Saturday night saw the Newcastle Knights travel down to the infamous Sydney Cricket Ground ready to take on the Sydney Roosters. A massive thrashing at the hands of the current reigning premiers shows that we’ve got a lot of work left to do.
As much as it pains me to say, we’re nowhere near as good as we can be. Reality is, our team hasn’t reach their potential yet but as I’ve seen so much improvement from them this season overall, it seems inevitable.
We had to win that game and hope the Roosters lose at least one of their next two and Raiders to lose their next two for us to make the top four, but we can rule that out. However, proudly we have make the top eight, which itself is an achievement because for many of our players, it’s going to be their first time playing in finals footy.
I would love for us to win the grand final this year. If we do, it would be pretty phenomenal. However, I predicted at the start of the year we won’t make it past the second week of the finals and sadly I stand by that.
The two elite teams of the competition are the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm. Now I know Penrith look set to have the minor premiership locked up but even so, I’m not going to tip them to win the big one. For the past decade, Sydney and Melbourne have owned the competition.
From 2010-2019, the only years neither of them featured in the big game was in 2011, 2014 and 2015.
Right now, as a team we got more improvement left to do as fans, we got to do what we did during the rebuilding stages and be patient. Our patience saw our team/club finally rebuilt. I know all is fans wants our team to win the grand final but that’s going to take a lot of work to happen and it won’t happen overnight. We can’t always get what we want.
You know the saying “Good things happen to those who wait”? I’m 50/50 with that saying. Theoretically that is correct but it also goes for those who goes out and works the hard yards to accomplish their goals no matter how long it takes.
If you train and dream of bench pressing 100kg, that will take years to accomplish.
Some are blaming the fact we rested Kalyn Ponga, Mitchell Barnett and Hymel Hunt but I actually believe it was a good idea.
Next up, we have the Dragons at home and they may be out of the running for the finals but it doesn’t mean we are just going to be handed the win on a silver platter.
We have to earn that win. It’s also our last guaranteed home game on the season and I know how much it would mean for us Knights supporters to see our team play a finals game at Marathon for the first time since 2006.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
I'll be interested to see how Kurt Mann and a few other players go when the finals start. RCG is another one. To be a top flight player you need to fire up in the big games and a few players like those two have sort of proved me wrong so far this season but maybe they are coming back to the pack as the heat is turned up.
mushi
Roar Guru
The issue for the knights is look at the 6 teams in front of them. Who gets demonstrably worse next year. Storm maybe without Smith but get Grant. Rabbitohs are better next year. Roosters will have Radley back and also have youngsters, Penrith look like a high floor team. Parra's / raiders are the only meaningful slips I see given F/A and raiders losing a critical player. Assuming one team below the knights makes a leap into the same tier (there is always one seemingly) they need a big step forward to get into a top 4 conversation.
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm chuffed for you and the other Knights fans that your boys are going to make the finals. Touch wood they can really lift and give you folks some very good memories of season 2020. I wonder though whether O'Brien has what it takes to fix the issues that ails the Knights; consistent inconsistency and issues on both sides of the ball? It's a tough ask trying to fix an attack that is only scoring 20 points a game, while also trying to shore up a defence that is leaking nearly 18 points a game. The problem is, at times the side is scary good in both attack & defence, then scary bad at both the following week. I've no idea if your coach has the where-with-all to fix these issues. If he does, IMO you should have the squad to give the finals a serious shake in the next season or two.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
You need a quality half to be elite. Like a number of clubs, the Knights are a million miles from one
Tony
Roar Guru
Your unwavering support of the Knights is commendable, and the fact that you have accepted their early departure from the finals is probably the best for your mental health. The Knights promised a lot early on this year but have, like a lot of teams, been hampered by injuries. I think if they can maintain their current squad for the next couple of years, and pick up the odd quality player, they'll be threatening for a premiership.