Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy says he can see the influence Adam O’Brien is having over Newcastle after their tense NRL clash on Saturday night.
Bellamy called the Knights coach on Monday night ahead of their showdown at Central Coast Stadium but agreed not to talk business until after the match.
And while the Melbourne master walked away with his eighth-straight win over the Knights, he said the influence O’Brien is having on the team is evident from their never-say-die attitude.
“I knew at halftime they weren’t going to go away, and they didn’t obviously,” Bellamy said after the 26-12 win.
“They really worried us in the second half, that’s probably a stamp (of his)…they don’t go away no matter what the score is or what the situation is.
“We probably saw that against Penrith a couple of weeks ago.
“They’d lost a couple of players and were down 14-0 but just kept trying and doing their job.
“Sometimes that will get you a game and sometimes it won’t, but it’s a good sign that a team who get into not a good situation that they don’t give up, as you can see from the Knights, they don’t give up.”
Although the Knights trailed 18-2 at halftime, they fought back to within a converted try until a late try and penalty sealed the win for the Storm.
O’Brien has focused on bringing resilience to the Knights after several lean years at the club where giving in was a part of the mentality.
And after their first loss for the season, skipper Mitchell Pearce says not all is lost.
Errors and a poor start cruelled the Knights against Melbourne, but he said the effort to rally in the second half is a positive to take forward into Thursday’s clash with Brisbane.
“If you can do that within games or after a half when you want to adjust your style it’s a good strength to have as a team,” he said.
“I’m proud of the boys that we rewired our thinking and got back to our best game and got us back in the fight, but it wasn’t good enough in the end.”
© AAP
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