Finals Week 1: Knights vs Sea Eagles

[Titanium_BD1103]

FINAL SCORE

Newcastle Knights 25

Tries: Johns 50, K Gidley 61,69, Carney, 79.
Goals: Johns 4/4
Field Goals: Mullen 1/1, Johns 0/1


Manly Sea Eagles 18

Tries: Stewart 11, Robertson 24, Matai 54
Goals: Orford 3/4

WHAT A COMEBACK FROM NEWCASTLE..

Andrew Johns leading the way in what was a superb performance in the 2nd half... but he has 2 very good future carriers of the Knights in Jarrad Mullen and Kurt Gidley....

It was a really gutsy effort by the Knights who came up with some really courage and commitment in the second half after finally breaking the Manly defense through the middle with Gidley, only to see the most freakish try in a long time for Matai off Robertson who flicked a ball in from the edge of the sideline and Matai scored.

The Knights however had some real brilliance of their own... with Gidley's second coming from amazing strength to get down low and turn over to get his head and the ball on the line.

Then in the final 2 seconds, Brian Carney our future winger amazingly gets Robertson and strips the ball off him, and then piggy backs him 10m over the tryline to score for the Knights, amazing, unbelievable stuff.

But it was the new future of Newcastle, one number 16 Jarrad Mullen who stole the show, after Johns had a field goal charged down, and Mullen grabbed the chance to make a name, in the next set of 6, standing up and as cool as you like slotting it home... Newcastle don't have to worry when Johns retires, they have Mullen and Gidley, two of the best to steer them through.

Manly were made to pay for all the defense in the first half, and in the end it was just fatigue, not lack of skill or momentum that lost them the game, as well as the massive Newcastle crowd.

The crowd was deafening and definitely got the Knights home.

Mention to Hampstead for having a decent referring performance in very trying circumstances. The second half was feisty and firey, but he handled it well, perhaps sending Burns and Carmont off was a bit too much, but Kennedy had to go considering he kept trying to interrupt while the ref was speaking, enough was enough I guess. I do have to say though some of the decisions he made were questionable, but he did an okay job.

HOWEVER, Danny Buderus should have been sent off for a spear tackle and I am sure he will be in some trouble with the Judicary next week. Let that not take away from Hampstead's performance though, he played advantage really well tonight and gave everyone a fair go, missing a few things, but overall getting the game to flow and finals football magic to be allowed to occur.

Amazing game, amazing finals football, I just loved it...

[Poida]

very good game,good field goal (god i love field goals lol)

[Steve Dangerous]

Danny B shoulda been sent off, not BK.


great game though... REALLY entertaining. hope the rest of the games are that good.

[Just Another Member]

The finish really saved that game. The second half was of great quality but the match started really slowly. Manly's defence was very impressive and it would be a shame if they got knocked out this week. Like many other games this year, It was a good game with an awesome finish. I thought that the intensity of the forwards at the start was not as high as it should of been but in the second half things picked up. Hampstead handled some situations strangely, and probably contributed to adding the fire into the game. Manly may not be the only ones with a nervous wait to see if they'll be around next week.

[Grimmace]

Game was great, Ref did a good job but why did BK be put in the bin it shouldve been Danny chances are he wont be playing next week or the week after and the crowd was great

[Coaster]

Ref did a good job

I must have watched a different game.

I dont follow either of these sides, and watched not caring to much on who won, but i found myself disgusted at the lopsided display from Hampsted.

If i was a Manly supporter, i would be gutted this morning. Every call went against them, he rode Newcastle into the 20 meter zone all night.

Why did Burns get sent for 10min?- last time i read the rules players are not allowed to pull tacklers away from the tackle, as Gidley did, then he gets punched from a 3rd person, and he gets sent for 10min?

Why did Kennedy get 10 min?- to be 3rd man into a fight, surely it helps if there was a fight? Kennedy was 1st man in, and had every right to shake Buderus after that spear tackle. How Manly gets penalised for the last 5 min of the match, after a blatant foul from newcastle astounds me. :whatd:

I had friends ringing me asking my opinion, and we were all basicly saying the same thing, that manly were robbed.

The only bright note was that it was to Manly

[Massive_Weno]

The finish really saved that game. The second half was of great quality but the match started really slowly. Manly's defence was very impressive and it would be a shame if they got knocked out this week. Like many other games this year, It was a good game with an awesome finish. I thought that the intensity of the forwards at the start was not as high as it should of been but in the second half things picked up. Hampstead handled some situations strangely, and probably contributed to adding the fire into the game. Manly may not be the only ones with a nervous wait to see if they'll be around next week.

The game started slowly? The finish saved the game? Mate that first 40 minutes underpinned what finals football was all about! DEFENSE! Obviously the close finish helped make a great spectacle but for me that first half was intense, you could see the passion the players had for the game. That game had everything with some great D, some Joey magic in that second half, tight match, a couple of scuffles....now if the rest of the finals can be like this i will be 1 happy rugby league supporter!

