2024 Round 1 v Knights: Game Day

[gerg]

Well that wasn't pretty as I thought I read we were moving away from such a boring gameplan? But it's round 1 and it's a win and off the back of a really strong defensive display. Starling and Papa's tackle in the second half was a massive moment in the game. Great team effort. As Mickey said it reminded me of the gritty defensive win at the Gold Coast in 2019.

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Pretty sure the coaches said we were going to open the season with the boring game plan and possibly expand from there later.

Okay. Thanks I missed that. I'm not too fussed in the first few weeks, but hopefully we don't see it all year like last year. But how can anybody complain too much after a performance like that. Even those picks of Levi and Hoppa ... played well both of them. A few little errors but both of them contributed nicely.

Great to see how fit we are and what a great start from Papa. I'm hoping for a big year from him and a contract extension. I wouldn't be happy to see him finish his career in another jersey. He's one of the best forwards this club has ever produced and deserves to be a one club man and overtake the Crokers for games played for the club.

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[NoMan]

Martin Gabor in News Limited publications said Hudson Young had a moment of sheer madness and a shocking brain snap and he also thought Guler should have been sent off for a textbook hip drop.

Firstly how many similar events to Hudson could be found in games if you watched every off ball contact in slow motion.

Secondly, how many players have been sent off for hip drops? Very very few from memory. Usually they are placed on report and dealt with by the judiciary. I also didn’t think Gulers was at the worse end of a hip drop. Likely a low grade charge.

Its news.com.au, they would call the sky being blue a shocking outrage.

[benda]

People still here having a sook about Levi because their typical raider rants are now falling on deaf ears.
Dude did good. Just back up and let the dude play.

Only on the Greenhouse can we have a good win in round 1 and people still fish for negatives.

Xavier just needs to get his "sir did you see that" issues out of his game and he'll remain on in the squad. Bloke has toughened up. Looks like Rick was right in holding him back. Weird that a footy coach has a pretty good idea about what to do.

We've lost nothing by having Wighton leave. He might set the world alight at Souths but he no longer was a fit in Canberra and the team look more cohesive as a result.

That's the thing about suggesting a players not ready, you can't really lose the argument.

I think the arguments last year about a lack of speed on the edge killing the team were 100% validated last night.

That try in the corner can be scored by strength or speed. Savage scored it with pure speed.

[Postman Pat]

Were the rucks controlled differently.

Many times the Knights were in our faces 1 pass off the ruck after playing the ball. Were they offside, or were we slow.

Crossland in particular was shooting off the line last night, I don’t know how he could have been onside at times.

[The Nickman]

I've got Billy on mute but I can only assume he quoted me to say something out of context and negative regarding Croker.

Haha it really is the best system for some peace of mind around these parts.

You still see enough of his drivel when people quote him, and that's honestly much, much more than enough.

[BJ]

Knight’s had some poor key players such as Ponga. But Safiti brothers and Frizzel were good.

But how poor was Adam Elliot. Really went missing when a tough hit up was required.

[The Nickman]

I found that press conference to be quite disappointing. After a great win Ricky was unnecessarily petulant. The open question was a jurno heaping praise only to get Ricky snarl something like “it’s up to you to describe the performance not me”. Then the media try to heap praise on Fogs kicking game and our front row performance only for Ricky to give a surly curt response that they don’t ever get recognition.

They ask about the Hudson sin bin and he goes on some weird journey suggesting if he gets a week suspension it needs to be consistent all year, be he knows it won’t be and that he doesn’t blame the refs because they have a hard job.

It’s Round 1. Even if he truly believes in the siege mentality, world against us crap, at least hold off until there is half a reason to peddle it out or it just looks contrived and unnecessary.

He picked a great team and prepared and coached them beautifully tonight. The press conference was a fail.

I agree. But it’s Billy, so in that case I must be wrong.

Oh Jesus, this one confuses me too, because this is a very good post by Billy.

I can only assume he did it assuming most people will be on Sticky's side and now he realises they're not he'll flip and start defending the coach.

Otherwise it must just be the "broken clock" analogy.

