The Newcastle Knights started the new year off right with a groundbreaking win at home over the Manly Sea Eagles on Friday night.
1) It’s early days, but Kalyn Ponga looks like a future superstar
Much has been made of the Knights’ key signing at fullback for 2018. The young custodian from Queensland was absolutely outstanding in his first outing in the red and blue last night. He saved tries and he scored them.
However he is still very young, and will take time to develop into the role. The mining community of Newcastle will have to take the rocks with the diamonds along the way, but this man has the capacity to take this club to wuthering heights.
2) Slade Griffin could be the value signing of the year
One of the positions where Newcastle are blessed with depth is the hooking role. Griffin was the centre of the selection controversy in the hunter this week, after he made the cut at the expense of the 2017 Knights and Kiwi hooker Danny Levi, but it didn’t take long for him to show us why.
He’s as tough as old boots, a smart decision maker and has a tremendous footballing IQ – all of which he honed at the best system in the NRL last year.
Brown does seem undecided himself on who he truly wants the hooker to be. Buhrer, Griffin and Watson all spent time there last night. They came alive when Watson deputised at 9 but his decision making at crucial stages was poor.
He made and error and failed to find his half which cost his side a chance to ice the game in regular time. If Brown decides to stick with Griffin, then Levi might be headed for the boarding gate.
3) Manly will miss Blake Green
The Sea Eagles had a tough ask first up, and a loss to a revamped Knights is not all doom and gloom. A tight loss away from home, against a side that had everything going for them in the lead up (backed by a vocal home crowd too) is not a soul-crushing loss. Daly Cherry-Evans went within a foot of stealing it, too.
Keep in mind that Manly had a turbulent off-season with salary cap dilemmas, but it’s the loss of Blake Green that will hurt them most. They do have a good front row, and the Turbos are also superstars, but Blake Green was a major cog in their success last year. Without him, they might just miss the eight.
4) Twin Turbos could rival the Stewart brothers at Brookvale.
Both these brothers are simply outstanding footballers. To me, they are the new Stewart brothers in the Northern Beaches and deserve every bit of that accolade. There’s a third turbo playing in the lower grades, too. Imagine another one galloping round the top grade wreaking havoc.
The Stewart brothers will probably be remembered more fondly because of the team they had around them. It was far more balanced, therefore freed them up more. With this Manly side, its only Martin Tapau and Cherry-Evans that are the major threats outside of them, so teams will focus heavily on nullifying the Turbo’s.
One thing is for sure, they’ll both wear sky blue this year.
5) Knights should enjoy this win, but approach with caution.
A well deserved win for not only the football club, but the Newcastle Rugby League community. It has been many years since the Knigsemi-finald to a semi final against the Chooks, and even then they were far from the finished article.
Last night provided a sense of realisation of the hope the community has been promised by the club. Big forward pack with depth, current NSW halfback, and a future superstar fullback are all positives.
While the backline gets good yardage coming out of trouble, they still look fragile when a decent attacking shape is thrown at them.
The trouble will come when the buzz dies down, and the Knights will have to work their way out of some tough times this year. We will see how it all develops.
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