Reserve grade preview: Round 5
North Sydney Bears v Newcastle Knights
Date: Sunday April
3
Kick off: 3pm
Venue: TG Milner
Referees: Drew Oultram Touch Judges: Mathew Damaso, Mark Bohan
Teams:
NORTH SYDNEY BEARS
1. Sitiveni Moceidreke 2. Tautalatasi Tasi 3, Dane Nielsen, 4. Ed Murphy (c), 5. Tom Hughes 6. Riley Travers, 7. Eli Levido, 8. Clayton Williams, 9. Brad Dietz, 10. Fred Junior Mauala, 11. Jack Gosiewski, 12. Patrice Siolo, 13. Cheyne Whitelaw. Interchange: 14. Piki Rogers, 15. Jack Siejka, 16. Jokatama Dokonivalu, 17. Brock Gray.
NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
1. Jaelen Feeney 2. Ken Tofilau, 3. Mao Uta, 4. James Elias, 5. Bryce Donovan, 6. Dylan Phythian, 7. Will Pearsall, 8. Josh King, 9. Kurt Aldridge, 10. Jack Stockwell, 11. Bradie Smith, 12. Luke Yates, 13. Tekina Vailea. Interchange: 14 Danny Kerr, 15. Brett Jarrett, 16. Michael Steele, 17. Uiti Baker, 20. Tama Koopu.
Match Analysis:
The reserve grade Newcastle Knights bagged a satisfying first win of the season last week and aim to string two together when the side faces the North Sydney Bears for the second time in 2016.
Harnessing the confidence from a victory over the undefeated Wentworthville Magpies, the Knights intend to level the score against North Sydney who defeated the Knights in Round 1.
Coach Matt Lantry was pleased with the team’s gutsy second half comeback on the weekend and hopes to see the same display from start to finish on Sunday.
“What’s important for us this weekend is a repeat performance of that second half,” he said.
“As much as there’s still a lot of improvement to happen within our team, I thought we controlled the ball a lot better.
“We weren’t giving up easy territory through ill discipline or poor errors with the footy.
“If we can be disciplined in those areas and be above that 75 -80 percent completion rate, we will give ourselves a chance.”
While the Knights are confident they have what it takes to secure another win, the side remains wary of a slick North Sydney Bears line-up.
“They are in good form and we will need to certainly respect the Bears and what they have to offer,” he said.
"The two centres are dangers. Dane Nieksen is a quality player and Ed Murphy is an experienced campaigner and has played very well. He scored two tries against us back in Round 1.
“Their forward pack is big and strong and there to make sure we are good in the middle third.
“In saying that we have to worry about ourselves and how well we execute.
“Our attack has been quite good the last couple of weeks there have just been poor options with the footy.
“If we get that right we will hopefully make the most of a few opportunities.”
Where is will be won:
Completion.
“We need to minimise the opportunities we give North Sydney through ensuring we complete well and are disciplined,” Lantry said.
“If we turn up with the right attitude and put that together for 80 minutes I think that will be the key for us.”