[Titanium_BD1103]

I must have watched a different game.

I dont follow either of these sides, and watched not caring to much on who won, but i found myself disgusted at the lopsided display from Hampsted.

If i was a Manly supporter, i would be gutted this morning. Every call went against them, he rode Newcastle into the 20 meter zone all night.

Why did Burns get sent for 10min?- last time i read the rules players are not allowed to pull tacklers away from the tackle, as Gidley did, then he gets punched from a 3rd person, and he gets sent for 10min?

Why did Kennedy get 10 min?- to be 3rd man into a fight, surely it helps if there was a fight? Kennedy was 1st man in, and had every right to shake Buderus after that spear tackle. How Manly gets penalised for the last 5 min of the match, after a blatant foul from newcastle astounds me. :whatd:

I had friends ringing me asking my opinion, and we were all basicly saying the same thing, that manly were robbed.

The only bright note was that it was to Manly

Burns got sent to the sinbin because he got the penalty and then kept arguing and said something to the ref... and Hampstead didn't like it... his words from memory were along the lines of "if you are going to act like that, you can go for 10", I agree that was harsh.

BK got sent to the bin because he couldn't keep his cool, he is captain and his performance last night in front of the ref was not one of his best, everytime the ref called out a player, BK would scream and yell before the ref had heard the touch judge speaking, and therefore the ref had no idea what was going on, there is only so much Hampstead was going to put up with and in the end, he did it once too often, and was sent, he had been warned... fair call...

I agree Buderus should have been sent off, and Hampstead was wrong on that front.

I do agree Newcastle got more penalties, but Manly also got lucky last night, Stewart should have gone to the bin in the 1st half for deliberate interference in the play the ball, he just stayed there and didn't even try to move, and Matai should have gone too for taking Carmont out during what could have been a certain Newcastle try, not to mention the continual charging of players without the ball by Manly.

Now I am neutral, I don't go for either side, this is just what I saw and my opinion on it, and is why I said Hampstead had a decent game, he made some wrong decisions, but in the end, it all balanced out, and both sides got an even share of the stick IMO.

[Grimmace]

TJ Hampsteadwa going to send him off accoring to the telegraph but the Video Ref changed his mind

[SuperCliffy#01]

For me that display by Hampstead was one of the worse one sided refereeing i have seen for a long time, Hampstead tried like hell to keep the Knights in the game, and i am shattered, i have lost faith in the standards of refereeing in this game, Hampstead was belligerent towards Manly all night and the touch judges were also in on the act, to have a 9-3 penalty count against Manly in the first half was a disgrace, and some of the penalties given were soft in the extreme, and when the Knights did exactly the same thing nothing, bubkus, nadda, no penalties.

All i can say is that had Manly have been given a fair shake in the penalty department and not having to defend like mad demon's in the end maybe they could have weathered the final onslaught in the last ten minutes, but those boys were gone, but i have on major critism of Des Hasler, why would you choose 4 front rowers on your bench, if i had my way i would have chosen 2 front rowers, one back rower and one back, like Hagan did, the Manly props are big but they are also slow.

Coaster, that was uncalled for, i would hate it to happen to your team.cya.

[DeeGan]

First of all - the ref and his merry men on the sidelines definately gave the rub of the green to Newcastle. To see Hampstead's display was a good one tonight is wrong. Classic example was the call from touch judge to come in and award a penalty to Newcastle due to a 'late hit' on Johns from Matai - it was laughable. The crowd would of been giving it to him, he runs in to make a nothing call.

Manly's defence was awesome in the first 40 mins - I think that drained th
em and come back to haunt them in the back end of the game. I still think they can do some damage in this year's series, blind freddie can see that.

Newcastle were good to come back in this game. I was not over enthused with their performance by any stretch of the imagination. To have so much ball in their attacking zone in the first hald to produce zero points - that is a concern when you have the attacking talents in Johns, Buderus and co.

Brian Carney scored a great try though yet again his defence on a couple of occasions (that I highlighted earlier in the year) is quite simply frustrating. He makes the bad read and shoots out of the line or will wait too long to make a decision and run with his man.

Great game, great opening to the finals.

[SuperCliffy#01]

I would like to know why is it when ever we (Manly) plays the Knight we are always slaughtered with bad referreeing, we don't that with any other team, and i have noticed that Newcastle have become protected speices, they do stuff that no other team in the comp gets away with, they have a charmed life.cya.

[Dakink]

What a great game - the spectacle was only enhanced by the ineptitude of the Ref. Manly's goal line defence was something special - but Ill go on the record here a saying that neither team is capable of winning the GF. I dont think either team will even make it.

[Steve Dangerous]

First half was all Andrew Johns... got nowhere. But when they started handing it to Kurt Gidley instead, he exploded. Johns pretty much sat out the second half lol. Outplayed by his own team-mate.

[Poida]

im glad knights won and i agree with all the sinbinnings.