Reserve Grade Preview: Round 19
Newcastle Knights v Wentworthville Magpies
Date: Sunday July 17
Venue: Hunter Stadium
Kick off: 11.40am
TICKETS
Teams:
WENTWORTHVILLE MAGPIES
1. Honeti Tuha, 2. Scott Schultz, 3. Jake Butler-Flemming, 4. Royden Gillett, 5. Bureta Faraimo, 6. Dylan Izzard, 7. Cameron King, 8. Joseph Ualesi, 9. Samuel Gorman, 10. Alex Twal, 11. Matthew Woods, 12. James Hasson, 13. Cody Nelson. Interchange: 14. Tui Oloapu, 15. Nicholas Kassis, 16. Yileen Gordon, 20. Evan Lee.
NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
1. Bryce Donovan, 2. Ken Tofilau, 3. Mao Uta, 4. Tom Hughes, 5. Tyme Dow-Nikau, 6. Ryan Walker, 7. Will Pearsall, 8. Uiti Baker, 9. Chris Adams, 10. Jack Stockwell, 11. Jacob Saifiti, 12. Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 13. David Bhana. Interchange: 14. Ben Stone, 15. Kurt Aldridge, 16. Bradie Smith, 17. Luke Yates, 20. Tama Koopu.
Match analysis
The Newcastle Knights are searching for a repeat of their Round 4 win over the Wentworthville Magpies when the side meets them for the second time this season at Hunter Stadium.
While the Knights were beaten 33-22 by the Mounties last week at Aubrey Keech Reserve, coach Matt Lantry was impressed with the team’s overall performance.
“For 50 minutes of the 80 minutes we were the better team,” he said.
“We just lacked concentration in execution 10 minutes before half time and 10 minutes after half time.
“We spoke about our discipline that needed to be tidied up because we had a 6-1 penalty count leading into half time and within the first set of the second half, we gave away two penalties.
“We need to eliminate those things out of our game to minimise the opportunities the opposition gets.
"They are things we can control.”
Lantry commended the team for a gutsy effort and knows the players are determined to compete to the highest of their abilities when their the second game of a three game fixture at Hunter Stadium.
“I thought Pauli Pauli played his best game for us in reserve grade and Dave Bhana again was consistently good,” he said.
“The pleasing thing is we had a number of good contributors that led us to play the way we did.
“To the boys credit they really hung in there and with 10 minutes to go and against the team coming first, we were down 28-22 and put a bit of a fright in them."
Turning attention to the Magpies, Lantry points to a number of players who will have influence over the game.
“The have had a disrupted season, but still have some decent experience there,” he said.
The side features former reserve grade Knight Honeti Tuha as well as Bureta Faraimo who is a NSW Resident player and Cameron King in the halves.
“They don’t come up here with any sort of lack of quality and it will be a really tough game and one I’m looking forward to,” he said.
“Their outside backs have been consistent throughout the games I have seen in the course of the season.
“We have to be making sure we come up with some really good defensive decisions on the wing because they do have the ability to score some tries.”
Where it will be won:
Discipline and control.
“We have no issues with scoring points. We played the Warriors two weeks ago and scored 32 and racked up 22 against the team running first,” Lantry said.
“It’s about minimising the amount of points the opposition scores and that comes down to good committed defence and also disciple.
“If you are a disciplined team you limit the opportunities you give away with good control of the footy.
“You’re not giving away penalties.
“We’ll then be a chance to sneak two points this week.”
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