Round 5 - Knight vs Storm

[TC]

I'm still really concerned over our right edge defence. It's not just Suli but the whole winger-centre-second row-halfback combo.
They don't slide well, they rush in rather than coming up in a straight line - we see the same try in the corner again and again and again. Opposition shift quickly left, centre and 2nd row are caught too far in and Suli is stuck in no-man's land defending 2 or 3 on 1.

[TC]

Sorry, shouldn't be all doom and gloom; it WAS a good win.
I think Knights will be top 6 this year.

[Bullucked]

I'm still really concerned over our right edge defence. It's not just Suli but the whole winger-centre-second row-halfback combo.
They don't slide well, they rush in rather than coming up in a straight line - we see the same try in the corner again and again and again. Opposition shift quickly left, centre and 2nd row are caught too far in and Suli is stuck in no-man's land defending 2 or 3 on 1.

Haven't we been watching this, the same thing over and over again? Didn't that used to be Crofts side of the field as well?
My belief this problem starts from the players in line with the right hand side goal post and the whole team don't slide outwards. Going the other way seems to be less of a problem.

[Insomniac]

Not to be a downer on Paps (don't get me wrong, he's an awesome young player that's still improving), but we do seem to lack that covering positional play from our fullback since the retirement of Slater.

When our edge players do get caught out or, as mentioned above, our defensive line as a whole hasn't slid effectively, we just don't seem to have that safety blanket player tracking behind to (attempt to) save the day anymore.

[TC]

Not to be a downer on Paps (don't get me wrong, he's an awesome young player that's still improving), but we do seem to lack that covering positional play from our fullback since the retirement of Slater.

When our edge players do get caught out or, as mentioned above, our defensive line as a whole hasn't slid effectively, we just don't seem to have that safety blanket player tracking behind to (attempt to) save the day anymore.

Takes a little bit to replace the best fullback of the modern era.

[Storm Spirit]

Not to be a downer on Paps (don't get me wrong, he's an awesome young player that's still improving), but we do seem to lack that covering positional play from our fullback since the retirement of Slater.

When our edge players do get caught out or, as mentioned above, our defensive line as a whole hasn't slid effectively, we just don't seem to have that safety blanket player tracking behind to (attempt to) save the day anymore.

Takes a little bit to replace the best fullback of the modern era.

Arguably the best fullback in RL history.....but RL peeps who also watched Graeme Langlands might strongly disagree.

[yourhero]

Key Stats;

Completed Sets
Storm - 35/39 (90%) - 19/20 in the first half!
Knights - 28/38 (74%)
This may be the stat that pleases Bellamy the most. An outstanding effort from the boys to hold onto the pill and build pressure. Putting aside all the other areas we still need to work on (and there are a few), if we can complete even close to that in all of our 2020 games, we win most of them.

Time in Opposition 20
Storm - 26:22
Knights - 16:49

Missed Tackles
Storm - 14
Knights - 23

Cameron Smith
Try Assists - 3
Line Break Assists - 3
11 Runs for 77 Metres
3 Tackle Breaks
Conversions/PG - 5 from 5
Tackles - 43 (missed 2)
Offloads - 2
Kicks - 4 (208m)
Errors - 1
Penalties Conceded - 0

[yourhero]

3 key moments from the Knights game

Ryan Papenhuyzen's try saver - Ponga in space, 5m out and only the smallest fullback in the NRL to beat. Ponga beats every fullback in the League to at least get over 99/100 times. Paps with a strong ball and all tackle and got underneath Ponga. Amazing effort.

Brandon Smith's try - What an absolute beast. Four Knights defenders were all over him. He still found a way to burrow, hit, spin and use his leg drive to push his way over. It was quite incredible.

Suli's try - Smithy spots an overlap and throws a cutout pass past 2 Storm players to Suli on the wing. The Knights cover defence gets there but Suli steps Edrick Lee out of his shoes and then powers over Bradman Best.

[Mattpoet]

That Papenhuyzen try saver was the moment of the match for me

[Mr Peanutbutter]

Brandon Smith's try What an absolute beast. Four Knights defenders were all over him. He still found a way to burrow, hit, spin and use his leg drive to push his way over. It was quite incredible.

Underrated wombat reference here.

[yourhero]

With all the talk from Paul Crawley about how noticeable the ruck has slowed down since the return to play - citing the Storm/Knights game as the best example of this, I had a look at the actual stats. Something Paul Crawley has never cared to do in his life before launching a massive whinge.
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Round 5 - Play the Ball Speed​
Storm - 3.41 seconds​
Knights - 3.24 seconds​
Difference - 0.17 seconds advantage (on average), per play the ball, to the Knights​
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The Knights actually slowed the play the ball down more than we did.​
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What about since the resumption of play?​
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Round 3 - Play the Ball Speed
​Storm - 3.42
Raiders - 3.39

So our PTB speed is identical to Round 3 and our opponents PTB speed has sped up considerably.
​
I contend that Paul Crawley simply enjoyed us losing to the Raiders and attributed it to up-tempo footy. Then when we beat the Knights, he wanted to dilute our win by blaming the old chestnut of "the wrestle".