Is the Newcastle Knights’ season over?
With a 20-14 loss against the Parramatta Eels on Saturday night, the Knights now find themselves in twelfth spot on the ladder, three points out of the top eight and struggling to find form after six straight losses.
Their season is on the ropes and while the Knights’ run home is not too bad – including several teams below them on the ladder like the Gold Coast Titans and the North Queensland Cowboys – the reality is it doesn’t matter how favourable a draw might be, the team involved still has to win games, and to make the finals, the Knights almost have to win all their remaining fixtures.
Many predicted that this team would make the top eight at the start of the year and for Knights fans this was music to their ears.
It’s been a long time between drinks when it comes to finals appearances for this team and with a squad boasting the likes of Mitchell Pearce, David Klemmer and Kalyn Ponga there was cause for optimism.
So what’s gone wrong? Many have their theories.
There have been questions around Nathan Brown’s ability as a coach. For several years he has been preaching the ‘rebuild’ message to supporters; a narrative which fans have lapped up.
But the reality is, Brown has no more excuses. The players on the field are ‘his’ team and there is no hangover from a previous coach.
He keeps making changes to his squad which suggests to me that he has no idea who his best thirteen are and in my view, no matter the story behind it, the Jesse Ramien situation was handled poorly.
After the loss on Saturday night, I saw some Knights fans start to panic and perhaps justifiably so.
But one of the most bizarre narratives to come out of the game on Saturday night were around some of Newcastle’s players with fans accusing them of not caring.
This is a narrative I find tough to swallow sometimes. I find it hard to believe that players would put their bodies on the line for eighty minutes a week and not care about their performance or the team that they were playing for. It doesn’t make any sense.
But these accusations came at the end of the game, with some fans taking photographs of Kalyn Ponga after the game laughing and joking with his opposition? These fans then shared the photos and questioned his integrity.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Seeing opposition players laughing and joking with each other after a game is not something that has ever bothered me, especially since noticing that I am generally less cranky when watching a game with friends of mine that support the opposition. Having them with me seems to take the edge off and makes a loss much easier to swallow.
I think there’s something quite lovely about players being able to put the loss behind them and then take some time to get along with their opposition (especially when you consider how many of the players know each other and have played together at different points in their career).
This embrace after a game is something I often see in women’s sport and I certainly think it adds to the spectacle.
Just because a player smiles after a loss, doesn’t mean that they don’t care.
I wonder if a player that didn’t care about his team would have put his body on the line like Ponga did to push Clint Gutherson into touch in what was most certainly a try-saving tackle.
Additionally, the ‘he doesn’t care about the club’ narrative fits nicely with the idea that Ponga is greedy because of the $6 million contract upgrade he has requested for the next four seasons. Such an upgrade would make him one of the highest players in the game.
But who can blame Ponga for trying to get an upgrade when his form is being hyped up by the media and commentators? Players have short-lived careers and I do not begrudge them for striking while the iron is hot.
A player is worth the amount that a club is willing to pay them and if the Knights are willing to make Ponga their six-million-dollar man, then that’s the amount he’s worth.
On the other hand of the spectrum, fans were equally critical of David Klemmer. In the final few moments of the game, Klemmer was penalised for a cheap forearm on Manu Ma’u.
With that penalty the game was out of reach for the Knights with Parramatta electing to take the two points and Mitchell Moses watching the time on the clock tick away.
After the game, Klemmer was visibly cranky and he left the field immediately without shaking hands with any of the opposition players (or perhaps he was just trying to avoid Ma’u who is, without a doubt, the scariest man in footy).
Klemmer was criticised for poor sportsmanship despite it being later revealed that after the game, Klemmer made his way to the Eels dressing sheds and shook the hands of every player.
We so often see our players as warriors, tough, strong and physical. But too often we forget that our players are people too, who react in different ways to a win and who react differently to a loss.
Fans may hurt after a loss and be disappointed in a performance, but I have no doubt that the people who feel a loss the most are the players themselves.
Newcastle may have some problems, but I don’t think their players caring too little is it.
The Barry
Roar Guru
To be fair, I’ve seen that reported on Fox Sports and a couple of other sports news sites...but you’re generally right, good stuff like this gets glossed over pretty quickly where bad behaviour gets heaps of headlines
a
Roar Rookie
I think Nathan Brown needs to go
Insider
Roar Rookie
You should be proud of your club! Furthermore I feel the media could have done something to highlight this complete act of sportsmanship, shame really, fans can see it they can’t, don’t want to
The Barry
Roar Guru
Nice comment Insider...it was a nice moment. How was the young Tigers ballboy who walked up to Momirovski while he was on his haunches and gave him a consoling pat on the back? It was lump in the throat stuff...
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
Great comment Insider - and you are spot on. I also applaud the Dogs, they have had a tough year but continue to behave with class on and off the field.
