Adam, the good news is the bad news: Knights fans aren't going anywhere

Adam O’Brien ruffled some feathers in his post-game press conference following his side’s loss to the North Queensland Cowboys last Thursday.

“I ask for our supporters to stick with us and for those that are impatient and don’t want to stick with us, that’s fine, I understand,” the Knights coach said.

O’Brien also reminded the assembled media that “five starters weren’t there tonight”.

“Is it an excuse? Yeah it is, but it’s reality too,” he said.

“I understand that some people don’t want to wait for that but…”

What follows doesn’t really matter. Here’s a little reminder for the coach on what does matter.

While the Knights were without five starters, Melbourne were without their entire first-choice spine of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant, while second-row stalwart Kenny Bromwich and back-up half Ryley Jacks were also missing. Yet the Storm put the Raiders to the sword to the tune of 34-10.

“We try not to think about who we haven’t got we just concentrate on who we have got,” Craig Bellamy said after the win.

“Our mentality has always been if somebody misses out somebody else gets a chance and I thought all of those guys did a good job tonight.”

At the SCG, the Roosters suffered the biggest upset of the season in going down to the wooden spoon-holding Broncos.

But we’re calling this the boilover of 2021 despite the fact the Chooks were without deep breath Boyd Cordner, Luke Keary, Lindsay Collins, Sam Verrills, Drew Hutchison, Billy Smith, Freddy Lussick, Josh Morris, as well as Jake Friend (who may be retired but was expected to see out the year and is still under part of their salary cap, so he totally counts) and Brett Morris, whose season is over and future remains undetermined.

Luke Keary. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Easts started as $1.07 favourites to overcome Brisbane but went down due in no small part to the fact they were without ten players – two of whom are their recognised co-captains, their choices one-through-three at the crucial position of hooker, two halves, two centres, and an Origin-calibre prop.

Is it an excuse? Yeah, it is, but the reality is Trent Robinson didn’t reach for it.

No, the Knights aren’t the Storm or the Roosters. Far from it. But given they’re the two clubs where O’Brien cut his teeth as a coach, ‘no excuses’ really needs to be the attitude he’s instilling in his side.

The rest of the ingredients for similar success all really should be in place.

After 30 years living a hand-to-mouth existence, Newcastle have finally got their front office in order, having turned a profit for the last three years in a row. Pretty sure only the Broncos are in a position to make that same claim.

The Knights have one of the largest catchment areas in the NRL as far as juniors go. It’s apparent that said catchment area isn’t being utilised to full effect but the Roosters and Storm do a whole lot more with a whole lot less.

And each home game, the red and blue run out in front of a packed house, stands chockablock with fans who O’Brien casually told he would understand if they “don’t want to stick with us”.

(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)

Now, at this point I should acknowledge O’Brien did make his comment casually. It wasn’t a call-out, it wasn’t a pointed criticism of his team’s supporters, it was five seconds in a five-minute presser that have been isolated and turned into a headline.

But here’s another point where the Knights diverge dramatically from the Storm and the Roosters.

The people of the Hunter have supported a losing side for the past decade, a club that made the finals just twice in the years 2010-19, with three wooden spoons on the trot between 2015-17.

Yet, during this time, the club was consistently in the top four – and often top two – for average home-game attendance. And yes, Newcastle is a one-team town, but so’s Melbourne, while Sydney’s eastern suburbs have a population roughly equivalent to that of the City of Newcastle LGA.

All of which makes me wonder whether the Knights’ dedicated fans are actually a – a, not the, mind you – cause for the club’s continued mediocrity.

It was recently suggested on Facebook that were it not for Andrew Johns, the Knights would have gone the way of the Western Suburbs Magpies or the North Sydney Bears long ago.

I retorted that it wasn’t Joey who stopped the Knights ending up on the rugby league scrapheap, it’s the fans.

The Bears and the Magpies averaged crowds of just over 8000 in their swan-song seasons. By comparison, in 2016 – a year when the Knights won just one game, and the second year in the hat-trick of wooden spoons – the average attendance of 14,457 was still seventh-best in the league.

(It would be remiss of this bitter Chooks hater not to take a potshot at that club’s fair-weather supporters, the Roosters coming in dead last for average attendance, at 10,235, as they finished 15th in 2016 – which came after three consecutive minor premierships, so it’s not like it was the nadir of a lengthy downward slope.)

The Knights’ 2019 average of 19,052 – second for the year, behind only Brisbane – is evidence that more people are in the stands when the team have some success, but win or lose, the people of the Hunter show up to support their club.

I don’t know that would be true of the Storm (how would I? They always bloody win) but it’s definitely not the case in Bondi.

And I suspect it makes those organisations better. They can’t afford to see a dramatic drop-off in support, so they are constantly looking for ways to be the best, and keep those turnstiles swinging and corporate dollars rolling in.

As for the Knights, perhaps there’s an element of taking this support for granted – it certainly seems that way when the coach tells fans he’s cool with them going elsewhere.

But then, as many diehard Norths and Wests fans can attest, there’s really nowhere else to go.

So you’re stuck with a legion of diehards, Adam, a situation I’m sure most other coaches would be happy to trade you for.

But it can still be a double-edged sword.

It would be a mistake to take your fans for granted. But it would also be an error to confuse unwavering support with acceptance that what you’re dishing up is good enough.