednesday, unlike Quasimodo...

Haha I thought that was awesome

 

[Big Pete]

Penrith lead St. George Illawarra 12-0.

Pretty ordinary game so far. Neither team playing well but Penrith have found some success down their right with Whare scoring an early double on Beale.

In other news, it appears Pat Matai'utia, younger brother of Pete maybe making his first grade debut. Josh Mantellato who was originally named for the Knights played NSW Cup earlier while Pat was no where to be seen.

Waddell may also come into the side.

 

[Super Freak]

It looks like Broncos are going to be knocked down to 4th tonight.

 

[Big Pete]

Half-Time 12-4 Penrith.

Dragons scored just before half-time through the hands of Quinlan. Should be 12-6 but the Dragons decided to take the Panthers line on with bugger all time remaining and Penrith nearly made them pay for it.

Panthers have been ordinary but they're up against a side like St. George who are struggling for combinations.

 

[Ari Gold]

Mantellato is out but Gidley reverts to FB with Mamo to the wing, Clydesdale to start and Waddell on the bench.

 

[Big Pete]

Sensational pass from Quinlan and good to see Nightingale come off his wing and support in the middle.

Good try all-round.

12-10 Penrith.

In other news, only Travis Waddell comes into the side with the team shuffling around.

Gidley - Fullback
Mamo - Wing
Clydesdale - Hooker
Waddell - Bench

 

[Big Pete]

Nice try for Mansour, just caught the Dragons short on their right hand side. Yeo is a nice runner of the footy, got an important pass away to Soward who summed the situation up well.

Soward's goal kicking has been very important tonight. 3 tough attempts and he's hit all three changing the complexion of the game.

 

[Big Pete]

Nightingale scores a determined last gasp try to give the Dragons a sniff.

18-14

The boot of Soward will end up being the difference for Penrith, but not us Northerners, ha!

 

[Morkel]

Anyone who doesn't think the Rooster's players refusal to use their foot to play the ball is a deliberate tactic, watch the game in now. The refs won't ping them because the forwards do it in 90% of tackles.

 

[Big Pete]

RTS scores for the Roosters to lock the scores up at 6 all.

Been watching the Knights these past couple of weeks and thought they had the unfortunate knack of bringing the best out of their opponent. Well, can put that theory to bed since the Roosters started very poorly and really gifted Newcastle the first points of the evening.

Holy crap. That was a magnificent break from Uate who's really returned to his best since his return last week but the Knights absolutely butchered it.

 

[Big Pete]

Waddell comes on and in little time throws a forward pass.

Poor Newcastle.

 

[Big Pete]

12 all.

Newcastle have been poor so far this second half and the Roosters have made them pay with a lottery cross-field kick try to RTS.

Didn't think it could get much worse than Kidley at hooker but Waddell has put in the worst performer I've seen of any hooker. Even Luani could take him.

 

[Big Pete]

Sydney 29
Newcastle 12

It was all Sydney in the second half. Nothing pretty about their play but their forwards easily accounted for the Knights, dominating field position and converting it into points eventually.

Didn't think Maloney played that well despite what the stats. will say. Seemed to be a bit of a handbrake but he got a few lottery cross-field kicks away and his forward pass lead to a try so I suppose that will equate to a good evening for him. SBW was also pretty ordinary too - not sure if it's because the teams are giving him extra attention or if his mind is elsewhere, seems to be a bit of both.

Don't know what the Knights can do really. I'd hate to be supporting them right now, but there's not a lot of options available to them.

 

[Ari Gold]

Sydney 29
Newcastle 12

It was all Sydney in the second half. Nothing pretty about their play but their forwards easily accounted for the Knights, dominating field position and converting it into points eventually.

Didn't think Maloney played that well despite what the stats. will say. Seemed to be a bit of a handbrake but he got a few lottery cross-field kicks away and his forward pass lead to a try so I suppose that will equate to a good evening for him. SBW was also pretty ordinary too - not sure if it's because the teams are giving him extra attention or if his mind is elsewhere, seems to be a bit of both.

Don't know what the Knights can do really. I'd hate to be supporting them right now, but there's not a lot of options available to them.

