2019 NIB Knights

Blaming Bennett for all our problems is like being shot multiple times and saying it was a particular bullet that killed us. Did he help us long term? No. Did he completely ruin us? No. Did he leave us worse off than we were before? Yes. There's more issues than that. Brown bought himself a lot of time because he had to get rid of players on huge contracts that weren't very good. Remembering we were under the cap by so much last year that we were nearly fined. I don't believe he's in the top echelon of coaches in getting us to where we need to be but he was great at building a platform.

What we need from here is someone that will continue to deliver through discipline with a track record of player management. I'd be all in for Toovey if it was up to me.

Dip wrote:

Then Brown inherits the team and proceeds to only 1 win game in 2016 (16th), 5 games in 2017 (16th), and 9 games in 2018 (11th). They are currently 10th and at long odds to make the finals. Seems like Brown is making little improvement at all.

It’s a long rant but this part strikes me as massively disingenuous. That Knights squad inherited in 2016 was even worse than the 14-15 lineups. It was probably the worst squad since the comp had 20 teams with the Crushers and Magpies making up numbers.

Then going from 1 win to 5 wins to 9 wins seems like the opposite of “making little improvement at all” too.

Honeysett wrote:Blaming Bennett for all our problems is like being shot multiple times and saying it was a particular bullet that killed us. Did he help us long term? No. Did he completely ruin us? No. Did he leave us worse off than we were before? Yes. There's more issues than that. Brown bought himself a lot of time because he had to get rid of players on huge contracts that weren't very good. Remembering we were under the cap by so much last year that we were nearly fined. I don't believe he's in the top echelon of coaches in getting us to where we need to be but he was great at building a platform.

What we need from here is someone that will continue to deliver through discipline with a track record of player management. I'd be all in for Toovey if it was up to me.

I agree with this and it blows my mind that Toovey has never got another gig.

robelgordo wrote:

It’s a long rant but this part strikes me as massively disingenuous. That Knights squad inherited in 2016 was even worse than the 14-15 lineups. It was probably the worst squad since the comp had 20 teams with the Crushers and Magpies making up numbers.

Then going from 1 win to 5 wins to 9 wins seems like the opposite of “making little improvement at all” too.

Semantics I suppose. I'd just say winning 8 games in 2015 the season immediately being appointed coach, and then having the best season since then with 9 wins 3 years later seems like little improvement to me.

Tier 1 nation test players or state of origin players (either before or after that year) in the 2016 squad include Snowden, Mullen, Uate, Gagai, Smith, Tapine, Mata'utai, T Sims, Levi, Hodkinson, and D Saifiti. Admittedly there was 50 foot of crap among the remaining players. Probably better than the 1999 Magpies though. That team let in almost 40 points a game and conceded 60 5 times!

Oz Sport Mad wrote:

Don't think I have to add too much more to that to be honest.
Regardless of Ice's long running bias against Bennett (which probably stems from Nathan Brown-esque jealousy), you can't argue with cold, hard facts.

As a fan of a team that has had Bennett leave my club twice, I certainly never felt like he left the place in a state of disarray.
In 2009, we were leading the comp going into Origin - and that is with Ivan Henjack.
Arguably this season hasn't been great but I blame the club for poor off field decisions, more so than Bennett.

Newcastle should feel the same way about 2015 as I feel about 2019.
The club let the fans down and Bennett doesn't get the credit he deserves for the time he was there.

Anyways, credit where credit is due for Browny, as he appears to have created a widely believed myth (amongst simpleton fans at least) that he inherited an impossible task.
Clearly Newcastle management has seen otherwise, hence their decision.
But no doubt some other club will hire him (probably the Tigers....as their 7th simultaneously contracted coach) to 're-build their roster' and take them to 'the cusp of finals glory' i.e. where the Tigers are anyway.

I've absolutely have no long running bias against Bennett, he has consistently produced great results with star studded line ups, I'd never argue anything other than he has had an outstandingly long and successful career. Sure, since taking the Dragons to a premiership he has been living on what can only be argued is a rightfully fantastic reputation for immediate results, but who can argue with that, that's what clubs and supporters want, fairly instant success. Bennett is comfortably a better coach but a long margin than Brown and MCGregor, no doubt about it at all.