[Sid]

Our back 5, starting props and lock all made 100+ metres

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[NoMan]

Our back 5, starting props and lock all made 100+ metres

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Seems like the strategy this year is even more to rely on the backs and to strictly only use a middle on the 4th tackle coming out of their own end. I don't remember a Prop making an earlier hit up than that unless we were in their half.

I was pretty skeptical but it seemed to work by the end of the game when the middles just started to totally dominate the Knights.

[raiderskater]

I thought we played decently, perhaps not well, but there were a lot of positives and it seems I'll be echoing a few by being impressed with how fit we look. The Knights looked absolutely gassed by halfway through the second half, but the boys looked strong and with plenty left in the tank.

A few other thoughts:
- Savage looks much better now, bigger, stronger, but still incredibly quick. Massive positive for us.
- Raps is Raps - he can be beaten up from pillar to post and he'll still get up begging for more.
- I liked Strange and thought defensively he looked quite good. Halves can take time and it's time I'm willing to give.
- Levi looked okay, but him limping off injured was a concern. Starling was a bullet. That hit to force the line dropout was one of those moments that can turn a game.
- All the forwards looked very good, pushing up, taking hits, looking for opportunities. And Smithies and Hosking looked really really good!
- Hudson getting binned was an absolute joke and only happened because it was bloody Ponga. Ponga literally stopped in the middle of a downfield chase and then turned around. If he hadn't randomly turned around to face the opposite direction of the break Hudson would have hit him in the back.

[Seiffert82]

Martin Gabor in News Limited publications said Hudson Young had a moment of sheer madness and a shocking brain snap and he also thought Guler should have been sent off for a textbook hip drop.

Firstly how many similar events to Hudson could be found in games if you watched every off ball contact in slow motion.

Secondly, how many players have been sent off for hip drops? Very very few from memory. Usually they are placed on report and dealt with by the judiciary. I also didn’t think Gulers was at the worse end of a hip drop. Likely a low grade charge.

His opinion has aged well, after both receiving fines from the MRC.

The Young sin binning was ridiculous. No idea what the ref expected him to do in that circumstance. Of course it looks entirely different in slow motion than full speed.

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[Seiffert82]

Were the rucks controlled differently.

Many times the Knights were in our faces 1 pass off the ruck after playing the ball. Were they offside, or were we slow.

Crossland in particular was shooting off the line last night, I don’t know how he could have been onside at times.

There's zero chance he was onside for the majority of those rucks.

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[Conor]

We put Newcastle under quite a bit of pressure with our defence, their poor handling didn’t happen in isolation.

Really good / interesting to hear post match that Hosking and Smithies are big talkers in organising our defence. That plus our improved ball handling (or rather, the absence of Jack’s unforced errors) will go a long way to this season being an improvement on the last couple of years.

Finally, totally get that you don’t want Young getting sin-binned, but I didn’t really mind him taking an opportunity to put a little shot on Ponga. On the ch.9 coverage post match he said he got a spray at half time and noted that their first try was through a gap he’d have otherwise been covering, so hopefully lesson learned. I guess.

[dubby]

Our back 5, starting props and lock all made 100+ metres

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I did notice our sets usually started with 3 outside backs taking a hit up

[Ruben Daley]

One try conceded when we had 12 men by exploiting a big prop defending on an edge.

One try conceded by a misread from a guy who otherwise defending really well during a period when the Knights had a lot of ball in good position.

Those are the types of tries I can handle conceding. Overall, our defence was several levels up from last season and with room for improvement. Very promising.

[Seiffert82]

There was a lot of commentary at half time about how the Knights looked much more potent in attack than us. They certainly played with more shape than our flat attack, but it wasn't particularly effective in the red zone, other than when we were playing a man short.

We did a great job of crushing the opportunities they tried to create on the edge. We numbered up well and managed to get multiple defenders in tackles on their second rowers and centres - for 80 minutes. To use a Paul Keating adage, the Knights were all tip and no iceberg.

On the other hand, Sanders and our centres got almost no ball in the first half. They capitalised in the second half after we had won the physical contest in the middle.

