Newcastle coach Nathan Brown drops three players as Knights fight to save their season
One of Newcastle’s most highly rated recruits will pay the price for the Knights’ poor form, as coach Nathan Brown swings the axe in hope of ressurecting his team’s finals hopes.
Nathan Brown will sensationally axe star centre Jesse Ramien along with hooker Danny Levi and interchange forward Herman Ese’ese when he names his Newcastle team to take on Manly this Saturday.
With the Knights fighting to save their season after last round’s shock loss to Wests Tigers saw them drop out of the top eight, Brown will also make a stack of positional changes for the crucial clash against the Sea Eagles at Lottoland.
Connor Watson will be promoted from the interchange bench to take Levi’s place at hooker while Lachlan Fitzgibbon returns from injury with Sione Mata’utia expected to be relegated to the bench.
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Mason Lino will also come into the starting team at five-eighth with Kurt Mann moving to the wing, allowing Hymel Hunt to take Ramien’s centre spot.
Jacob Saifiti and veteran Aidan Guerra will also be included on the bench.
Ramien’s dumping is probably the biggest surprise given the former Cronulla centre arrived at the Knights this season rated as a future superstar of the game and a player that was expected to push for NSW Origin selection.
But the 22-year-old has hardly set the competition alight with just two tries in his 17 games and he’s just letting in too many tries to justify his place.
After starting the season as a realistic top four hope, Newcastle looked to be comfortably heading towards the club’s first finals appearance since 2013 after stringing together six straight wins between round 7 and 12 but since they have fallen apart.
The loss to the Tigers was the Knights’ fourth straight defeat and fifth loss in the past six games.
Newcastle now face a huge challenge in the final six rounds with their run home not exactly an easy draw.
After Manly this week, the Knights take on Parramatta at Bankwest followed by North Queensland at home, Wests Tigers at Campbelltown, Gold Coast at home and Penrith away in the last round.
Stuck on 18 competition points, the Knights would need at least four but possibly five wins from those remaining six games.
Brown was furious with some of the defensive lapses in the loss to the Tigers, declaring the Knights were “mirroring the path of Canberra” last year with their inability to close out tight games.
He had put several players on notice following the second half collapse the previous week against the Sydney Roosters, and while he said he wanted to stick loyal he was left with no option really given the lack of effort and desperation against the Tigers in some crucial periods.
“At the moment we have just got different people who are picking and choosing when it is important to tackle well,” Brown said post match.
“Our defensive coaches certainly haven’t changed anything. Maybe a couple of people thought it was acceptable not to put the right effort in, I am not sure.
“We haven’t had a lot of changes in the last four or five (rounds) that have been forced but there will certainly be some changes next week that are going to be unforced changes, that is 100 per cent guaranteed. We stuck loyal with all the boys this week.”
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