After the Knights’ unlucky loss to the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval on Sunday Knights TV spoke to Tyler Randell and Dane Gagai.
Randell, who started the game at hooker, embraced the high intensity of the opening minutes.
“It was great to get a start. It’s always tough warming up and then sitting on the bench for 20 or so minutes,” Randell said.
“To start, it was good and was nice and fast.
“It’s definitely a lot harder starting than being on the bench.”
While the Knights juggled changes in the line-up due to injury and illness, Randell felt comfortable the week’s training gave the side ample chances to adjust.
“We had a couple of late changes but we trained during the week and everyone switches up a little bit which always helps,” he said.
“I don’t think the changes had anything to do with the results today.
“They are a really good team and good players. They seem to have a lot of time and space and we didn’t cut that out of them.
“They were a quality team today.”
While Brookvale Oval is often touted as one of the most challenging grounds to play at, the Aberdeen Tigers juniors enjoyed running out at the smaller venue.
“It was good playing at Brookvale. I like fields like this," Randell said.
"It’s not a big stadium, which I enjoy.
“I’m looking forward to getting back home and hopefully we can get out of this little slump and get a win on the board for the fans at home.”
Gagai, who also had a change after switching to fullback, said a lack of completion and a high error count allowed Manly free reign over the game.
“There were obviously some last minute changes leading up to this game but we trained fairly well,” Gagai said.
“I guess when we came out there today we just didn’t execute.
“They had something like 19 from 21 completed sets and we were nowhere near that so you will be obviously chasing your tail a little bit when you let a team complete that many sets and you come up with that many errors.
“We need to work on that.”
According to coach Rick Stone, the 24-year-old was one of the side’s top performers showing enthusiasm and flair in the relatively unfamiliar role.
“It was different to centre and you get your hands on the ball a bit more,” he said.
“I enjoyed playing centre but I don’t mind playing fullback as well. I started my career at fullback in U20s there.
“It was good being back there. It was a bit hard on the lungs but I’m sure if they need me there, I’ll get used to that."
Gagai made his mark on the game with a number of line breaks and by topping the Knights' run metres with 212.
“It’s obviously a good stat, but at the end of the day it doesn’t count for much when you lose by 20,” he said.
“I’d rather have less run metres and have the win than the other way round.
“I guess there’s a lot of other things I need to work on. There’s plenty to go back and look at.
“I don’t think there was anything out there was that hard to handle. We just beat ourselves.
“I’m not taking anything away from them. They played good footy and and completed their sets and we didn’t do that which didn’t give ourselves a chance.
“That’s what is most disappointing about today.
“We look forward to next week and trying to get our season back on track.”
