Broncos came 9th last year.
Knights 14th.
Warriors 15th.

A couple things i would change. Muir into second row, Kennedy to lock, Glanville to the bench.
Im assuming you have Saifiti in there for a second prop? I would replace him with big Matt Parsons.. in a few years he will probably overtake him though. In fact in a few years i could see Saifiti being starting prop with the Chief.
Also would have Robbie O before Ponga.. give it a few years.
Just to put into perspective some of the unlucky ones to miss out:
Darren Albert
Owen Craigie
Robbie McCormack
Michael Hagan
Jamie Ainscough
Sean Rudder (ha! just kidding)

As much as our batting line up is terrible i don’t think we are looking at our poor bowling enough either.

For the 2018 calender year:
– Pat Cummins is averaging 19.97.
– Nathan Lyon is averaging 34.02.
– Mitchell Starc is averaging 33.35.
– Josh Hazlewood is averaging 33.26.

For the record:
– Ishant Sharma (who we all believe doesn’t come within a whisker of being as good as our bowling attack) is averaging 21.80.
– Umesh Yadav (who can’t even get a game against us) is averaging 21.40.
– Mohammad Shami is averaging 26.97
– and the best of them, Jasprit Bumrah is averaging 21.02.

I think this states that our bowling attack is being held up by Cummins and Lyon and that due to our inept batting, our bowling issues are being looked over.

I think Chris Tremain deserves his shot and he would be the first player i would bring in to this Australian team.

So legit question. The Knights play on friday night and its a home game. Im a knights fan before im a jets fan but surely something has to be done there. Even on a dry night the pitch will break up a bit but what if its raining?? Surely we can move the knights?!

Nah up here we have a music festival and a beer festival going on at the same time along with the bad weather. Just not good timing for the jets.

Being a Knights fan is tough business. The whole time Browny has been here i have supported him 100% with what he is doing. The team had too much dead weight (a winger was one of our highest paid players), and too many people just playing for a paycheck instead of playing for the fans and for their teammates.
However, ive now brought that 100% back to about 60-70%. Yes a rebuild takes a little bit of time and im happy for it take longer, however i believe their should have been more progress. As you point out, the 5th tackle options have been disastrous but at the moment there seems to be no-one putting their hand up to take responsibility for it. I dont think Feeney is as bad as everyone says, he adds a bit of spark in the attacking line and has tried a couple different 5th tackle options.
Brock Lamb has had a couple really good games, and those good games he has had is when he is willing to get hit by the defence. Look at the best halves in the comp, Thurston and Cronk, what really sets them apart from every other half is their willingness to take the ball to the line and take a hard hit from a defender in an attempt to create either an overlap or a misread, they play for their teammates. I wouldnt want to be in his position of being targeted by a giant forwards shoulder for 80 minutes every week, but thats what he gets paid for.
SKD is a great signing in my opinion, i honestly dont believe Gagai is worth what he is getting paid. He has had about 3-4 good games this year and goes missing in defence. To get SKD who is a strong defender, can run a hard line and for at least half the price of Gagai, i say its a good swap.
The best thing that could happen to the Knights is if they could sign James Graham. In Daniel Safiti they have one of if not the best young prop in the game, and with herman esese coming from the broncos they could form a formidable partnership (Josh Starling and Josh King are absolute plodders and dont deserve a game in the NSW cup). James Graham mentoring the Safiti twins and Herman would scare every other forward pack in the game.
The possible team next year:
Fullback: Ponga
Wing: Ross
Centre: SKD
Centre: P Matuatia (or maybe someone else)
Wing: (Not Sio, has been useless, maybe P Matuatia)
5/8: Phythian, Lamb, Cogger, who knows
Halfback: If Hodkinson can get fix his knee and actually be able to run again than him otherwise no idea)
Prop: D Safiti
Hooker: Levi (with a strong forward pack he could be top 4 hookers in the game)
Prop: (Hopefully J Graham) H Ese’ese
Second Row: S Matuatia (im actually not sold on him yet but he is only young and give him a bit of time in the gym)
Second Row: A Guerra (for the experience)
Lock: Barnett of Buhrer (Neither are strong runners of the ball but are both tackle machines)
Bench: (If we get J Graham) H Ese’Ese
Bench: L Fitzgibbon
Bench: J Safiti
Bench: Barnett/Buhrer

Reserves:
N Meaney is one of the best backs out of the youngsters out there however i think another team will pick him up.
I dont rate Yates, King or Starling
S Stone could possibly be a good developer
P Pauli if he gets back to his best
S Mataora was our best forward 2 years ago so if he can rediscover some form.

