2019 Coaching Staff and Football Department

Knights to snare Woolf

Current Tongan coach Kristian Woolf remains the frontrunner to land an assistant coaching role at the Knights in 2019 with Mick Potter set to finish up.

We revealed a fortnight ago that Woolf, head coach of the Townsville Blackhawks in the Queensland Cup, was interviewed for the defensive coaching role when the Knights played the Cowboys in Townsville and he flew down to Newcastle for a second interview last weekend.

He is set to be offered a contract next week and we’re told he is the preferred candidate after the club’s initial target, Jason Ryles, opted at the last minute to remain at the Melbourne Storm.

There will be a further shake-up in the football department at the Knights with highly respected head of high performance Tony Ayoub set to part company at the end of the season and return to Sydney full-time.


https://www.theherald.com.au/story/5579551/column-tooheys-news-is-brock-lamb-about-to-become-cooper-cronks-understudy/?cs=7580
 
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Ayoub seems a great guy and all, and maybe the funny pre season we had is to blame, but a lot of kids I thought would get bigger and stronger this year just haven't.
 
Billy said:
Ayoub seems a great guy and all, and maybe the funny pre season we had is to blame, but a lot of kids I thought would get bigger and stronger this year just haven't.
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You think his too comfortable? Quite an experienced bloke to just let walk though
 
danknights said:
You think his too comfortable? Quite an experienced bloke to just let walk though
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Well I actually think that all our opposed sessions meant he didn't have time to have them doing a few months of just solid training, but the fact is that guys like Sam Stone, Tyrone Amey, Cogger and Lamb etc should have come back a bit bigger and stronger this year, like 20/21 year olds do, and I just don't see it.
 
Big blow losing Ayoub anyone we get is a downgrade as generally regarded as the best, sad about Potter leaving but sure he won't be short of offers and Browns made good points about the well running dry in that regard.

Bit dubious about Gardiner demanding whoever moves up her moves their family up to, does that mean they'll be getting a 3-4 year deal for security?

Looks like our off-field changes will be bigger next year than the onfield ones.
 
Lord of the Skraelings said:
Big blow losing Ayoub anyone we get is a downgrade as generally regarded as the best, sad about Potter leaving but sure he won't be short of offers and Browns made good points about the well running dry in that regard.

Bit dubious about Gardiner demanding whoever moves up her moves their family up to, does that mean they'll be getting a 3-4 year deal for security?

Looks like our off-field changes will be bigger next year than the onfield ones.
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I think it is realistic to flag after finding Ayoub and Kurt Wrigley both heading back down the M1 because of family's still being based down there - the intended commitment to the Knights might have been done with the best of intentions but if they are operating with family ties still securely based in Sydney, we leave ourselves open to this happening and Gardiner is looking to close that door...but you're right, Ayoub (and Portese) is a big loss for the club
 
Billy said:
Ayoub seems a great guy and all, and maybe the funny pre season we had is to blame, but a lot of kids I thought would get bigger and stronger this year just haven't.
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I am with you on this Billy, obviously as well a lot of our injuries can come down to bad luck, but surely for the huge toll someone has to put their hand up and be held accountable.
 
Still_Nutty said:
I think it is realistic to flag after finding Ayoub and Kurt Wrigley both heading back down the M1 because of family's still being based down there - the intended commitment to the Knights might have been done with the best of intentions but if they are operating with family ties still securely based in Sydney, we leave ourselves open to this happening and Gardiner is looking to close that door...but you're right, Ayoub (and Portese) is a big loss for the club
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Yeah maybe but does it limit the quality of candidate though?
 
Ayoub might a good talker/experienced etc etc but it surely can't get worse in terms of injuries for us at the moment. Any change will be like a breath of fresh air until it inevitably turns into a stench.
 
Our injury toll hasn’t been that bad numbers wise. It’s just the amount of key players that have missed football.

Our recruitment deserves some of the blame. Signing players with a track record of serious knee injuries like Griffin and Moga may not have been the wisest decisions (although anyone would been stuffed if they like got tackled like Griffin did) but questions should be asked especially after Hodkinson.

But some of it is just bad luck. Pearce has hardly been hurt in his entire career but misses half the season in his 1st year. You get the feeling that god or whoever just has it in for us. I mean look at McKinnon and Kostjaysn what other clubs cop that type of sh*t?
 
It's hoped that whoever takes over from Ayoub is briefed fully on the injuries especially those long term serious ones and hopefully we will have a virtual injury free 2019 although we start it with doubts on Moga and long term Griff so can't afford much.
 
I was thinking about that today and how it seems our lot in life. Every year we seem to struggle, injuries and middle of the table average. The dragons every year choke etc. Teams just seem to have their lot.

We hired the best high performance guy in the game in ayoub and we all thought that would mean less injuries and more importantly, better overall fitness from the team but every game they seem more gassed than their opposition, no matter the situation.

I'm sure whoever takes over from Ayoub will be 100% briefed on injuries etc. Injuries wise we just have to hope they come at times we can deal with and not key positions at the same time.
 
Billy said:
Interesting that Kristian Woolf is leading the Qld cup with his current side and his star halfback is a kid named Jaelen Feeney. If Woolf has taught that kid to tackle well, he must be good, and he can bring Feeney back with him if he's taught him to tackle too.
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Bring back Fez


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mozza said:
Our injury toll hasn’t been that bad numbers wise. It’s just the amount of key players that have missed football.

Our recruitment deserves some of the blame. Signing players with a track record of serious knee injuries like Griffin and Moga may not have been the wisest decisions (although anyone would been stuffed if they like got tackled like Griffin did) but questions should be asked especially after Hodkinson.

But some of it is just bad luck. Pearce has hardly been hurt in his entire career but misses half the season in his 1st year. You get the feeling that god or whoever just has it in for us. I mean look at McKinnon and Kostjaysn what other clubs cop that type of sh*t?
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Rory's injury still has me shaking my head.
 
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