Knights deliver 'horror show' in hammering by Sharks (2025)

Adam O'Brien is speaking too.

He says that there is a tonne of effort being put in by the players and that the Knights were not too far away.

He adds that it was "too harsh" to say it was a repeat of last week's performance.

"A tonne of effort went into it," O'Brien says.

"Clearly we had a tonne of errors again today.

"I thought we had 15 out of 10 efforts to turn it the other way."

He says that he does not want to blame injuries, but the fact that all Newcastle's problems are in the forwards does hurt them.

"Our issue is that we've got five [injuries] all in the same position, the forwards," he says.

"We lost the middle third of the field … and it took its toll.

"They had to work hard for their tries and they had a couple of things go their way

"I don't think we've let anyone down with the amount of effort we've put in."

"The scoreboard won't suggest it, but I thought certain individuals … long term we'll be a better footy club for giving these young guys minutes. And our educated fans will stick with us and see that.

"There is a tonne of effort going in and we'll fight our way out of it."

Kalyn Ponga is speaking in the press conference.

"I thought we were in that game," Ponga says.

"Obviously to fight with 12 men and given them cheap ball is a tough ask.

"I thought we did well to come in at half time 14-6 ... [but] that period after half time definitely hurt.

"We are a tough football team, we just need to clean up a couple of areas."

What about the Knights though?

Well, Bradman Best, who was far from Newcastle's worst, has laid it out pretty succinctly on ABC Sport.

"Frustration, disappointment," he says.

"I thought we were better than last week … us players are probably lacking a bit of confidence at the moment, but we’ve gotta stick together and keep at it."

Toby Rudolf went off with an ankle injury late in the second half.

He says that he is a bit sore, but he's not perhaps the best person to judge how long he'll be out for.

"A little bit sore, I won’t lie … hopefully it’s nothing too major," he says.

"Feels like it might be a week or two, but hopefully the scans aren’t too bad," he adds.

Bear in mind that Fox Sports reported that he would be back for ANZAC Day next week.

"I’m just a big fat coward, and I’ll be right!”

Here's Sharks fullback Will Kennedy speaking to ABC Sport.

"A little bit scrappy, I thought we could have nailed it on the head," he says.

"We’re slowly getting there, slowly building, that’s what we’re focused on.”

It was not a great match to end the weekend, was it...

BUT THAT'S NOT THE END OF THE WEEKEND'S ACTION!

We'll be back tomorrow for more action from the NRL as the embattled Wests Tigers host the Parramatta Eels in a western derby.

I hope you'll join us for that, but until then, goodnight.

The Sharks ran in six tries to beat the Knights 34-14 in what was another woeful attacking display from Newcastle at home.

Two tries to Samuel Stonestreet, as well as scores for Oregon Kaufusi, Addin Fonua-Blake, William Kennedy and Mawene Hiroti saw the Sharks win their fourth game of the season.

Greg Marzhew scored a try and set another up while running for197 metres in a rare highlight for the Knights, who also had James Schiller cross late on.

Those two tries in the last 10 minutes helped pad the scoreline for the Knights, but in truth they were always second best.

The Sharks scored three tries in each half, adding two scores while James Schiller was in the sin bin shortly after the break.

The Knights, meanwhile. were completely predictable in attack and the Sharks read them easily.

A great run from Bradman Best almost results in the Knights going up the middle before scoring in the corner.

But Schiller drops the ball in the corner.

Wanna know what Adam O'Brien thought about that? He stood up and stormed out of the coaches box.

Yikes.

This is little more than consolation, but as Newcastle finally show that they are capable of doing more than just the bog-standard backline moves by going back against the grain to score in the corner through James Schiller.

The kick is missed, so it's 34-14.

A bit of padding to the scoreline isn't a bad thing for the Knights, given they've only twice scored more than this all year.

They won't have liked conceding there - and a bloodied Mawene Hiroti with a gash splitting his forehead, runs through a gap as wide as Sydney Harbour to cross.

Incredibly, Mawene Hirotihas scored in five consecutive games now - but over three different seasons, such is his injury record.

It was Trindall who created the gap.

The kick is good, the score is 34-10.

Even the knights in Game of Thrones had more to be happy about than these men from Newcastle at the moment.

Well, that was allGregMarzhew.

He got the ball on the left edge and then proceeded to bounce through or around seven (7) tacklers before offloading to Fletcher Sharpe to score.

A rare moment of quality for the home fans.

The kick is good and the Knights hit the double-digit mark.

That is cause for celebration, of sorts.

It's 28-10.

Fox Sports are reporting that it's only minor and he will be available next week.

But he won't play again in this match.

Not great that from the Knights.

I mean, even more than the very low baseline they've set themselves this half.

GregMarzhewwas, at least, trying to move the ball and try and spark something from inside his own defensive zone.

But he loses the ball in the tackle and the Sharks have great field position.

This time Stonestreet is the beneficiary and has no space to run, but that was another really poor, no-look pass from Ponga.

Has to be said, the Sharks rush defence has been very impressive and accurate in their execution of this tactic, but the Knights have just been desperate in getting the ball wide.

It was for a possible hip drop on Nicho Hynes - and it sparked a little coming together of the players there as the Sharks half lay on the ground.

He's OK though and there were no real pushing or shoving.

Not even the Sunday Roast is getting carved up as much as this Newcastle team at the moment.

Toby Rudolf on the crash ball bounces his way over the line now.

But no! Rudolf drops the ball over the line and it's only that error that saves the Knights blushes.

I mean, they're already blushing plenty - or should be - but you know what I mean.

Blayke Brailey skips his way past a horror attempt at a tackle from Kalyn Ponga, kicks through for William Kennedy who races through and dabs down.

"It is a horror show for Newcastle," says Alexander.

Yep.

The kick is good.

Kalyn Ponga throws an intercept to Jesse Ramienwho offloads to Stonestreet, who scores untouched.

Wowza, that was abysmal from the Knights.

"I just can't believe how poorly they're playing," Greg Alexander says on Fox Sports.

He's right.

The kick is good and it's 22-4.