Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien can see light at the end of the tunnel, despite being stuck in a form slump that Kalyn Ponga says is the worst he’s experienced.
After winning their first two games of the season, the Knights have lost six on the trot and on Sunday dropped to the bottom of the pile during a 50-2 thumping at the hands of Melbourne.
It’s the second week in a row the Hunter club has failed to score a try, having been throttled 39-2 by Parramatta in round seven.
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Fox League commentator Andrew Voss labelled the Newcastle defence “embarrassing” as he watched the Storm score try after try in what was a dismal day for any red and blue supporter.
“It’s grim, it’s very, very grim,” Voss said.
Michael Ennis barely had words to describe how bad the Knights have become.
“The way they’ve been beaten at home – they were beaten by Manly in the wet, they were towelled up by Parramatta last week,” Ennis said.
“And today… some of their defence has been embarrassing.”
After the game, O’Brien claimed this loss was more positive than the one to the Eels last week.
Knights botch another kick-in as Papenhuyzen kick is allowed to bounce through.
The Knights have a horror injury toll at the moment – something fans have become accustomed to in recent years – and the coach says things can only get better from here.
“There’s no doubt we are lacking confidence,” O’Brien said.
“We are trying hard. I thought we tried hard. The first 17 minutes I think the Storm had made 12 tackles to our 74 or something… against the Storm you can’t do that.
“The only answer is to stick together and fight our way. We’ll do it, I’ve seen it before. Unfortunately we have done it annually for a long period of time now.
Jake Clifford puts the kick-off out on the full
“No one is going to feel sorry for us, and we don’t want that. We don’t want people’s sympathy. We will get together and we’ll fight it.”
Ponga, sitting next to the coach, was asked if this was the worst fortnight he has endured in his time at the Knights.
“Probably, yeah,” he said.
Newcastle takes on North Queensland in round nine.
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