Stuart would have loved that. I'm almost certain it was exactly what he was looking for.

In saying that, the Knights pack looks bottom 4 quality to me.

[Botman]

The Knights hype never made much sense to me
They're a Ponga team... and he's always going to be a player where if you get him on the wrong day, you're probably losing the game.

But outside of Ponga they have:
- bad halves, bottom 3-4 in the league at both spots
- bad hooker, when Brailey is hurt, which is a lot, they have Crosslands and aside from a little form surge last year, he's not very good
- average forward pack, the Siafiti's are very over-rated. Leo Thompson and Friz are pretty good. The rest meh. KPP flashed last night though, ill give them that.
- Best is a good strike weapon, Gagai is rocks and diamonds year to year and declining, Marzhew is a very rich man's Hoppa, Tuala eh

If you can bottle up KP, they're not left with a lot.

[Bluesbrother]

There is no room in this current ( including Horse ) for Smell, only injury in the rotation will se him back


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Always room for a sledge from you. Keep bagging, you've already got egg on your face. Shutting you up will be nice as we move into this next generation in the house that Ricky has built.
I agree.

But I’ll bet my life savings Ricky “veteran deference over merit” Stuart doesn’t.

You’re saying Elliott Whitehead walks straight back into the team that won so convincingly last night? On what basis?

I’m sure I’ve heard your mate mention before that he doesn’t change winning sides. Or only when it suits him?

On the basis that it's Elliot Whitehead. It's as simple as that. He is the club captain and his last performance for us and for England were mighty fine ones. It's his jersey to lose.

Blame Ricky for everything bad but when something goes well where is your commentary? Still negative. Petty.

[Bluesbrother]

The Knights hype never made much sense to me
They're a Ponga team... and he's always going to be a player where if you get him on the wrong day, you're probably losing the game.

But outside of Ponga they have:
- bad halves, bottom 3-4 in the league at both spots
- bad hooker, when Brailey is hurt, which is a lot, they have Crosslands and aside from a little form surge last year, he's not very good
- average forward pack, the Siafiti's are very over-rated. Leo Thompson and Friz are pretty good. The rest meh. KPP flashed last night though, ill give them that.
- Best is a good strike weapon, Gagai is rocks and diamonds year to year and declining, Marzhew is a very rich man's Hoppa, Tuala eh

If you can bottle up KP, they're not left with a lot.

Tell that to the journalists who write up their rubbish.

I couldn't believe that O'Brien earned an extension after a purple patch of form from Ponga. I don't see what they are building/have built at Newcastle. The best they can hope for is bottom of the 8.

[Botman]

The Knights hype never made much sense to me
They're a Ponga team... and he's always going to be a player where if you get him on the wrong day, you're probably losing the game.

But outside of Ponga they have:
- bad halves, bottom 3-4 in the league at both spots
- bad hooker, when Brailey is hurt, which is a lot, they have Crosslands and aside from a little form surge last year, he's not very good
- average forward pack, the Siafiti's are very over-rated. Leo Thompson and Friz are pretty good. The rest meh. KPP flashed last night though, ill give them that.
- Best is a good strike weapon, Gagai is rocks and diamonds year to year and declining, Marzhew is a very rich man's Hoppa, Tuala eh

If you can bottle up KP, they're not left with a lot.

Tell that to the journalists who write up their rubbish.

I couldn't believe that O'Brien earned an extension after a purple patch of form from Ponga. I don't see what they are building/have built at Newcastle. The best they can hope for is bottom of the 8.

As i've said many times, there is no sport in which the people who are paid to report on, analysis and present the game know as little as RL.
Its pretty clear most of them dont even take their job seriously enough to even watch most games to even have a baseline level of knowledge.

As for AOB, i **** hate Newcastle and everything in it, including the knights, so i popped the champagne when they extended him.

[Raiders_Pat]

There is no room in this current ( including Horse ) for Smell, only injury in the rotation will se him back


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I agree.

But I’ll bet my life savings Ricky “veteran deference over merit” Stuart doesn’t.

