A new coach, an overhaul of players, the same hunger - the Newcastle Knights look to avenge their 2014 VB NSW Cup Grand Final loss starting this weekend with the Manly Sea Eagles.
Rick Stone was the head coach of the Knights in their 48-12 Grand Final loss at the hands of the Penrith Panthers, and while there are a lot of new faces within the group, their 2015 coach Matt Lantry believes it is imperative for those players to have learnt from those experiences.
“Those guys that were involved certainly will draw on those experiences more in and around your preparation, what worked for them last year what didn’t work to ensure that we give ourselves the best opportunity,” said Lantry.
“But it’s not about what we did last year. It’s not about …show more content…
There’s an 80-minute performance that’s required against Manly on the weekend, they’re a quality team across the park.”
While individuals will certainly draw on the experience of last year’s heartbreak, Lantry is adamant that there is no talk of that season within the group.
“I think last year obviously was last year, and there’s plenty of experiences blokes within that group that are no longer within our team, obviously Rick Stone was the coach,” said Lantry.
“Timana Tahu, Matt Hilder, Michael Dobson, there’s been plenty of turnover within our group. So no [we do not speak about last year], because from a teams perspective – its’ always about what you do going forward.”
Unlike this year, the Knights had the benefit of the week off last year before beating the Illawarra Cutters 34-10 to get into the grand final.
The task at hand is obviously more difficult to to finishing outside the top four, but this is one of the closest VB NSW Cup competitions in years and certainly anyone within in the top eight has the ability to win the premiership.
The experiences of their 2014 heartbreak mixed with a newly found hunger will drive the Knights as they head into this years finals series, and look to avenge last year’s Grand Final
Rick Stone was the head coach of the Knights in their 48-12 Grand Final loss at the hands of the Penrith Panthers, and while there are a lot of new faces within the group, their 2015 coach Matt Lantry believes it is imperative for those players to have learnt from those experiences.
“Those guys that were involved certainly will draw on those experiences more in and around your preparation, what worked for them last year what didn’t work to ensure that we give ourselves the best opportunity,” said Lantry.
“But it’s not about what we did last year. It’s not about …show more content…
There’s an 80-minute performance that’s required against Manly on the weekend, they’re a quality team across the park.”
While individuals will certainly draw on the experience of last year’s heartbreak, Lantry is adamant that there is no talk of that season within the group.
“I think last year obviously was last year, and there’s plenty of experiences blokes within that group that are no longer within our team, obviously Rick Stone was the coach,” said Lantry.
“Timana Tahu, Matt Hilder, Michael Dobson, there’s been plenty of turnover within our group. So no [we do not speak about last year], because from a teams perspective – its’ always about what you do going forward.”
Unlike this year, the Knights had the benefit of the week off last year before beating the Illawarra Cutters 34-10 to get into the grand final.
The task at hand is obviously more difficult to to finishing outside the top four, but this is one of the closest VB NSW Cup competitions in years and certainly anyone within in the top eight has the ability to win the premiership.
The experiences of their 2014 heartbreak mixed with a newly found hunger will drive the Knights as they head into this years finals series, and look to avenge last year’s Grand Final