*after game feed* vs the Knights

[Tigerdave]

Ok, so the forum was down, which was extra disappointing given that we won, but I took some notes/comments during the game, just wondering if anyone else did the same 🙂

1st Half

Kepaoa is an idiot, kicking on the 3rd down the sideline

Talau left Brooks hanging in the breeze trying to go for the intercept on the Knights first try

AD kicking well, Knights knock on

Great kick by Brooks for AD to score! 12-4

Far out Tamou...right after we score..good defence at least to hold them out

Lucky bounce Knights, but no try

Great stuff Daine stopped a 40/20, but we got lucky

Great take Lucy and Saifiti off for the game by the looks

Awful pass Lucy, we keep throwing it behind the player

Garbage 6 more on the last, he can't just disappear from the ruck...Knights score 12-8

Pretty good half running into a breeze

2nd Half

Good first set for the 2nd half and a bit of bad luck with the kick

Great pass by Brooks and run from Stef! 18-8

Better kick from Brooks

I hate 6 again...but the Knights throw it forward

Great kick AD, Knights knock on. Knights contesting the call, challenge unsuccessful

Another Knights restart, they've had a few

Goal line drop out, need some good defence here.

Great defence, Knights lose it

Nice kick again keep the Knights pinned in their half

Damn Jimmy should have gone out wide instead of coming back in, Nofo was unmarked

Great take Laurie and nearly away, but Kepaoa drops it....this kid is doing my head in and the Knights score....18-14

And damn it...kicked out on the full...this is garbage now...

And Kepaoa actually catches a long pass by Jimmy, got real close on that set, 13 minutes to go

No way, get stuffed.....20-18 Knights in front...

10 minutes to go, we need an error here.

Great kick by Brooks, Knights knock on.....come on boys!!!

Too easy! Nofo in 24-20, great kick from the sideline by AD, 6 minutes to go
Here we go, we can seal it here.

Moses, what the hell.....

Nail biting stuff....OMG we did it! 24-20

 

[TheDaBoss]

Forum down for a reason lmao

Couldnt handle 2 weeks of wrist slittin

 

[TCL]

Nice to get a win. Team played a lot better. Still some issues but much better all round.

 

[Zach]

better overall performance for sure. Clearly madge has told AD to "take over" from brooks....

BUT, i still think we are for some reason playing on purpose very cumbersome, slow and linear in attack? it makes no sense.

Also, Jimmy doesn't really look like he's enjoying being close to Nofa....we need to give him the ball more, Nofa needs to stop being such a ball hog.

 

[MarySt]

Yep, some good and bad points from yesterday

The Good:

- halves starting to look a lil more confident
- we managed to execute our first tryscoring scrum play of the season (lol)
- daine Laurie is amazing
- first time in forever we've handled goalkicking
- beautiful front rower run from Stef for a try
- nice to see some resilience and for it to pay off for the boys

The Bad:

- ball handling/passing. Like OP says, ball going way behind, above or below targets a lot of the time, hard to build momentum when theres no fluidity in a run. We looked in slow motion on a lot of plays
- defense in the middle, so many easy metres (and tries) given away due to a loose defensive line. Maybe they were super conscious of the edges ? I don't know, but still a long way to go there
- Luciano needs to find his mojo again. Lots of bad errors from him in first 3 rounds which have been costly. Also has been a lil quiet in red zone plays
- Still a lack of support runners. When big Stef made the break he was all on his lonesome, where was everyone? Luckily he managed to get the job done
- need to involve Laurie more in attack, also the jet

The Ugly:

- AJ Kepaoa. Why he continues to be selected is beyond me. Reminds me a bit of how Jennings kept a spot in the team for way longer than was deserved. Coach needs to sort this out as he is offering nothing and is injured
- Mbye as backup hooker. This needs to stop asap. Passing game abysmal, only confuses things as acting half, and doesn't do enough in defense. We struggled in the 20 min that Liddle was off. It's either centre or nothing for Mbye. Simpkin is ready and would be a good bench option moving forward.

Bonus GOOD points:
- The NSW cup team win! 50-6. Kelma Tuilagi, Simpkin and Kiah Cooper were excellent. Jock Madden did well too and was not bad in kicking goals as well. Worrying signs for Knights depth, but very promising for ours. Even Cini played pretty well

 

[rustycage]

I really liked what Luke Garner did out there. Was strong all day. And i thought Lucy was kind of disinterested at times. Don't know if his brothers demotion had anything to do with that.

 

[Roar_Power]

AJ Kepaoa somewhat lost me yesterday. He played awful and lacked urgency. BJ has been in his ear...

 

[Goldust]

Edge defence was terrible still.mostly on the left again.
All of knights try’s we’re very soft,
That being said.....how good was it to ruin Mitch’s 300th 🤗
AD,Laurie,Stefano,Joffa and even Mikale all played well.
Brooks was better this week.still some poor defence but he looked decent in attack.i feel Liddles service in the first half really let us down.

 

[Goldust]

I really liked what Luke Garner did out there. Was strong all day. And i thought Lucy was kind of disinterested at times. Don't know if his brothers demotion had anything to do with that.

Agreed! He played with lots of energy.

