Fletcher Sharpe being named at five-eighth to play the Cowboys surprised me and again, we just don’t know how Dylan Brown, Fletcher and Kalyn Ponga will combine as the 7, 6 and 1.
My biggest questions: who’s the boss in that spine? And who does both the long and short kicking – especially when they’re on the attack in Vegas, given the smaller field impacts your grubbers and crossfield kicks so much?
Winning games in the first month of a season, when everyone is understandably still a little rusty and building match fitness, focuses so much on your kicking, completing at or above 80 per cent, and defensive energy and discipline. That game management is a massive test for Newcastle’s new playmakers.
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And maybe having so much upheaval with Brown and Sandon Smith arriving is an advantage. Teams don’t have much to work with as far as planning.
The big worry for me, aside from how Newcastle’s spine clicks, is their depth in the middle.
I asked Warren Ryan once: “How many front-rowers do you need to play first grade at your club?”
He responded: “Well, you need two starting front-rowers. You need two front-rowers on your bench. And you need another two out suspended.”
Tyson Frizell is now playing at lock with Jacob Saifiti and Trey Mooney as the Knights’ starting props – if either of those props go down this year, Newcastle are in big trouble.
Read the full column here.