Ice wrote:

I've absolutely have no long running bias against Bennett, he has consistently produced great results with star studded line ups, I'd never argue anything other than he has had an outstandingly long and successful career. Sure, since taking the Dragons to a premiership he has been living on what can only be argued is a rightfully fantastic reputation for immediate results, but who can argue with that, that's what clubs and supporters want, fairly instant success. Bennett is comfortably a better coach but a long margin than Brown and MCGregor, no doubt about it at all.

The fact you managed to sneak in at least 2 or 3 backhanded compliments is more than enough to verify my previous post.

Dip wrote:

Semantics I suppose. I'd just say winning 8 games in 2015 the season immediately being appointed coach, and then having the best season since then with 9 wins 3 years later seems like little improvement to me.

Tier 1 nation test players or state of origin players (either before or after that year) in the 2016 squad include Snowden, Mullen, Uate, Gagai, Smith, Tapine, Mata'utai, T Sims, Levi, Hodkinson, and D Saifiti. Admittedly there was 50 foot of crap among the remaining players. Probably better than the 1999 Magpies though. That team let in almost 40 points a game and conceded 60 5 times!

11 players in that list

using the same method

2018 dogs eastwood, RFM, foran, hoppa, klem, jackson, morris, morris, woods, mbye (10)
2019 dogs RFM, Foran, Hoppa, Jackson, Napa, DWZ, CHN (7)

obviously there is time for some players from our squad to go on and eventually be added but probably not many likely, maybe a couple of the younger players rep NZ one day in the future (ogden, smith maybe)

both situations had teams who cap issues from a prior coach, one coach liked to talk about how debilitating it was and basically said the next couple of seasons would be trash and accepting losing. the other talked about how the past coach chased a premiership and it is what it is, tough times obviously but players were still held accountable for their performances

Knights wins in 16' & 17' = 6
Dogs 18' & 19' = 17

Knights were probably in a worse spot but i still think they just accepted they couldn't win and let senior players coast through those seasons without any accountability to their performances, how do young players really learn to be professional footy players in that type of environment ? we still signs this year of a team that just doesn't havn't the attitude to win enough games and at year 4, i think the knight are honestly making the right call for a change because i don't think they can go into next year with largely the same players and the same coach and expect it be different. The handling of it has been fairly poor tho.

Footage of Jacob Saifiti being struck shown to courtroom in Newcastle

Oz Sport Mad wrote:

The fact you managed to sneak in at least 2 or 3 backhanded compliments is more than enough to verify my previous post.

A positive bias that he is great at coaching quality teams. What's the issue??

Dip wrote:

Semantics I suppose. I'd just say winning 8 games in 2015 the season immediately being appointed coach, and then having the best season since then with 9 wins 3 years later seems like little improvement to me.

Tier 1 nation test players or state of origin players (either before or after that year) in the 2016 squad include Snowden, Mullen, Uate, Gagai, Smith, Tapine, Mata'utai, T Sims, Levi, Hodkinson, and D Saifiti. Admittedly there was 50 foot of crap among the remaining players. Probably better than the 1999 Magpies though. That team let in almost 40 points a game and conceded 60 5 times!

I know you mentioned before or after mate but... god...

Snowden.. hadnt played origin since 2011 according to the RL project. Was a plodder by that stage of his career.
Mullen played 14 games that year and could barely string 2 games back to back in his career.
Uate played 10 games in 2016 and had not played origin since 2012
Was stoked when Gagai came to the club. The difference between his club games and origin games though.. fark me dead.
Tapine moved to canberra in 2016.
Matautia should never have played for Aus, he was only there because of the plethora of injuries and will never be there again. Was a winger/fullback/centre and was what.. 17? 18?
Tariq had not played an origin game yet, didnt play until 2018.
Hodkinson was a good club player, NSW SOO legend too
Daniel saifiti in 2016 was a 20 year old in his first year of first grade. His brother was also the one that was always lauded as being the superstar. not daniel.

Time will tell as to whether O'Brien will work out in newie. His resume is great but jeez I hope he is as hard nosed as people say he is. We have some glaring holes to fill in the outside backs and at 6, if we can work them out we might be ok.

