Your team for 2019

[Jaybro]

Not the side they'll go with but this is my side with the players we have signed

1. Ponga
2. SKD
3. Ramien
4. Moga
5. Lee
6. Lino
7. Pearce
8. Dsaf
9. Levi
10. Glasby
11. Sione
12. Fitz
13. Guerra

14. Watson
15. Barnett
16. Jsaf
17. Herm

Obviously won't be the round 1 side with Moga injured and Ponga to play 5/8.

Unless our young guys like the twins, Barnett & Levi improved a lot that's not a top 8 side.

 

[nunnsy]

Not the side they'll go with but this is my side with the players we have signed

1. Ponga
2. SKD
3. Ramien
4. Moga
5. Lee
6. Lino
7. Pearce
8. Dsaf
9. Levi
10. Glasby
11. Sione
12. Fitz
13. Guerra

14. Watson
15. Barnett
16. Jsaf
17. Herm

Obviously won't be the round 1 side with Moga injured and Ponga to play 5/8.

Unless our young guys like the twins, Barnett & Levi improved a lot that's not a top 8 side.

Disagree I think at full strength we are a top 8 side it depends on injuries and depth for us.

 

[Joshhh]

Nice side, would u change guerra to lock and ESE to bench if no prop comes along?

We'll sign someone. May never get a Klemmer or Pangai, but there's no way Brown will go into the season with a guy like Saulo, King or JJ as a permanent 17 member.

 

[Wobbles]

Different articles have said we have signed Pheonix Crossland, Brayden Musgrove, Tex Hoy, Brodie Jones, Beau Fermor and Jirah Momoisea - but none confirmed by the club.

Cory Denniss and Jamie Buhrer have an offer but haven't yet accepted.

Unsigned include Sio, Yates, Starling, Felise, Naden, Hughes, Amey, Hosking, Johns, Matt Cooper, Kurtis Dark, Russell, Loughrey, Mitch Andrews

Thought Sio is pretty well assured of an offer

 

[Billy]

Thought Sio is pretty well assured of an offer

I'll add him when he gets one.

 

[Billy]

According to Toohey, Buhrer has signed for 2019.

So signed for next year we have;

Shaun Kenny-Dowall
Lachlan Fitzgibbon
Slade Griffin
Mitch Barnett
Herman Ese'ese
Aidan Guerra
Josh King
Danny Levi
Tautau Moga
Jesse Ramien
Nathan Ross
Daniel Saifiti
Jacob Saifiti
Psami Saulo
Sam Stone
Connor Watson
Tim Glasby
Edrick Lee
Sione Mata'utia
Mitchell Pearce
Kalyn Ponga
Mason Lino
Jamie Buhrer

Different articles have said we have signed Pheonix Crossland, Brayden Musgrove, Tex Hoy, Brodie Jones, Beau Fermor and Jirah Momoisea - but none confirmed by the club.

Cory Denniss has an offer but hasn't yet accepted.

Unsigned include Sio, Yates, Starling, Felise, Naden, Hughes, Amey, Hosking, Johns, Matt Cooper, Kurtis Dark, Russell, Loughrey, Mitch Andrews

 

[Jaybro]

Disagree I think at full strength we are a top 8 side it depends on injuries and depth for us.

If the younger guys improve, otherwise we simply are not a top 8 side.

Worst middle defence in the comp, second worst points conceded and 3rd worst attacking side ain't getting you a top 8 spot unless our young forwards improve big time in defence.

Glasby will only help so much, as the forum has pointed out numerous times, he's no world beater.

 

[Kurriboy]

It's too simplistic an approach to just point to our middle defence and go thats the problem. You can train defence all you like in to them but if they have no gas in the tank then they are going to struggle with doing all those little things that help in D.

Our game management is what needs to improve, both from the coach and on field, and in doing so, we will not be put under so many defensive sets and will in turn have that bit of extra energy to get back in D, make that extra tackle etc.

It would help also if Jacob can have a season without injury, and if Dan can not take half the year to get in to some form. Dan won't have such a busy off season this year so hopefully will return fresher and ready to rumble.

I have no doubt if we stay with a healthy spine then we can make the 8. But two more NRL standard props would really help.

 

[Billy]

I don't know if Fiji have any tests in the off season, but Dan should replace Jacob if they do.
Talking of tests, I see Sam Stone is playing for Malta in the emerging nations WC right now.

 

[Jaybro]

It's too simplistic an approach to just point to our middle defence and go thats the problem. You can train defence all you like in to them but if they have no gas in the tank then they are going to struggle with doing all those little things that help in D.

Our game management is what needs to improve, both from the coach and on field, and in doing so, we will not be put under so many defensive sets and will in turn have that bit of extra energy to get back in D, make that extra tackle etc.

It would help also if Jacob can have a season without injury, and if Dan can not take half the year to get in to some form. Dan won't have such a busy off season this year so hopefully will return fresher and ready to rumble.

I have no doubt if we stay with a healthy spine then we can make the 8. But two more NRL standard props would really help.

Everything stems from your middle defence mate so It's not a 'simplistic approach'.

Letting sides stroll up through the middle gives our opponents good field position to either kick or attack our line, also puts them on the front foot so our defensive line is going back wards which restricts how much kick pressure we can put on.

When we get the ball back it's always deep in our own end due to the amount of metres given up plus poor kick pressure.

The more metres we concede through the middle means the more metres our forwards are running backwards to get on side, which fatigues our forwards more which in turn stifles their impact in attack.

Conceding metres up the middle also means we will be defending on our line more often than other sides which puts our goal line defence under pressure, sides can only defend their line for so long.

Fixing our middle defence will go along way to help fixing some of our other problems or at least shield them better.

