2019 NIB Knights

Hey honeysett! Knights are looking good this year! Seems like they are have signed sharks young gun Jesse Ramien. Hoping for an early release so Sione can switch back to the second row?

Spoon #4 in a row, coming up.

Brown will have an incentive based contract - based on wins and ladder position. They are spruking it as the first of its kind but surely other coaches have had contracts where they get paid more if they win.

Dropping Levi, I dont mind it really. He had so many back issues last year, easing him in is a good idea.
Starting the season with a bigger side is a good call. I dont know about benching buhrer for griffin but he will still get plenty of game time I guess. I think that Brown might have promised these guys starting gigs (Ese'ese, Watson, Guerra, Griffin) or first crack at the position as a part of their deals, the side will look vastly different come mid season after we lose a few games IMO.

Dan Saifiti on the bench is an odd one. He still might start with Lillyman dropping back.

Really looking forward to seeing ponga play regularly, I am expecting flashes of brilliance mixed with moments disaster from him.


I wouldnt be surprised if they pull a swifty and Buhrer starts at hooker with lamb starting for watson.

What a great win for newcastle and great way to debut for pearce.
The bloke was so heavily scrutinised (by myself included) for not being able to win games in pressure situations - then he kicks an OT FG in his first game at newie. How many times did he do that in his career at the roosters? Like twice?

My observations:
Watson looked so lost at 6. The side looked heaps better for the 10mins lamb was on at 6. I hope he settles in and looks more comfortable because he had a fairly shit game last night. Even when he went to hooker, he looked slightly better but still, not great. If he doesn't improve, I would be looking to turn him into a super sub or hooker.

Griffin, while his defence is great, his service from dummy half is so fucking slow. Horribly slow. Hopefully Buderus can improve that.

Ponga, well, what a dream debut. The guy looked like he was a rep footballer against manly, that first try he scored - not many players could score from that position. I get a bit worried every time he gets tackled because of his age, I feel like he needs to learn to pass it a bit more to preserve himself.

Sione got caught out at centre a heap of times, looks like he struggles with his lateral movement and doesnt look all that quick. I was worried with Watson, Sione, SKD all out on the right.

Ross... that kick .. what a brain snap. Fuck me. Lucky we got the ball back.

Also, fuck me Jtrbo and TTrbo are great. So good to watch. JTrbo is the best defender in the comp.

Its also a long season and we played against a side that is middle of the pack and only just won. So I can see us getting pounded by the good sides and beating the shit sides and finishing 8-12

i've been confused with watson starting over lamb since it was first mentioned, lamb is a talent and is more ready right now to be a full time pivot, watson is still no more then a 14 right now imo

Ese'ese was strong but i thought the knights pack as a whole struggled with the big manly forwards, Tapau, tanginoa, AFB and even shaun lane always felt like they were surging through the line, it was mentioned that they struggled with the eels size in the trial too, could be where they struggle this year


Ponga was great and he'll only get better, his ability to gain 5 metre's extra consistently by just making the first guy miss helps get you guys into better field position right from the start, did it a couple of times after strong manly sets

Me too LG. Especially after the back end of the season Lamb had in 17.
They obv told watson he would start the season in 6 before they signed pearce. If he doesnt improve he will find himself back at 14 or in nsw cup within a few weeks IMO.

The eagles have a huge pack, they will dominate a lot of teams forwards. Newie did well to get away with that one but I wouldnt be getting too far ahead of myself.

Is odd to me that DSafiti is on the bench, im sure he will end up starting his fair share of games this year.

Didn't see any of the game bar the highlights. Dream debut finish for Pearce.

Your comments on Watson don't surprise me at all Pieman. He is an out and out 14 at best In the NRL. The sooner he combos Pearce and Lamb the better for Newie. Watson shouldn't be considered this massive buy that he needs to pander to and satisfy, seriously, what has he actually ever done other than come on for the Roosters and provide spark. Big transition to go from that to NRL starting Pivot and I just don't think he has it. A nice piece of a puzzle and serviceable third half, but that is it.

Congrats to Newie though, great to see a massive crowd turnout full of hope for the new season after three years of pain. I know that feeling well. I hope they can kick on and push for a top 8 spot, because that will be a good result for the code.

So the argy bargy at Newcastle has been confirmed.

Newcastle boss Phil Gardner has pulled a group of players into line - including Mitchell Pearce, Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Daniel and Jacob Saifiti - over a string of minor ''push-and-shove'' incidents. At a bar no less

I hope the CCTV footage goes missing

Not sure I'd wanna be the poor basted trying to break up the Safiti brothers.

Beat up.
SMH article reckons Safiti brothers reported them selves to the club.
Further,
"Gardener said the Safiti brothers were remorseful after admitting to a physical confrontation at home."

Surprised the Terrorgraph didn't go front page with this.
"Knight's Shame.
Brothers Have An Argument."

Does Pearce have a brother?

code delta wrote:Beat up.
SMH article reckons Safiti brothers reported them selves to the club.
Further,
"Gardener said the Safiti brothers were remorseful after admitting to a physical confrontation at home."

Surprised the Terrorgraph didn't go front page with this.
"Knight's Shame.
Brothers Have An Argument."

Does Pearce have a brother?

No but he has a sister. Just ask Craig Gower.

Gutsy win by the Knights

Raiders are a worry without the pommy hooker

Last year we'd be 0/2 so the new buys are proving their worth in getting the wins in close games

Would be the same for the Tigers. We would have had 30 put on us in both second halves. As for the Raiders, I think I'd rather get done by 30 then lose as many games as they have the last few years by 6 or less.

Honeysett wrote:Last year we'd be 0/2 so the new buys are proving their worth in getting the wins in close games

Factssss.

that was a more realistic shot of were newcastle are sitting this year.
Will get towelled by the top sides, will beat some of the inconsistent sides - sometimes not - and will beat most of the shit sides.

Moga... Jeez I am not sold on that guy.
Ross also hasnt been the same player since he broke those bones in his back - which is understandable.

Pieman wrote:that was a more realistic shot of were newcastle are sitting this year.
Will get towelled by the top sides, will beat some of the inconsistent sides - sometimes not - and will beat most of the shit sides.

Moga... Jeez I am not sold on that guy.
Ross also hasnt been the same player since he broke those bones in his back - which is understandable.

Newcastle didn't have the best of luck against the Rorters, Watson doing his shoulder and the centre going off for a HIA wasn't good, though the Rorters were on that night, very slick and scary to think Tedesco did SFA

As for Moga one thing I've noticed the less he has to use his brain the better he goes, when he has to think fast it goes completely wrong

Your right about Ross, hasn't been the same which is a pity as the bloke is a fan favourite

I harped on about it when he was at the bronco's. Moga can not set up a winger for a try for the life of him. Drawing and passing just isnt in his game. He catches it and runs, the sooner he is put on the wing the better.

And yeah those were some pretty big moments in the game that turned it a bit for us. Losing watson isnt a horrible thing IMO, Lamb is a much better 6 than him at this stage in their careers. Watson should return in the 14 when healed. It also gives levi a chance to get back into the 17, which is a good thing. We dont have any attack out of dummy half and griffin's service is just so bloody slow IMO. Griffin is good in the opening and closing stages because of his defence but he has no running game.