Brown is just too friendly with the players for it to ever work for him. He needs to totally separate himself from the playing group and not be seen as a mate.

So we signed that bloke with the terrible last name from Brisbane, he has been garbage in first grade so far in his career so not expecting much from him. Im sure he would have been cheap though

Pieman wrote:So we signed that bloke with the terrible last name from Brisbane, he has been garbage in first grade so far in his career so not expecting much from him. Im sure he would have been cheap though

Of all the last names in this league, 'Shibasaki' is seriously where you give up and decide to let a bit of casual racism peek through the cracks?

In defence of Shibs, i think his 'shitness' has been a bit overstated, the defensive side of his game is pretty solid, if he can sort out the flippers he has at the end of his arms and get them resembling appendages that can catch and hold on to a football, he very well might come good, they don't hand out Junior Kangaroos jumpers by way of a raffle.

Could have avoided any casual racism and called him shit basket, at least it's fantasy relevant.

Thanks for taking Dickfingers off our hands. Poor bloke couldn't catch a cold.

surmo13 wrote:

Of all the last names in this league, 'Shibasaki' is seriously where you give up and decide to let a bit of casual racism peek through the cracks?

In defence of Shibs, i think his 'shitness' has been a bit overstated, the defensive side of his game is pretty solid, if he can sort out the flippers he has at the end of his arms and get them resembling appendages that can catch and hold on to a football, he very well might come good, they don't hand out Junior Kangaroos jumpers by way of a raffle.

I actually never paid that much attention to the detail of the spelling or heritage of his last name and never bothered to look it up because he has been utterly dreadful in first grade so far in his career. Hopefully he improves, then I might learn how to spell his name.

But hey if you want to put 2 and 2 together to make 5, go for it. Its not the first time you've made a fool of yourself by saying something dumb as fuck

Pieman wrote:


I actually never paid that much attention to the detail of the spelling or heritage of his last name and never bothered to look it up because he has been utterly dreadful in first grade so far in his career. Hopefully he improves, then I might learn how to spell his name.

But hey if you want to put 2 and 2 together to make 5, go for it. Its not the first time you've made a fool of yourself by saying something dumb as fuck

Holy shit it's adorable that you think that makes you look better - "i don't give two shits about someone's heritage unless they play footy all good and stuff, until then i'll just default to calling it terrible" come on, it's not that hard mate, literally spelt how it sounds, plus it's a footy forum, not a spelling bee, you wouldn't be the first or last bloke to accidentally get someone's name wrong and no-one would care if you do (well, unless you decide to predict the aussie team and mangle every name almost to the point of being unrecognizable, fuck I wish I could remember that blokes name, one of the classic sportal threads).

but anyway, i'm getting off-track, I know there's a heart in there somewhere, your mob won the wooden spoon about 10 years straight, I don't recall you going all 'he-who-must-not-be-named' on any of the truly shithouse players on those rosters and i'm pretty sure you had some, if not all, of the Mata'utai brothers on the books I guess it must just be the Japanese that you don't care for?

dasherhalo wrote:Thanks for taking Dickfingers off our hands. Poor bloke couldn't catch a cold.

Where have you been the last few seasons ??

surmo13 wrote:

Holy shit it's adorable that you think that makes you look better - "i don't give two shits about someone's heritage unless they play footy all good and stuff, until then i'll just default to calling it terrible" come on, it's not that hard mate, literally spelt how it sounds, plus it's a footy forum, not a spelling bee, you wouldn't be the first or last bloke to accidentally get someone's name wrong and no-one would care if you do (well, unless you decide to predict the aussie team and mangle every name almost to the point of being unrecognizable, fuck I wish I could remember that blokes name, one of the classic sportal threads).

but anyway, i'm getting off-track, I know there's a heart in there somewhere, your mob won the wooden spoon about 10 years straight, I don't recall you going all 'he-who-must-not-be-named' on any of the truly shithouse players on those rosters and i'm pretty sure you had some, if not all, of the Mata'utai brothers on the books I guess it must just be the Japanese that you don't care for?

why are you writing these posts you weird cunt lol

No Worries wrote:


Where have you been the last few seasons ??

Pretty sure I thanked the Dragons for taking Benny off our hands too.