If Newcastle are to not only make the NRL finals but do something with the opportunity, Adam O’Brien knows they need to clean up their defence.
Two wins in four days have lifted the Knights to within the NRL’s top-eight for the first time since round three as they fight to contest the play-offs for the second year in a row.
If they manage to do that, it will be for the first time since 2002-2003.
Wins over Canberra and Brisbane have set the Knights up for a big season finish but O’Brien is more concerned about the way they finish games.
Thursday night’s 28-20 win over the Broncos was closer than he would have liked after Newcastle led 28-8 with 15 minutes to go.
It was a similar story against the Raiders on Sunday night after they hit the front 34-12 with 12 minutes to play before they let in two late tries.
O’Brien said they’re not playing finals-worthy football yet but their best is ahead of them now.
“The way we finished the game against Canberra four days ago, we weren’t overly happy with our defence and I thought tonight we started to track that way as well,” he explained.
“There’s some stuff we’ll need to address on Sunday in the review.
“With our defensives resolve last week we were trying to make the 34 into 40 instead of defending the 12.
“We’ve got to keep our mindset in being resilient with our defence when the game is somewhat comfortable.
“We don’t want to shift focus off being that gritty defensive team.
“We’ve leaked too many points this year, so we need to go back and pick that up if we’re going to compete at the back end of the year.”
Thursday’s win put the Knights eighth on the ladder, two points ahead of Gold Coast, Cronulla and St George Illawarra, who suffered a 20-12 loss to the Canberra Raiders.
The return of halfback Mitchell Pearce added spark to the side in just his seventh game of the year, and his second with fullback Kalyn Ponga.
Both have battled injury throughout the season but are fit at the right time.
There was good news, however, with teenage star Bradman Best cleared of a shoulder injury after leaving the stadium in an ambulance after full-time.
The 19-year-old has only played 12 games this season after suffering a syndesmosis injury and has been explosive since his return last week.
“It was just precautionary, I’m all good,” Best said.
“I knew it was nothing serious, the docs just had to do what they had to do.”
Hooker Jayden Brailey is also set to return to the side to play Cronulla next weekend after he was rested from Thursday night’s clash.
It will reunite the Knights’ first-choice spine for just the second time in 2021.
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