Always room for a sledge from you. Keep bagging, you've already got egg on your face. Shutting you up will be nice as we move into this next generation in the house that Ricky has built.

You’re saying Elliott Whitehead walks straight back into the team that won so convincingly last night? On what basis?

I’m sure I’ve heard your mate mention before that he doesn’t change winning sides. Or only when it suits him?

On the basis that it's Elliot Whitehead. It's as simple as that. He is the club captain and his last performance for us and for England were mighty fine ones. It's his jersey to lose.

Blame Ricky for everything bad but when something goes well where is your commentary? Still negative. Petty.

I don't think Whitehead necessarily walks straight back in. He's due back in round 4 iirc. We've got Tigers at home next week and then Warriors away - if we lose against the Warriors then I could see it but if we beat them then I think he may be lucky to get a spot on the bench. We looked very good in defence last night, and I'm not sure there will be much of an appetite to change our starting second rowers and lock if they keep up their output.

[greeneyed]

I agree.

But I’ll bet my life savings Ricky “veteran deference over merit” Stuart doesn’t.

Always room for a sledge from you. Keep bagging, you've already got egg on your face. Shutting you up will be nice as we move into this next generation in the house that Ricky has built.

You’re saying Elliott Whitehead walks straight back into the team that won so convincingly last night? On what basis?

I’m sure I’ve heard your mate mention before that he doesn’t change winning sides. Or only when it suits him?

On the basis that it's Elliot Whitehead. It's as simple as that. He is the club captain and his last performance for us and for England were mighty fine ones. It's his jersey to lose.

Blame Ricky for everything bad but when something goes well where is your commentary? Still negative. Petty.

I don't think Whitehead necessarily walks straight back in. He's due back in round 4 iirc. We've got Tigers at home next week and then Warriors away - if we lose against the Warriors then I could see it but if we beat them then I think he may be lucky to get a spot on the bench. We looked very good in defence last night, and I'm not sure there will be much of an appetite to change our starting second rowers and lock if they keep up their output.

Ricky Stuart said yesterday he might only be out for 2-3 weeks.

[Botman]

If Hosking keeps playing like he did last night, i dont know how Stuart could honestly say he's doing the best thing for the team playing Whitehead over Hosking.

[-PJ-]

Matt Timoko fights for every inch.

I love that.

[greeneyed]

If Hosking keeps playing like he did last night, i dont know how Stuart could honestly say he's doing the best thing for the team playing Whitehead over Hosking.

I can’t say I was that excited about the recruitment of Hosking. Ricky Stuart was was remarkably blunt in saying he wasn’t initially interested either. But he was terrific last night.

[dubby]

The Knights hype never made much sense to me
They're a Ponga team... and he's always going to be a player where if you get him on the wrong day, you're probably losing the game.

But outside of Ponga they have:
- bad halves, bottom 3-4 in the league at both spots
- bad hooker, when Brailey is hurt, which is a lot, they have Crosslands and aside from a little form surge last year, he's not very good
- average forward pack, the Siafiti's are very over-rated. Leo Thompson and Friz are pretty good. The rest meh. KPP flashed last night though, ill give them that.
- Best is a good strike weapon, Gagai is rocks and diamonds year to year and declining, Marzhew is a very rich man's Hoppa, Tuala eh

If you can bottle up KP, they're not left with a lot.

Totally agree.

The hype around Newcastle never ceases to annoy me.

And my memory of how much attention they used to get when the Johns boys played

[-TW-]

Cause they were pretty **** good in that era, especially the late 90s early 00s

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[Hong Kong Raider]

Only just watched the game just now as I was on the way back from the States.

Proud to be a Raider. Nothing better than beating Newcastle at their home ground and when no one tipped us. Fog's kicking game reminded me of a Peter Sterling masterclass, with Ponga getting the ball back on his 20. Papa had a strong game, loved how he pushed the Knights player with Starling in goal. Hosking should stay at right edge all year, he adds to our attack and defence. Lots to like about Smithies. Savage, Timoko and Strange showed glimpses as well. The defence on the edges was way better than last year. I thought Levi and Starling were good in parts as well.

a lot to still improve but a lot to like.

