An ancient tale among us Knights supporters is ‘rebuilding’.
From everything with our junior system getting messed up and the disastrous Nathan Tinkler ownership, we could use that as an excuse but not anymore. Nathan Brown’s mission was to rebuild the club and bring it back to the community, which is what was achieved. To say the Knights are still rebuilding is just as believable as a vampire getting a suntan.
With an injury-riddled season in 2021, including losing Mitchell Pearce and Kalyn Ponga, the Knights have been struggling. We are still yet to see them play together this year. Before I go on, we have won more matches this year without Mitchell Pearce than we did in 2018. Our last win was against Manly, who have the Queensland and Australian captain in Daly Cherry-Evans, the Trbojevic brothers and a decent terrorising forward in Marty Taupau.
Who did we not have? Mitchell Pearce, Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann to say a few. Last week against South Sydney, despite a 24-10 loss, we were in it for most of the game. I might as well mention our disastrous losses to Sydney or Parramatta.
Instead of using the bullshit rebuilding excuse, the fans need to give the players a massive confidence boost. The little things are what matters, whether the infamous “New-cas-tle” chant, showing up ready to support them, telling them that they have what it takes and showing pride in both our team, coaching staff and our jerseys.
I’m not going to say that the biggest fan is the ones who does all the travelling, has the most jerseys, has a Knights tattoo or those who do a Knights podcast. So the question remains, who is the biggest Knights fan? Together, we all are as one and that’s something we all have to share.
We fans need to encourage our players towards the winning culture. We have proven that we can win on any given day. Let’s show up for our boys as we always do, encourage them and make them feel like they deserve to be there. They worked their arses off from being kids playing footy to making it into the NRL so they deserve all the credit due they have.
Our players are there to win and we fans are there to support them. I love travelling to games to see our players. On the day the Knights played at Wagga Wagga, I got up at 2 am to get to the game and it was worth it. Not just because we won but because I got to attend the game with two of my closest friends.
We all say we bleed red and blue so let’s back that up. If a player doesn’t play his best, it doesn’t mean he should be dropped or sacked. Our role as fans isn’t to say who should be dropped or sacked, it’s to show the endless support to the team we love.
PGNEWC
Roar Rookie
Watching O'Brien over the last month shrugging his shoulders in indifference in interviews was what I found disappointing. If the coach gives up then the team will follow. Brown for all his faults was at leat passionate. Newcastle supporters will support the knights through thick but also thin and some of the players and the staff know that.
Sideline Commentator
Roar Guru
Mate, I hear you as a fan myself, but there comes a point when the team has to do something to show us they care as much as we do. I don't care if we lose – well, I do care – but if the team has a dig and put up a hard fight I'm happy enough. Newcastle has never been the flashiest team, but we made a name for being a hard team, a team no one beat without really earning it. But does any team really fear getting on the bus to Newcastle anymore? The game we lost against the Tigers earlier this year, at home on Pearce's 300th game, was not what I expect as a fan. If we had played with half the spirit of the lamentable Bulldogs this year, we'd have won a lot more games, but more importantly as fans we'd be more proud of the team.
Walter Black
Guest
I have never got the idea of a "rebuild" To me if a club needs to going through a rebuild, the coach and recruitment and development staff need to be sacked en masse because they haven't been doing their jobs. A club's coaching and development people ought to be looking at their playing group and planning for the future, planning for who replaces every first team player and then who replaces them and when. Its called Succession Planning folks and every successful organisation does it. So the next time you hear the words such and such club needs a rebuild then fans should call for the immediate replacement of the football and coaching staff before any player ever loses their job. A rebuild should only happen if you have a disaster on your hands such as at the Broncos (where I am pleased to say that they have just sacked their head of football) but its upto us fans, lets call out the idea of the "Rebuild" not as an excuse but for what it it, an abject failure of the clubs administration.
Taree Raider
Guest
Try being a Raiders fan. The only difference is that our present squad has enormous potential, it just hasn't been shown this year. Any team without their best spine struggles, they Knights certainly miss Pearce & Ponga. Their influence on the team is immense.
andrew
Roar Rookie
Agree with you Adrian, the rebuilding excuse is B S. All it is is a coach having an each way bet. You win you're a great coach, you lose, you're rebuilding, not my roster etc etc .