Knights coach Adam O’Brien has put his playing group on notice, saying he’ll look to reserve grade for potential change following his side’s shocking collapse against the Titans.
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O’Brien was captured by Fox League cameras in the Knights’ sheds post-match giving his side a deserved spray after they coughed up a 20-0 lead against the struggling Titans, who roared back to win 24-20, relieving some pressure on coach Des Hasler.
Some of that pressure has now been transferred to O’Brien, with Newcastle losers of six of their past seven games.
The Knights made a whopping eight errors and only had 34% possession in a woeful second half. Remarkably, the Newcastle backline committed all of them.
It was a stark difference to the first half and last weekend’s win over Souths, with the Knights scoring 50 points across those three halves of footy.
O’Brien said his backs deserved some blame, but preferred to put the spotlight on himself.
“We completed 55% in the second half. It’s ridiculous,” he said.
“I’ll put my hand up. I’ve got to get it out of us.
“No doubt, regarding some of the fundamentals, certain individuals need to hold themselves to account because it’s not about being outlandish with the ball.
“The errors are coming from out wide. The outside backs are making all the errors and it’s costing out middle a bit.
There’s enough evidence there to suggest that if we just get it out of our game, there’s some pretty good footy there.
“At the end of the day, the buck stops with me.
“If we thought the game last week had fixed those problems that had been there all year are not out of us yet so I have to find the answer.”
Adam O’Brien loses it over blown lead | 01:19
O’Brien was asked in the press conference if changes are afoot given Newcastle’s ordinary 3-6 record, with the coach answering honestly.
“I don’t know how many options we do have in some of the areas,” he said.
“First thing I’ll do is go home and watch it and look at the part that I played in it and how I can help the ones that are there before I go executing them now.
“If there’s better options there we have the guys playing in NSW Cup tomorrow. If there’s a better option there, I’m at the point now I may need to (make a change).”
The struggling Knights could receive a huge boost in the coming weeks, with star winger Dom Young reportedly heading back to Newcastle.
18 months into a four-year deal with the Roosters, Young has been given the tap on the shoulder by the Chooks.
He’s been heavily linked to a return to the Knights, but O’Brien couldn’t shed any light on when that would be sorted.
“I don’t know where that is at. From all reports he wants to come. No one has mentioned anything to me about it today, naturally it’s game day,” he said.
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