So he holds onto his head and the ref gives him a penalty??

I feel for you sometimes Lordy with some of the criticism you cop but at least use a calculator. 291 from boundaries is an odd number.

I would love to know the success of players that have stepped down from captaincy and their records before compared to after. If I’m not mistaken Punter didn’t go well but that’s probably more attributed to age. What do you think?

I just watched the storm do 5 tackles in a row that should have been penalties that were not called, on the subsequent set the storm got a penalty for something even less. Poor refereeing. But thats how its been all year and that’s why nrl is dieing.

Can anyone explain why exactly Dean Towers is STILL in the team. Seriously one of the worst players to play for the Swans for the last 5 years yet Horse still persists with him. Does he have something on Longmire to still be in the team?

While Bj Leilua was at the knights i always said that he was both the best centre and the worst centre in the game. His problem was always consistency and i havnt seen a single canberra game this year to be able to state whether he has developed that consistency.

Even if he is still at that level of inconsistency what have we got to lose. Either we inevitably lose, while bj plays poorly (and probably takes the blame?) Or he pulls off a blinder and possibly drags us over the line.

I dont know if it’s just me or can almost everyone in both nsw and qld see the players that should be getting picked for nsw, except Laurie and Fulton. Cartwright, graham (from game 1), tedesco, peachey.

Agree with it all except one thing. A team with a record of 0-8 is not on the bottom. They lost to a team that had 2 wins for the year.
Freo should be dead last and lets hear from Don why they shouldnt be.

Thought i would give this a go considering i dont have much else to cheer about.

1. Mark Hughes
2. Adam MacDougall
3. Timana Tahu
4. Matthew Gidley
5. Darren Albert / Jamie Ainscough
6. Matthew Johns
7. hmmmm no-one really putting their hand up here.
8. Paul Harragon
9. Danny Buderus
10. Mark Sargent
11. Steve Simpson
12. Adam Muir
13. Ben Kennedy
14. Kurt Gidley (probably captain)
15. Beau Scott
16. Tony Butterfield
17. Robbie McCormack

Captain would have to be The Chief leading from the front.

If there was ever a case for match fixing I would have them look at South Sydneys second half..

If my Knights dont get beaten by at least 30 i would say the Rabbitohs have played poorly.

When Wayne Bennett was brought up here to this wonderful island most of us expected a quick turn around of the club and a premiership the first year which was obviously not going to happen. We expected Wayne to bring out the best in our youngsters along with a few astute buys that would assist the club. Unfortunately Wayne “Im just here for the paycheck” Bennett brought in an aging roster and let a few of our good young ones go.
Now im not stupid, it definitely was NOT Wayne Bennetts fault for the poor Newcastle outfit that was left by him, but he certainly didnt help nor leave it in a better place.
The problem with Newcastle, as the main article pretty much states, is its culture. For about 8 years we had it great with Joey running the team. Have a look at the team around the 2000’s and it could pretty much beat any team now, but since Joey has gone we have expected another Joey to come in and carry the club on its back which will not occur.
All that Newcastle wants is a team that is putting in and trying, look at the year that we won our first wooden spoon, it was one of our highest years for game attending due to the fact we knew they were trying. But for the last couple of years we see the players not playing for the club or the locals or their teammates, they are playing for a paycheck.

One of the best things the Knights had happen to them over the off-season was that Beau Scott wanted out and this game shows how much he was and is overpaid.
Absolutely useless until he puts a NSW jersey on.

What are your thoughts on the Ashes series where Johnson and Co destroyed England with short bowling? Personally i thought it was amazing and if you think it was ok than this is just a rubbish article. We can have Australia doing it to England yet NZ can’t do it to Australia?

I have seen and heard quite a few comments regarding how ‘easy’ Australia have had it and why they are scoring runs so easily. However if Australia have had it so easy than why have New Zealand not cashed in as well.
Australia are down Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Mitchell Johnson has retired. We are using Peter Siddle who bowls about as quick as a local grade cricketer, James Pattinson who is just back from injury, Jackson Bird who hadnt played a test match since 2013, and possibly Chadd Sayers who has never played a test match.