 

[Wobbles]

This only makes the accomplishments of Ponga and especially Pearce this season even more impressive.

Take injuries out of the equation and it's likely they'd have polled 1 and 2 in the Dally M's.

Not bad for a team without any go-forward

 

[Kurriboy]

Everything stems from your middle defence mate so It's not a 'simplistic approach'.

Letting sides stroll up through the middle gives our opponents good field position to either kick or attack our line, also puts them on the front foot so our defensive line is going back wards which restricts how much kick pressure we can put on.

When we get the ball back it's always deep in our own end due to the amount of metres given up plus poor kick pressure.

The more metres we concede through the middle means the more metres our forwards are running backwards to get on side, which fatigues our forwards more which in turn stifles their impact in attack.

Conceding metres up the middle also means we will be defending on our line more often than other sides which puts our goal line defence under pressure, sides can only defend their line for so long.

Fixing our middle defence will go along way to help fixing some of our other problems or at least shield them better.

At the start of games, and at the start of the second half in a lot of cases we tend to have good defence, it's when we get fatigued that we struggle. The reason we get fatigued so much is that we struggle with game management, end up losing possession count and spend most of the game either defending, or when we have possession working it out of our own half. Most of the time the way we get down the opposition half is by a penalty or the opposition drop the ball.

You see it in most of our games, we start the game in D driving players back 3-4 metres in tackles, and end the half just hanging on.

As I said, you can't just point to the middle forwards and go hey you blokes defend better. It's not so simple.

The reason the good defensive teams go well, is because they are not constantly defending, they are not constantly under pressure. They are the ones applying the pressure, and when it comes time to D up they have the gas in the tank to have decent line speed, slide across, make cover tackles etc.

 

[88Knight4life]

At the start of games, and at the start of the second half in a lot of cases we tend to have good defence, it's when we get fatigued that we struggle. The reason we get fatigued so much is that we struggle with game management, end up losing possession count and spend most of the game either defending, or when we have possession working it out of our own half. Most of the time the way we get down the opposition half is by a penalty or the opposition drop the ball.

You see it in most of our games, we start the game in D driving players back 3-4 metres in tackles, and end the half just hanging on.

As I said, you can't just point to the middle forwards and go hey you blokes defend better. It's not so simple.

The reason the good defensive teams go well, is because they are not constantly defending, they are not constantly under pressure. They are the ones applying the pressure, and when it comes time to D up they have the gas in the tank to have decent line speed, slide across, make cover tackles etc.

We had more points scored against us between the 40th minute and 60th minute then any other time

 

[MattyM]

Jack Johns is heading to South Sydney next season.

 

[Billy]

Jack Johns is heading to South Sydney next season.

Good for him.
We never got to see if he is any good because every time he started to look like he might have something to offer, his leg injury reoccurred and he had to start again.
He had 3 or 4 games over 2 years that really made you think he was the real deal, but otherwise, he struggled.

 

[MattyM]

If he overcomes that injury he could be a handy addition to Souths, especially seeing as he can play both in the halves and second row. Could be a Sutton 2.0 for them if ever he gets a chance.

 

[Jaybro]

At the start of games, and at the start of the second half in a lot of cases we tend to have good defence, it's when we get fatigued that we struggle. The reason we get fatigued so much is that we struggle with game management, end up losing possession count and spend most of the game either defending, or when we have possession working it out of our own half. Most of the time the way we get down the opposition half is by a penalty or the opposition drop the ball.

You see it in most of our games, we start the game in D driving players back 3-4 metres in tackles, and end the half just hanging on.

As I said, you can't just point to the middle forwards and go hey you blokes defend better. It's not so simple.

The reason the good defensive teams go well, is because they are not constantly defending, they are not constantly under pressure. They are the ones applying the pressure, and when it comes time to D up they have the gas in the tank to have decent line speed, slide across, make cover tackles etc.

Go back and watch the games mate we gave up easy metres up the middle from the first set in just about every game.

Look at the Roosters on Sunday, their defence and line speed was so ferocious Melbourne Barely got out of their own line.

You’re right it’s not as simple as telling the middles to ‘defend better’ as you say, it’s about controlling the ruck, line speed, stopping the offloads and getting numbers in the tackles

 

[Kurriboy]

Go back and watch the games mate we gave up easy metres up the middle from the first set in just about every game.

Look at the Roosters on Sunday, their defence and line speed was so ferocious Melbourne Barely got out of their own line.

You’re right it’s not as simple as telling the middles to ‘defend better’ as you say, it’s about controlling the ruck, line speed, stopping the offloads and getting numbers in the tackles

I don't disagree with this at all, just saying there is more to fixing our defence than just getting the defence technically better, they can't defend without gas and we consistently do poorly at game management.

 

[Billy]

So apparently the new fitness guy is Hayden Knowles, who has been at the Titans this year, but before that he was at the Roosters for several years, working with Pearce, Guerra, SKD, Watson, Napa etc.
I think we will have a very different off season, with at least 3 months just working on fitness before we start doing opposed sessions.
Knowles will be key to getting our guys much fitter than last year with a bit of luck.
I understand why we did so much time working on forming combinations last season, but we needed to spend a lot more time just working on fitness and strength.
This coming season, we just need to pick up where we left off with the footy, and spend as much time as possible getting ready physically.

 

[Billy]

In the Toohey article today.
Knights have met with Michael Jennings and Kurt Mann. Both are signed for next year, but may be released - Knights are only interested in Jennings if Parra chip in 400k of his 800k contract.
Fitz is negotiating to extend his contract beyond next year.
Knights have not taken up option on Jack Johns, and have released JJ Felise, Brent Naden and Tom Hughes (Hughes is out of the fulltime squad, but could go back to part time squad).
We are also still interested in Corey Oates.