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Opinion

Does another home loss mean the end of the season for Newcastle?

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Roar Guru
19th May, 2022
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Newcastle Knights, in front of their home faithful, ran out with an aim to win back-to-back games against a red-hot Brisbane Broncos.

After a firing start to lead 6-0 after nine minutes, Newcastle looked set to possibly run away with the match. However, a few bombed tries to Brisbane’s own saw a halftime score line of 6-6. Dane Gagai was denied a try but what I don’t understand is if Jamayne Isaako scored a try last week in the exact same way, then so did Gagai.

Brisbane scored the first try of the second half and kicked a penalty goal to lead 14-6 after 56 minutes. Kalyn Ponga’s brilliant try brought Newcastle back into the game with 18 to go 14-12. However, Newcastle in the final 15 gave away 22 unanswered points for Brisbane to win 36-12.

Two tries Brisbane got were just embarrassing. Phoenix Crossland could have easily picked the ball up or pushed it out but Corey Oates stole it to score and Anthony Milford throwing an intercept to finish the game.

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One try that boggles my mind is Selwyn Cobbo after the clear obstruction. After that try, Newcastle gave up and let Brisbane run riot. I’m not blaming the ref, or the Bunker. We blew the chances we had, we lost the game and we quit. That’s not a team with a winning attitude.

Here’s an example of a winning attitude. You’re a professional boxer in a 12-round championship fight and the challenger. The champion after eight rounds has knocked you down four times and you got back up. You have only knocked him down once. You then go into Round 9, clearly you’re letting the championship slip away.

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Halfway through Round 9, you take charge and bring momentum, you nail the champion and you floor him a second time. The champion is unable to recover and you have won the title. You did so because you never gave up. That is a winning attitude. The three TKO rule is only for regional not professional.

Kalyn Ponga for most of the game showed leadership. However, as a leader the true goal is to teach others to be a leader, not a follower.

As harsh as this is to say, I think Newcastle will not be able to recover from this and make the finals. I want to be wrong and it breaks me heart to say that but now we need to focus on not just getting better, but building a winning attitude in our team.

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