I think Bennett's style has potentially fucked them over for a while. He's persisted with a Dad's Army of forwards (Gidley 32, Scott 30, Smith 34, Fa'alogo 33, Newton 32, Mason 34) and hasn't achieved anything really as a result (1x Prelim final ultimately doesn't matter, it's just a form of losing). Some of those players deserve to be there, but 6 members of your forward pack over 30 isn't achieving a premiership now and certainly isn't helping to build one for tomorrow either.

 

[Big Pete]

Their off-season recruitment was definitely poor. To only bring in Packer, Dobson, Newton & Minto when they still had the likes of Fa'alogo, Hilder, Tahu & Waddell in their Top 25 was alarming and of their new recruits, the most promising ended up getting himself locked up for two years.

If you were a fan Ari, what would you like to see the coach do with that squad? I honestly don't think there is a lot Bennett can do with that roster and he needs to announce some signings and quick smart for next year.

 

[Ari Gold]

There's not a lot Bennett can do this year because they recruited so poorly the year before. What he does need to do though is recognise his methods are no longer working and adapt. He is trying to apply what worked at the Dragons to the Knights and he is failing miserably.

With the Dragons he had a decent spine that was led by Boyd, and in Gidley and Mullen, has two players together who are about the same as Soward and Young. He had an aging but experienced forward pack and built his game around a good defence and high completion rates. The Knights this year rank quite highly for completions but they fail miserably at scoring tries because doing the basics right with an okay spine is no longer a winning formula. He needs to come up with a different game plan.

The way the Dogs play is not very similar to the way Manly played in 2005-2011, but both teams had success because Hasler adapted. Bennett needs to come up with a new game plan that plays to the Knights strength -- a big challenge as they don't appear to have any, unless owning the most senior citizens cards counts.

Obviously recruitment is the key now, but two things he should do is play Korbin Sims more and find a regular spot for Jake Mamo. Mamo has game breaking speed and the Knights need more of that. Their pack is old and Sims is their most promising young talent. Maybe he shouldn't play 80 every week (though he showed he can in the Samoa v Tonga game) but he should play 55-60. Where exactly you play Mamo I'm not sure. Maybe it means shifting Boyd to five-eight, maybe it means shifting Uate somewhere else, be it NSW Cup or the Forward pack. I'd be inclined to try Boyd at five-eight as he's been useless as **** at fullback this year.

 

[KingWebcke]

just tried to watch the Eels - Dogs game. that was a painful experience. It has almost convinced me that we shouldn't be playing club footy during Origin ... it is just so ugly and scrappy

it is worse than watching the QLD or NSW cup because it doesn't even have the same level of fluency. There is a mix of NRL and lower level players and it all becomes a huge disjointed mess

 

[Bucking Beads]

There's not a lot Bennett can do this year because they recruited so poorly the year before. What he does need to do though is recognise his methods are no longer working and adapt. He is trying to apply what worked at the Dragons to the Knights and he is failing miserably.

With the Dragons he had a decent spine that was led by Boyd, and in Gidley and Mullen, has two players together who are about the same as Soward and Young. He had an aging but experienced forward pack and built his game around a good defence and high completion rates. The Knights this year rank quite highly for completions but they fail miserably at scoring tries because doing the basics right with an okay spine is no longer a winning formula. He needs to come up with a different game plan.

The way the Dogs play is not very similar to the way Manly played in 2005-2011, but both teams had success because Hasler adapted. Bennett needs to come up with a new game plan that plays to the Knights strength -- a big challenge as they don't appear to have any, unless owning the most senior citizens cards counts.

Obviously recruitment is the key now, but two things he should do is play Korbin Sims more and find a regular spot for Jake Mamo. Mamo has game breaking speed and the Knights need more of that. Their pack is old and Sims is their most promising young talent. Maybe he shouldn't play 80 every week (though he showed he can in the Samoa v Tonga game) but he should play 55-60. Where exactly you play Mamo I'm not sure. Maybe it means shifting Boyd to five-eight, maybe it means shifting Uate somewhere else, be it NSW Cup or the Forward pack. I'd be inclined to try Boyd at five-eight as he's been useless as **** at fullback this year.

Rumours the Knights are about to sign Tariq Sims are promising for them but they need a lot of new talent in the forwards. The young hooker they have seems to go alright as well. Bennett will have to leave because his specialty is not cleaning out list cloggers.