[Bennyboy2283]

Papa looks like he was playing back in the second row again with his quick foot work

[Rickmando]

There is no room in this current ( including Horse ) for Smell, only injury in the rotation will se him back


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Always room for a sledge from you. Keep bagging, you've already got egg on your face. Shutting you up will be nice as we move into this next generation in the house that Ricky has built.
I agree.

But I’ll bet my life savings Ricky “veteran deference over merit” Stuart doesn’t.

You’re saying Elliott Whitehead walks straight back into the team that won so convincingly last night? On what basis?

I’m sure I’ve heard your mate mention before that he doesn’t change winning sides. Or only when it suits him?

On the basis that it's Elliot Whitehead. It's as simple as that. He is the club captain and his last performance for us and for England were mighty fine ones. It's his jersey to lose.

Blame Ricky for everything bad but when something goes well where is your commentary? Still negative. Petty.

Elliott whitehead who has looked busted and below NRL level for 3 years. Good. Your gymnastics to unfailingly cheerlead everything Rick does without being able to even consider an alternative view renders everything you write on here pretty much meaningless mate.

And btw, you clearly haven’t read 6 other posts I’ve made about the performance today (all positive), you’ve just cherry picked a comment that is accurate and well-made (but doesn’t agree with your viewpoint) and have focused on that.

So yeah, do me a favour and just put me on mute. I’ve got no interest in engaging with you, muppet.

[Rickmando]

Matt Timoko fights for every inch.

I love that.

He gives me as much enjoyment as watching Meninga or Wiki (who had much better ball playing inside them).

I just hope we work out this season how to firstly get him more football, and then, more quality football. He’s such a handful, he could be anything

[Seiffert82]

Matt Timoko fights for every inch.

I love that.

Simply the best.

Better than Bradman Best.

Better than all the rest.

Better than Colin Best...or anyone I've ever met.

Or something like that.

[Seiffert82]

The Knights hype never made much sense to me
They're a Ponga team... and he's always going to be a player where if you get him on the wrong day, you're probably losing the game.

But outside of Ponga they have:
- bad halves, bottom 3-4 in the league at both spots
- bad hooker, when Brailey is hurt, which is a lot, they have Crosslands and aside from a little form surge last year, he's not very good
- average forward pack, the Siafiti's are very over-rated. Leo Thompson and Friz are pretty good. The rest meh. KPP flashed last night though, ill give them that.
- Best is a good strike weapon, Gagai is rocks and diamonds year to year and declining, Marzhew is a very rich man's Hoppa, Tuala eh

If you can bottle up KP, they're not left with a lot.

Tell that to the journalists who write up their rubbish.

I couldn't believe that O'Brien earned an extension after a purple patch of form from Ponga. I don't see what they are building/have built at Newcastle. The best they can hope for is bottom of the 8.

As i've said many times, there is no sport in which the people who are paid to report on, analysis and present the game know as little as RL.
Its pretty clear most of them dont even take their job seriously enough to even watch most games to even have a baseline level of knowledge.

As for AOB, i **** hate Newcastle and everything in it, including the knights, so i popped the champagne when they extended him.

All I heard about the Raiders during the offseason was how much we'd struggle to replace Wighton.

I'm convinced not a single NRL journalist watched a Raiders game last year.

It was a joke.

Now, Newcastle are actually bottom 8 material. It will be a miracle if they improve on last season's freak form. They remind me of Souths, Redcliffe and Canterbury - some enigmatic individuals who grab headlines, but very little substance in the middle and down the spine to be consistently good.

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[RedRaider]

Yeah, Smithies was a grade 2 HIA.

Thanks NoMan. I have one more for you. In the first half Xav caught a short line drop out and Gagai tackled him and I thought pushed the ball out of his possession and over the side line. The Knights were given possession on the re-start. Was there any commentary about why that was not a Raiders ball. It was on the opposite side of the ground to us, but sure looked like the Knights player put it into touch.

[Off]

It's so cute the amount of peeps buying grandfinal tickets after that. Good on you kids.