The speed of the game was made a big issue by a lot of teams and players after the opening round.
But the rules and the fabric of the game are never going to change.
You’ve got to slow the ruck down and you’ve got to have quick play-the-balls.
So to do that, you’ve got to run hard with a lot of support.
If you just run one out, the other teams are that good in the wrestle now you’ll struggle.
Some people have suggested the wrestle will become a thing of the past with the game being so quick, but I don't think so.
I believe teams will still wrestle, because it's important they get you on your back and slow the ruck down.
You can’t just run one out like we did against the Panthers, otherwise you just don’t manufacture any quick play-the-balls whatsoever because teams are too good on the back of a high mistake rate.
At the end of the day, the rule changes are tweaked a little bit on the performances of teams.
But the fabric of the game is never going to change.
How do the Knights improve?
Ball control is obviously a huge factor.
I think we had 11 mistakes in the first half at Penrith and with the amount of defence we had to do; well it’s always going to bite you.
So you just need an even amount of possession, at the right end of the field and that’s the way the game has been played for a long time.
Our support was also way down against the Panthers and our quick play-the-balls were hardly even there.
We probably tried to go around them at times and we weren’t prepared to go forward.
All these mistakes were happening through fatigue.
But if you cut your mistake rate down, it cuts your fatigue down and it then brings on better play-the-balls and away you go.
Then your sets start rolling and next thing you know you are down attacking the opposition’s line.
So we have to get forward first and have our halves playing behind some momentum.
That’s where it will all start on Sunday night.
My player of the week:
I thought Robbie Rochow was really tidy in the first round. He doesn’t lose many play-the-balls and he defends really well.
He was probably the best for me and we need a lot of our pack to play like Robbie did to go well against Canberra.
I don’t think we can underestimate the Raiders. I thought they played really well up there in North Queensland in the first round.
So it will be a tough match on Sunday, but one we can win if we improve those little things.
Hope to see you at Hunter Stadium this Sunday!
