Craig Bellamy was proud of his side for coming back from 14-0 down, but ultimately was left frustrated after their 14-12 loss to the Knights.
Bellamy struggled to sum up his side’s first half performance after they gave up a big lead to Newcastle.
“I’m not quite sure actually,” Bellamy said when asked about his side’s performance.
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‘Relieved at the end of the day!’ | 06:25
“Pretty disappointing with a couple of aspects of our play, but really happy with a couple of others.
“To come back from 14-0 here. It’s a tough place to play. The Knights were pretty dominant in the first half, so to come back in the second half and get as close as we did.
“I thought that was a really good effort, but I think we basically got what we deserved after our first half.
“We didn’t complete well. Didn’t really think about our footy too much, I don’t think, and ended up costing us in the end.”
Bellamy conceded Jahrome Hughes was a big loss with Cameron Munster already out, but still felt he had the players to get the win.
“Well, again, we missed him,” Bellamy said.
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“Whether it was his direction, his running game, his kicking game, whatever. I think we missed his all-round game, but at the end of the day, all teams lose key players at times, and you’ve got to make up for it.
“I thought, Wishart done a pretty good job tonight, and Jonah took on a bit more responsibility. We’re not blaming those guys because Jahrome was out, but at stages, you get key players out, so you’ve got to make up for them.
“As you can see from our second half, if we’d have played like that for 80 minutes, perhaps it might have been different.”
Bellamy provided an update on Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s potential return to the side.
“We’ve got a bye next week, so I’m not quite sure where everybody is at the moment,” Bellamy said.
“Nelson played with the Bears today, so he’s been out for a while, he hasn’t done a lot of training, so he might need a little bit more time, but hopefully we get Joey Chan back for the next game too.
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Ponga stars in dominant Knights half | 00:41
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to go with what you’ve got, and if you sit around thinking about what you haven’t got, well, that don’t help no one.
“Were a bit disappointed in how we played that first half today, and got it right in the second half, but we couldn’t quite get there at the end.”
Bellamy forecast playing Asofa-Solomona in the middle rather than on the edge when he returns.
“If I had to answer that now, I’d say in the middle,” Bellamy said.
“At the end of the day, I thought Shawn (Blore) done a really good job today. That was his debut for us. And I thought he done a real good job. I didn’t really think he’d play as long as he did, but he did. And I thought he done a really good job.
“So I think we’ve got a pretty good player there. So we just need to give him some time there. And obviously, Eliesa has made the right side his own. So yeah, like I say, I was real happy with Shawn tonight and I think the players were as well.”
Bellamy also gave an update on Reimis Smith’s rib injury.
“Yeah, I think he had something wrong with his rib, I’m not exactly sure,” Bellamy said.
“It’s obviously not a cartilage, because apparently they said they couldn’t inject it, which usually happens to someone who gets a cartilage.”
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Bellamy also had no update on Munster’s return.
“I’m not sure. No idea,” Bellamy said.
Bellamy would not be drawn on Leo Thompson being placed on report for taking out Ryan Papenhuyzen in the air.
“I think he had eyes for the ball,” Bellamy said.
“But at the end of the day, I’m not going to get into a make a decision and I don’t have to make.
“It is hard enough making decisions you have to make. So I’ll leave that to them.”
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