Insider
Roar Rookie
Mary, when the WT goal kicker missed the conversion to level the game against the Doggies the poor young man dropped to his knees in a state of distress, the Canterbury lads lead by Jackson ( what an example of leadership) picked this lad up and made sure he was ok, that’s what our games about that’s what our players are about! Canterbury has had a tough year but even in victory they showed the humility we want and teach our kids! I tip my hat to you Mr Jackson and your troops! Your all champions
Joe
Roar Rookie
Million dollar player depends on the needs of a club. The Titans would gladly take that money off Ash Taylor and give it to Ponga. Even the Dragons once they get rid of Widdop would likely give that type of money to Ponga. Fullback is such an important link and get make a real difference to a team. Look what happened to the Raiders once they got CNK. Cowboys look better with a proper fullback. I think Souths problems really started once they were without a proper fullback in AJ. As for fans complaining about the players after match well they can't really win as you've just highlighted...they complain that Ponga is too friendly because it looked like he didn't take the loss personally and they complain that Klemmer behaved poorly because he took the loss too personally. As you've said, players are people too and will react differently to any given situation.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Spot on Baz. I think what the fans are dirty about is the apparent drop in form of both Pearce in particular, and Ponga to some degree, over recent weeks when the fans' expectation was of total commitment to get the Knights into the finals. Ponga tends to drift in and out of involvement in matches, when he is most needed. He is only young so I'm sure his value will increase with maturity.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Agree with everything you say Mary, except the things about Brownie.. Ramien really scrued things up for him, what do you think he should have done once everything else fails and the player wants out...DWZ spat Ivan punted him...the Jet spat...Seibe punted him...if you’ve got a disconcerted bad apple who’s going awfully it’s not helping to keep him in the barrel.. ‘He keeps making changes to his squad ‘..other than having to move the chairs around to cover Ramiens departure who’s new ? Keeping it current, Parra won yesterday because their three quarters were more skillful 3 of their 4 tries came from kicks that exploited the Knights well known soft perimeters..SKD and Mann are not at this level and Moga, Hunt and Lino wouldn’t make the Titans.. Dunno how people come up with the fallacy that the Knights have a ‘throw it to Kalyn to get us out of this’ mentality, fullback receipt stats shows Round 21 Turbo 41..Brimson 31.. RTS 29...Ponga 26...Turbos getting 70% more touches, shouldn’t Manly be accused of that ?
The Barry
Roar Guru
Agreed. I think it’s a reflection of the fans passion. They’re hurting after a loss and want to see that it means the same to their players. But yeah, I’m sure we can all remember back to our own junior / amateur days. A lot of the time you’d be playing against guys you’d played with and against for years. You’d be disappointed after a loss but it was only the gronkiest who’d be kicking the ground and refusing to shake hands, etc
Omnitrader
Roar Rookie
I don’t see the problem with chatting/laughing with opponents after a game. Everyone who has played competitive sport should understand that, whistle goes game face on, whistle ends game, relax.
matth
Roar Guru
Cricketers always used to go to each other’s dressing rooms and socialize after play. I think it’s a good thing. Maybe Ponga is just a nice young kid who can keep his disappointment to himself and put on a brave face, rather than yelling at clouds about how unfair life is.
Paul
Roar Guru
How exactly are players supposed to react after losing a game in round 21? Burst into tears? The face they show the opposition will often mask their true feelings. While these guys are professional footballers, you can bet not one of them likes losing. That applies to all Clubs, not just the Knights. There are certain parallels appearing between the Knights current form and recent Dragon seasons. I just hope for Knights fans, the side doesn't come good, limp into the finals as my boys did last year, spring an upset, which got the coach extended for 2 more years, only to find ourselves in the bottom 3 this year. If there ARE problems with the coach, best to have a disappointing end to this season, get rid of the what ever the problems are and start afresh in 2020. My boys... well it looks like Mary's going nowhere, so I'm not looking forward to next season already!
TJ
Guest
If Ponga is worth 1.5mil than what on earth are Teddy, Turbo and RTS worth?
Insider
Roar Rookie
Ponga is clearly attempting to take advantage of Newcastle, would the Roosters pay that coin? Melb? What about Bris? No way, Newcastle have had a very poor 5 years yet the fans have stayed put! He won’t bring a marketing value to the club, Newcastle doesn’t need marketing. Newcastle need leadership in their coaching ranks plain an d simple and it’s about time they looked at themselves to fix the problem not players
The Barry
Roar Guru
I can understand fans being dirty seeing their star player laughing with opponents after a loss but it’s a bit of a storm in a teacup. I don’t think anyone could go out and put themselves through a game of first grade rugby league if they didn’t care. The timing of Ponga’s upgrade request is interesting, He hasn’t been playing like a million dollar man for the last six weeks or so. He’s obviously super talented but is still a young player finding his way. The Knights will probably be forced to the table so he doesn’t walk out but the temptation must be to say “we took a big chance on you, paying 450k a season when you had less than ten games under your belt. Prove to us you’re a million dollar man and you’ll get the upgrade” He hasn’t led the Knight to the semis yet. He hasn’t played out a full, consistent first grade season yet. Tonnes of potential. Tonnes. But he’s not a million dollar player yet by a long shot.