Newcastle’s 30-point loss to the Sydney Roosters highlighted how far away they are from the NRL title contenders.
Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien said he was shocked by some of the defensive lapses as he struggled to explain the 42-12 loss.
The coach was livid on Saturday night, when, just three weeks out from the finals, he was shown the gulf between the premiership contenders and the Knights.
And while they are guaranteed their place in the finals, any success beyond that will take significant improvement.
“We’re going to give it our best shot of fixing it,” O’Brien said.
“The difference between our best performance and our worst is way too far apart.
“I get you’re not always going to be at your best but at the moment we’re getting too many guys that are nowhere near their best all on the same night.”
Over the past three games the Knights have had a troubling swing of form; stunned 36-6 by the Warriors before thumping Cronulla 38-10.
And after the Roosters deconstructed their defence on Saturday, O’Brien was last to question whether the harsh lessons they’re learning are sinking in.
“Some of the defence…I was shocked to see that,” he said.
“The inconsistent performances, our best is really pleasing but our worst is really disappointing.
“But we’ve had those conversations a few times now. There’s been a couple of other performances this year when you think they’ve been put to bed but clearly they come back to bite us when you don’t need it to.
“We need to pick ourselves up off the floor pretty quickly, we’ve got two games, we’re still in the finals but after a performance like that we need to address some stuff quickly.”
The Knights will face St George Illawarra and Gold Coast to round out the season before playing finals for the first time since 2013.
Kalyn Ponga, Hymel Hunt and Mitch Barnett are all set to return to the side after missing Saturday’s loss.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Yep ! What was the coach expecting ? Even with their current best side on the Park the Knights will struggle to bother the top 4 or 5 teams. Depleted , they had no chance.
Bryce
Guest
The Knights have been cruelled by injuries and lack of depth. We lost two first choice hookers and the best utility to fill the position for the season by Round 5. Kurt Mann was playing great as a running 5/8th but was needed at dummy half so we signed Blake Green. He was out for the season two games later. Brilliant attacking centre Bradman Best also copped a season ending injury halfway through the season. Daniel Saifiti, Fitzgibbon, Barnett, Lee, Matautia have all spent time out injured. Pearce and Klemmer are the only first choice players to play every game this season with fringe first graders and rookies filling in. I actually think the Knights have done well considering. I think if we have luck with injuries next year we’ll be challenging for the top 4.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
You sit down your sole marquee attacking weapon, and, the most lethal defensive hitter in the pack, then ask Mason Lino and rookie To’a to mark up on Keary, Teddy and Tupou, you’re begging for a belting. They’re in the finals, well and good, but it’s misleading, this coach hasn’t done much with them at all.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
I thought the loss showed how influential KP is.
Paul
Roar Guru
The Knights started off the season showing a never-say-die attitude, exemplified by that draw they had with the Panthers. They now seem to have regressed to playing really inconsistently which is a huge concern with the finals around the corner. The big question is, how does O'Brien build the same resolve back into in these blokes that they showed earlier in the season?