Wheels Fall Off Forgettable Campaign

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday November 13, 2007

BEN QUINN - RUGBY LEAGUE

' The big question facing the Newcastle Knights after a 1994 season which promised much but delivered little beyond scattered moments of individual inspiration was where did it all go wrong?

Playmaking prodigy Andrew Johns announced his arrival as a rare talent indeed when the Knights routed South Sydney 43-14 in the opening round.

Lining up alongside older brother Matthew in the halves, the 19-year-old contributed two tries, a field goal and seven goals from eight attempts for a club-record haul of 23 points in his first-grade starting debut.

His lone miss with the boot hit the upright from the sideline.

Johns would go on to score 162 points for the season, breaking John Schuster's record for most points in a season.

"I guess it was a dream debut," the nuggety No.7 told Sydney Morning Herald scribe Michael Cowley after the Souths match.

"Waitey [coach David Waite] told me through the week that I had nothing to worry about.

"I had one of the best forward packs in the game in front of me and my brother playing alongside me.

"I was a bit nervous before the game, but when I landed that first goal I settled down a lot.

"I usually miss the first kick I have, so when that one went over today I gave a little cheer."

Four consecutive losses after the Souths game brought Waite and his troops crashing back to earth.

Although hot and cold at the start and finish of the season, they strung together eight wins from 10 games between rounds six and 15 to hold down fifth spot.

Confidence was at an all-time high after the club's first victory over reigning premiers the Brisbane Broncos, a 24-10 triumph in front of 26,743 fans at Marathon Stadium in round 15.

Then the wheels came off in the most spectacular fashion.

The Knights lost their last seven matches, including a 52-16 demolition on home soil against a red-hot Canberra, to finish ninth with nine wins and 13 losses.

Mainstays in the team were Brad Godden and Robbie McCormack (22 matches), Marc Glanville, Matthew Johns and Andrew Johns (21), Robbie O'Davis (20), Jamie Ainscough, Nathan Barnes, new captain Mark Sargent and Adam Muir (19).

In back-rower Muir the Knights unearthed the type of natural ball-playing forward lacking in their past packs.

Where Newcastle's pigs had always been content to tackle the grandstand, tuck the ball under their wing and charge through a brick wall for foundation coach Allan McMahon, Muir seemed to have the spirit of Arthur Beetson to go with the pre-requisite toughness.

Paul Harragon was a key player as NSW came back from a loss in the first game to win the State of Origin series.

"The Chief" was considered unlucky to lose his Test guernsey at the end of the season as other aspirants made the most of their chance to impress during the finals.

Coach Waite saw out the season but resigned his position when it became clear the board had made approaches to Great Britain coach and former champion player Malcolm Reilly.

"We'd won eight out of 10 up until the Brisbane game, then the speculation was running rife that I was about to be re-signed," Waite told Sun Herald columnist Debbie Spillane.

"When that didn't happen, speculation ran rife that I wasn't going to be re-signed."

"From that time we didn't win a game.

"Easts, Wests and Penrith have had similar situations, but there were other reasons for our losses for which coaches and players have to accept responsibility.

"We win together and we lose together.

"On the big picture it was a successful season. We have done some things that are very important for the club's future.

"We've established a lot of new players in first grade.

"For the third year in a row we've broken our club's try-scoring record."

Keeper of the league's official yearbook, David Middleton, predicted good times ahead for the Knights.

"Few could have predicted the Knights' ordinary results since their gallant finals charge in 1992," Middleton wrote.

"At that time it appeared they would become one of the competition's real forces, a perennial threat to the Broncos, Raiders and company.

"Reilly, who personifies the Knights' grim-faced, determined, uncompromising style, has left the industrial north of England to join one of Australia's primary industrial regions.

"His heavy emphasis on discipline could provide the element that has been missing from the Knights since 1998."

Would this fearless prognostication from "The Guru" of rugby league facts and statistics come to pass?

Only time would tell.

"Few could have predicted the Knights' ordinary results since their gallant finals charge

in 1992. At that time it appeared they would become one of the competition's real forces,

a perennial threat to the Broncos, Raiders and company."

- DAVID MIDDLETON

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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