Now New Zealand has Kane Williamson, who is supposed to be one of, if not the best, batsman in world cricket. Martin Guptill, who we have all seen in the one dayers bat quite amazingly, and the supposed ‘great’ Brendon McCullum. Only McCullum has succeeded, albeit in one innings, but the rest have struggled. Im assuming they are just unlucky compared to the Australians. Are they not good enough to get through a seaming deck?

Why is there so much debate about the Australian batting line up when the stats speak for themselves. Compare the two supposed ‘even’ teams and work it out.

As most good judges know the Newcastle nursery is up there with the best in the world. As you said the juniors coming through can easily replace Tapine (who wasnt actually a knights junior, we brought him over from NZ).

I 100% agree with Snowden. One week i watch him and he can be in the top 5 props in the game, the next week he does nothing. Again with strong leadership im hoping Browny can get the best out of him.

I believe and hope that Mamo gets the fullback role for the whole year and give him time to develop into one of the best fullbacks in the game. Some of the things he can do himself really makes you stand up and say “Wow, this kid is good”.

Mamo is still young and as with all young people (not just players) they need to mature.

As Keith pointed out Rick Stone was wayyyy too easy on the players thus his ousting. Preseason last year he gave BJ leilua an ultimatum to sort his weight out or he would not be picked for first grade. BJ threatened to leave and than Stone caved.
I highly doubt that Nathan Brown will take any crap like Stone did and thus sort out Mamo.

I have very high opinions of Mamo and can see him being the Knights best for the next few years. Give him time to mature and strong leadership in the coaches box and he will settle down… i hope.

Not a bad article but i though i would add a few things.
First up its Nathan Ross (not Ben Ross) and as much as i like his enthusiasm, dont be surprised to see a matautia brother in his spot by round 5… not sure which one though.
Word up here is that young Feeney will get first shot at fullback which is weird considering the last time he played was when he was 15.. apparently Mamo will be going to the wing hopefully over the place of Uate, who every man and his dog has been saying needs to go… but i guess management doesnt want a 500k player in NSW cup.
Regarding the centre pairing. Sione had a poor second year, but that was mainly in defence. With another year under his belt he will hopefully be one of Newcastles best contributors. That goes double for Gagai.
The halves will be our strongest point, with Mullen FINALLY able to play the role he wants to i think he will have a great year.
Levi wont be playing Origin as he is a Kiwi and im pretty sure that he has already captained NZ under 19s or something and will probably put his hand up for NZ. A lot of talent in this kid but as you said, another year under the tutelage of Nathan Brown and Danny Buderus will do him wonders.
You are a bit harsh on the Props. Korbin Sims was one of our top 3-5 players last year and he is only 24. Props only get better with age. There was a reason he was on standby for Origin for Qld. And if only Snowden could have play every week as well as he can he would be awesome. He does churn out the metres and goes a little unsighted but his stats dont lie that he was a good contributor.

The BEST thing Newcastle has done is what you have mentioned and that is remove dead weight (and make a WHOLE lot of cap space). Gidley, Scott, Roberts, Houston, Newton were horrible this year and with Scott, Roberts and Gidley there was a large chunk of the salary cap.

I love my Knights but i dont have high hopes for them this year. i think they will go better than expected but will end up just outside the 8, maybe 10th or 11th.

ps. I dont think Tapine is worth 500k a season when we have another young backrower called Lachlan Fitzgibbon who i think is better than Tapine. He reminds me a lot of Steve Simpson.

I partly agree with GD. While i do not believe we will lose i dont think the first test will be as much as a smashing as everyone believes it will be.
As we all know Australia cannot bat on a pitch that has any movement whatsoever and with a green top predicted for Hobart Australia will struggle. What i am saying is that Australia will come down to the West Indies level rather than the Windies come up to the Australian level. To put this into perspective, if this pitch had been a road Australia would have thrashed them as the bowlers would go through the Windies batting line up like hot butter and then the batters would amass a huge total.
However Australia (with a tendency to bat first on ANY pitch) will score a low 200 to 250, Windies wont make that total but will only be about 100 behind with the Windies going on to lose the match but not as badly as we all think. Just my two cents but i think its highly possible.