 

[avocadoontoast]

Observations from the game
Laurie and Doueihi were superb
Stefano was great
Roberts isn’t getting anywhere near enough ball
AJ poor
Liddles service is waaaay too slow and misses too many tackles
Better from Brooks who seemed to enjoy AD running the show
Forwards held their own
Effort was really good, never gave up

Overall a lot of positives, thought the effort and attitude was really good.

 

[cleanskin]

It was a great game to watch but the frustrating errors from the same characters.
AJ made a few costly ones.
The Frizell try was all on Brooks. He missed the first tackle that lead to the linebreak and then missed a second time trying to tackle Frizell.
Two missed tackles in the one play was the only time I started getting angry.
Brooks needs more tackle practice. Grabbing arms and jersey isn't affective.

 

[rustycage]

It was a great game to watch but the frustrating errors from the same characters.
AJ made a few costly ones.
The Frizell try was all on Brooks. He missed the first tackle that lead to the linebreak and then missed a second time trying to tackle Frizell.
Two missed tackles in the one play was the only time I started getting angry.
Brooks needs more tackle practice. Grabbing arms and jersey isn't affective.

I think it was that try that Lucy looked very un Lucy-like. I can cop the odd miss by a defender - in this case Brooks, but when it happens, those around have to get on board and fix the problem. They just looked off for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Maybe Lucy was injured or something at that point.

 

[Geo]

Brooks sucks..

 

[DGilly]

The GOOD:
-Forwards did a great job against a great Knights pack. Stefano will be great
-Brooks had a very good game, good to see him bounce back with some nice runs and passes.
-Laurie is a weapon. Fearless under the high ball and so elusive. Only a matter of time before he breaks off a 50m+ try
-Garner's defence has improve light years from where it was two weeks ago
-Doueihi kicked really well
-Early ball to the centres was really effective

The BAD:
-Mbye at hooker kills all momentum. Notable change when Liddle comes back on
-Everyone roasted Joey last week and rightfully so, but fewer people seemed to have a problem with Kepoa who is arguably worse. I mean at least Joey catches the ball when it's throw to him. Also third tackle, has two guys in support on the right and opts to kick left over the sideline.. Did his best to keep Newcastle in the game
-The attack, whilst much more organised still looks a bit shakey with a lot of passes being thrown behind the receiver.

 

[DGilly]

AJ Kepaoa somewhat lost me yesterday. He played awful and lacked urgency. BJ has been in his ear...

I think Tim Simona has, probably had a few on the Knights

 

[TheDaBoss]

Observations from the game
Laurie and Doueihi were superb
Stefano was great
Roberts isn’t getting anywhere near enough ball
AJ poor
Liddles service is waaaay too slow and misses too many tackles
Better from Brooks who seemed to enjoy AD running the show
Forwards held their own
Effort was really good, never gave up

Overall a lot of positives, thought the effort and attitude was really good.

Yea i thought lids looked a bit tired at times

Mbye had a bit od a hit and miss lol, bombed a easy try and some terrible passes playing numba 9

I 100% agree on jet

He is neglected, he touched the ball a couple of times and looked dangerous af

We could if smashed em by 30

Ps. How good was the goal kicking 🤩🤩

 

[rustycage]

Mbyes dummy half cameo wasn't great. I'd rather his millions be invested in assisting the reggies. Also wondering if Talau was ok. I noticed him limping on the sideline and then Mbye at centre when he completely fluff that sitter. Any news there? And God I wish we had an offload in us. I hate it when we get cut to pieces with offloads. Yet we almost never look for a support player.

 

[avocadoontoast]

Observations from the game
Laurie and Doueihi were superb
Stefano was great
Roberts isn’t getting anywhere near enough ball
AJ poor
Liddles service is waaaay too slow and misses too many tackles
Better from Brooks who seemed to enjoy AD running the show
Forwards held their own
Effort was really good, never gave up

Overall a lot of positives, thought the effort and attitude was really good.

Yea i thought lids looked a bit tired at times

Mbye had a bit od a hit and miss lol, bombed a easy try and some terrible passes playing numba 9

I 100% agree on jet

He is neglected, he touched the ball a couple of times and looked dangerous af

We could if smashed em by 30

Ps. How good was the goal kicking ??

Yep agree Mbye isn’t good at 9. I think next week Mbye to left centre, Tommy T to wing, Simpkin to 14.

 

[sleeve]

Our forwards were good, kicking game good, our backline except for Laurie are poor. Knights were terrible, but would have killed us if they had their stars playing. We need more attack or it will be a sad year. Happy for the win.

 

[TheDaBoss]

Observations from the game
Laurie and Doueihi were superb
Stefano was great
Roberts isn’t getting anywhere near enough ball
AJ poor
Liddles service is waaaay too slow and misses too many tackles
Better from Brooks who seemed to enjoy AD running the show
Forwards held their own
Effort was really good, never gave up

Overall a lot of positives, thought the effort and attitude was really good.

Yea i thought lids looked a bit tired at times

Mbye had a bit od a hit and miss lol, bombed a easy try and some terrible passes playing numba 9

I 100% agree on jet

He is neglected, he touched the ball a couple of times and looked dangerous af

We could if smashed em by 30

Ps. How good was the goal kicking ??

Yep agree Mbye isn’t good at 9. I think next week Mbye to left centre, Tommy T to wing, Simpkin to 14.

Talau did look quite good in the centre tho

He did make a few bad reads tho, noticeably the first try to hoy