I have this strange feeling we will sign Milford. And he certainly would be good to fill in wherever Avo doesn’t make it, half or fullback. He would be a stopgap but at a cheap price could be ideal. 

Buy the best juniors you can. Get them in your system, build a relationship and get a head start on keeping them if you want to. It's expensive, the competition's intense, but it's not on the salary cap. Paying overs effectively reduces your cap. 

Getting outflanked has been a problem for a long time.  It was happening last year as well. The problem is structural it goes deeper than the players.

A lot of the problem seems to be be losing the ruck.
If we throw more attack at the opposition, they have less energy, and the balance tips.
One problem is the lack of a big fit prop who can dominate in attack and defence.

It might not all be the players, but it is essential that we improve the squad.
With a competitive squad we can judge the coach.

We have had a lack of talent and application for a few years.

The other issue is team leadership, Jackson is a great leader, but behind him the leadership is patchy. We need competitors and winners, who play with energy and make a difference.
Thompson is the other leader. Hetheringon is a bit patchy, but will improve.

Playing together team spirit and combinations is another factor, but we can only build that with players coming through the grades together. When the core if the team are mates who have played together for years, it isn't hard to slot in additional players.

Many of the current team are young, we need more quality and experience in the forwards.
We are still probably only talking 2 key players, but they need to be the right ones.

Frank Pritchard is an example of the type of player we are missing.
Also Willy Mason, Roy Asotasi  or Mark O'Meley.

Any of those forwards (at their best) would walk into our team, and improve it a lot, just one of them.

At hooker we mostly need good passing, and good defence, some smarts and vision is handy.

The club had 2nd thoughts on signing Latrell Mitchell for what ever reason which has turned out to be Souths gain…. If the price is right (around 600k) then TPJ would be worth the risk to add some much needed strike to our forward pack. 

Maybe a shorter term with a club option and incentives may be the way to go.

I have to agree. The hooker and halfback touch the ball the most and should be given command of the team. 

B Smith is a must for mine. The fact he runs the ball often makes him the most important signing this club can make. 

Anyone we sign on a 2 year deal is likely to be a stop- gap. Even say JAC.

We are a good 5 years till we can contest a premiership and anyone we sign for the next 2 or 3 years likely wint still be here for the premiership window.

So there should be no fear in spending money on players that can institute a difference. We are still one of the poorest attacking teams in history. Not even the Knights back to back wooden spoons had teams as poor as us in attack.

Yes. I blame the coaching staff but even outside the coaching, the players just weren't smart enough to adjust during the game.

We are quite simply, dumb.

I don't  think the players, even the captain are allowed any autonomy  nowadays. Runners on the Field with instructions even to the point of telling the captains to take the two or not. Is it any wonder  we breed dumb players or those that are not confident to deviate from the pre arranged  plan.

TPJ might even be a worse defender than Atoni, maybe if we move him to prop.
His attitude and leadership are not great but maybe a change of city will help.

Tapine is the better option.

If is frustrating that we can't get Atoni and Odgen defending better, becuase they are what we need in attack.

I don't think it matters if signings are only for 2-3, winning a premiership in 5 years time is mainly about developing talent in the lower grades and then signing the missing pieces.

What we want to achieve is start climbing the ladder winning some games and improving the side.
Bringing yound talented players into a losing side puts more pressure on them.

If I had to describe our style it is similar to Penrith in attack and defence, not surprising.
It is working for them, but not for us, the difference is the quality of the players.

There was a era under Des when the team was robotic, IMO Pay and Baz are giving players more freedom especially in attack. In defence a team has to have a system, becuase they need to work together. When it goes wrong that is mostly individuals making different decisions.

Penrith line speed, contact in the tackle, scramble and intensity is a different planet to us. And their attack takes a lot of pressue off their defence. The playing group has to help set the standards, there is little the coach can do from the sidelines.

Winning and losing are habit forming, winning sides develop a lot of good habits.

The rebuild in the Kevin Moore era was done well.

The only issue was not successfully identifying a good young half to take over from Noddy.

Most of the other recruitment was well done, and while Des also never solved the halves problem, the team did well regardless.

It’s pretty obvious... but who to buy???... and importantly who to buy that is actually available???...

Loltrell was never coming here no matter the offer...

Most of our problems will be solved with the recruitment of a smart operator out of dummy-half and a half with a good kicking game. Someone that can get the opposition returning the ball off their goal line. Someone that can turn goal line pressure into a repeat set. I think B. Smith and Burton can help get us there. I don't know who we partner Burton with though as it will be hard to shoulder the burden of doing all the organising and kicking as a rookie and then having the freedom to play his natural game and run the ball, etc. We can see how much Averillo is struggling with that aspect now and i don't think Averillo and Burton in the halves is the way to go. Maybe it is - idk. Whatever the solution, Barrett needs to figure it out well before round 1 next year otherwise he will fall into the same trap he has this season continually chopping and changing. It's the same problem Pay had.

