what!!!!!!!!christ...utter bilge send him home and the other holiday maker monas

Matt King = Bin Man!

The sooner we wise up and get him on the wing with a centre who can deliver the pass, the sooner he will look more like his NRL self. I fancy him outside of Johnson.

King outside Johnson, Hicks outside Gleeson, sounds alright, no real pace there, though, although Hicks isn't the slowest.

We'll be like Bradford!

i thought we looked a bit slow in midfield on both sides to be honest, couple of their tries we were just beaten in a footrace, johno is a good player but needs to be paired with some pace king i have no idea what he brings to the team he can catch a high ball but since we don't use the tactic what does he bring?

should have put penny away in 1st half but cut inside he really is poor as a centre for me, compare him to gleeson even not at his best it's almost embarrassing that he has come with such a big reputation!

Spot on diagnosis, there. Agree with every word.

I'd also like to point out the number of first team friendlies we had pre season. Clearly not enough.

I wonder if his acting skills are any better than his rugby skills. He'd make a cracking doppelganger for Peter Sutcliffe.

was thinkin and what asset does king bring to the team

In all seriousness, has King done anything which has made you say 'wow'?

He is meant to be a world class player, and he clearly isn't. I personally think a young lad would do as good a job. (although I suspect that Lowes would still just take Penny off and blame him for everything).

Just watched the game and Gidley, who lets face it isnt the quickest centre around, ripped King to bits and made him look like Wellens on 1 leg.

3 or 4 of the Saints tries came from his initial mistake or lapse defence.

1. He'll be okay when the ground gets hard.

2. I wasn't being serious with (1.) I'm starting to panic that we have this guy for minus a week or so, three more years.

As long as he has the scapegoat Penny outside of him, he'll be fine.

I loved the way Penny got dragged off tonight, despite the replays showing Penny putting his opposite number on his ar$e, and King's opposite number walking past him!

Go take 5 minutes away from the computer.. then come back and look at what you just wrote.

A knee jerk reaction is not the fix for losing a game that we are all glad we have got out the way and will not have to play again for another year!

Whilst in the grand scheme of things I agree with you, it's easy to get caught up in the emotion etc, but where King is concerned, it isn't just one game is it really ? To be fair, in the circa 30 games of SL he's played, defensively he's looked a shambles for the large part.

No, I also agree to an extent with what you say, I am just struggling to see how a player of that class can be so poor...

Coach, players, weather etc.. its still the same guy with the same talent!!

I am no coach so i am interested to see what people think is the actual problem and subsequent answer??

I personally think his defence is as good as it was in Oz, but his forward play is a shadow if what i have seen in the past. (melborne, NSW etc)

the 'over paid on-holiday aussie' reply will not be considered.

I don't know either mate, it's something I've thought about too, the 'fall from grace' of it all. Normally there's an injury or something. I reckon the answers you'll get will be something like,

1. He was in a very good Melbourne side, with players like Cronk who gave him quality 'gain line' ball.

2. He's a winger, not a centre.

3. It's just a different game, some folk just can't adapt to SL, the attacking intent of it all, players who are used to structure can't adapt to the more fluent SL. There's plenty of David Kidwells who's performaces on both sides of the world would be staggeringly different.

4. He misses Neighbours. (Don't we all. RIP Toadie.)

Penny wasn't faultless, if that's what you're trying to say?


King was average in his first year, and he looked very poor tonight, I hope there's improvement but I really can't see where it's going to come from, is he suddenly going to produce some dazzling footwork? Some freak-like strength where he can bulldoze over from 10 yards with ease? Is he going to start producing magic offloads for his winger? To be honest, the answer looks likely to be no, and his defence has been poor, too.

I'd like to see King paired with Reardon (when fit) on the left side, but if he continues like tonight, then he'd have to play outside Johnson.

I know it's unthinkable, and it is right now in reality after one game, but why is it always King+1, it's either King outisde Johnson, Johnson outside King, etc.

King is slow as fook, insanely slow, to put him on the wing is madness, in effect your only option is a kick for the corner.

If he doesn't buck his ideas up, i'd consider :

Penny outside Johnson.
Johnson outside Bridge.
Penny outisde Bridge.

Throw Reardon into the equation when he's fit.

I thought Penny was culpable in some respects tonight, but this whole find a place for King thing gets to me. If he continues to underperform ship him out too, give him a week or two in the reserves. Dropping players shouldn't just apply to kids recently promoted from the 21's, it should be across the board.

We shouldn't be hiding the bloke out on the wing, he came as our strike centre, if he's not the best option, don't play him, but he shouldn't take somebody elses opportunity because you have to accomadate him somehow.

To be honest JWP, I don't have a fooking clue, maybe I just don't want to see a player earning so much out of the side.


If (and that's a big if) everybody is fit in the backs, I'd probably like to see Reardon outside of Johnson on the left.

As much as I love Kev's attitude, I think we need much better on the left if we're to improve defensively. Reardon, despite being only average, I'd feel much more assured with on the wing.

Looking at our side now keeps reminding me of Bradford, big pack but some slow backs and half backs. For me, somebody like Bridge has to play somewhere, he brings things to the side that we lack terribly IMO.

Was he playing tonight ??

Wouldn't mind Lyon/Matai/Stewart from cash-strapped Manly if we were to send Matt packing

You wish.

What did Penny do wrong defensively?

I'm sorry, I just don't get this.

Granted, Penny is a young kid still learning the game. His defence has improved greatly, which shows his attitude is first class as well. It's obviously something he's working hard at.

Take the penultimate try. Penny came in from his wing and made his tackle, the man turned to offload to Gidley and King was strolling around out of position, again!

Here we have the most exciting winger we've had since Dessie who's also showing a desire to improve his overall game, not just rely on his pace. It's apparent Lowes doesn't rate him - my worry is next week we'll have a King/Johnson left wing partnership

King's shortcomings are being exposed - we can only use the homesick excuse for so long

I wouldn't like to see Readon within 40m of a high ball