Are the Newcastle Knights contenders?

Following their close 10-4 loss to the red-hot Parramatta Eels on Sunday, some are questioning the Knights’ credibility as a threatening force.

Since their loss to the North Queensland Cowboys, Newcastle have conceded four tries and only scored three, with two tries from dummy half. It seems they have lost their ability to execute and deliver. I still think their loss to North Queensland was a wake-up call.

I love my Knights and I praise them more than enough on Facebook and The Roar. Now to be realistic, I see us more as the dark horse side and in saying that, we’re not proving to be a force threatening a premiership yet.

I’m not saying we won’t win it this year but in saying that, it’s currently unrealistic. Our players have got a lot of work left to do and become the attacking force we know we can become.

I saw some signs of that against Warriors, Wests, Canberra and Brisbane – and even in the second half against North Queensland.

I don’t like saying this but we’re nowhere near as good as we think we are.

While I’m proud of how well our defence has improved, we really need to be able to execute and deliver.

I know that Connor Watson is set to return in Round 10 and his work off the bench has been immaculate, Mitchell Barnett is also looking like he could return to action and he’s been brilliant since his switch to the second row.

Our next test is against South Sydney and just like Parramatta, it’s a match we have to show exactly what we got. While I’m proud of how much our defence has improved, as I said we need to go back to being the attacking team we can be.

I am proud of how well we played against Parramatta, particularly holding them to ten points, we had our chances to win but we blew them.

We’re totally a top-eight team, which we are proving and a for the top four, there’s still some work left to be done. Kurt Mann in my opinion has been our best player in the team and I personally think his partnership with Mitchell Pearce has been decent.

Are the Newcastle Knights contenders in 2020? No we are not.

We’re a very good team but we have got a lot of work left to be done before we can say we are. I really hope I am wrong.

I do remember saying in an article back in 2018 that our year will be 2021, I stand by that.