It will be very interesting to see how the Knights go for the rest of the season with their first choice established spine. I think a lot of people underestimate just how important it is to get that right. There are other aspects of our game that will need improvement but we don't have the luxury to worry about that at the moment. We need stability, reliability, talent and leadership in our main playmakers. Go forward and strike weapon type players can be recruited over time. I'm all for getting TPJ but our number one target should be a quality hooker or halfback and an experienced prop. Someone like Vaughn would be good. 

https://pythagonrl.com/2021/07/04/its-not-just-the-six-again/

This is what I posted yesterday on TK and in Facebook.

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It looks like people really do watch what we post.

"If i had to describe our style it is similar to Penrith in attack and defence, not surprising.
It is working for them, but not for us, the difference is the quality of the players"

Are you kidding HD?
We couldnt be further from them if we tried!!!

Our problem is that our style is NOTHING like the Panthers. We dont rinse in numbers. Hell we fint even run. We stand flat footed. We have no desire to make a break or get any second phase play going or try to score by busting through or beating the opposition out wide.

Our gameplan is to lumber up and hope the defence trips over itself. We do this for 4 tackles and then try to see if they fekk up our last tackle kick. 

Dude, we are so far from them it's not even funny.

I agree on Vaughan and a quality hooker.

I think Averillo and Burton are the way to go.
With Wakeham and BBO was the likely backups.
BBQ also vying with JMK for 14.
What I like about Averillo and Burton is they both have dangerous running games.
We can throw in JMK, Wakeham and BBO as running threats.
All of these players can kick the ball, they have some playmaking ability and can play square.
The extra direction we are lacking can come from hooker, the right or wrong pass from dummy-half has a big impact.
I would have JAC at fullback, Naden  and Schoupp in the centres Cotric and Okunbor on the wings.
IMO that is a big fast backline and everyone fron 7-1 is a threat running the ball.

We need another option for fullback, Allen, Naden and Averillo are candidates.

I would like to sign someone like Connor Watson who can play fullback and multiple other positions or perhaps Tyrone Peachey.

Appart from that utility the backs are well set, hooker and forwards  are my priority.

Marki you are confusing style with, effort, fitness, organisation and desire.

Penrith play up and in defense they just do it very well. Maybe they slide occasionally, but I see a lot of up and in.

In attack the differnce is they get into position earlier and their playmakers have more experience and vision. When we set up structures it looks to me like Baz is using much the same style he used at Penrith. The differnce between the good and bad teams is winning the ruck. A secondary difference is players in position early and energy.

We could say the differnce is fitness and desire, but losing the ruck probably saps a lot of energy.
Teams that lose the ruck are going to concede, line breaks, tries, penalties and 6 agains.

Teams that win the ruck have more possession and field posession, from there the game spirals into a reinforcing pattern.

Good post- agree 100%

Wrong.
Penrith plays Heads-Up football. Alot of the top teams do. 

We play premeditated football. 

Miles apart. Miles.

Mick-o, that Pythagonrl article was an interesting read indeed. It highlights that there are many issues creating the problems with the game in the NRLol at the moment and those issues belong to the teams, the refereeing body and the NRL administration. It will not be fixed until everyone who involved with the game sit down together and devise a mutual and effective solution.

How can you say hd is "wrong". It's not that Penrith play heads up footy as you call it, it's because most of the players have had a relationship and understanding with each others game from junior RL and have carried it through. When speaking about our players we are not even on the same page about understanding one anothers game...fvck they aren't even in the same postcode.

Last week it was 5 forwards & 5 or 6 backs unavailable including DWZ being released last week, so about 11 out. This week another 2 forwards unavailable due to suspension. Only a small chance Okunbor will be available. The worrying thing is even if they were all available they're struggling to score points & without them we saw what happens. 
I could only watch half an hour on the weekend. You'd have to be a Manly fan or C'bury hater to enjoy that match. 

Doc…. Maybe you should prescribe something to HD after his statement? 

I agree ODF….

Villi, the beauty of bring players through your junior ranks. They know each others game and are three steps ahead of the opposition when a certain play is "on".

In the end I have decided to cut Barrett some slack until around round 10 next season.

Anything good that happens this season will be a bonus.

We are a hard team to coach and that is before injuries, suspensions, covid breaches etc.

A lot of our players have bad habits.