“The injuries are minimal”.
That was the only positive Adam O’Brien took away from his side’s loss to the Cowboys, when quizzed on the matter in his post-match press conference.
The Knights delivered a dire display on Sunday afternoon, conceding six tries to a side also out of finals contention in Townsville.
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Newcastle missed 48 tackles, completed at only 68 per cent and were unable to score more than four points despite an even share of possession.
O’Brien made a change to his backline, handing a debut to 19-year-old Connor Votano who wore the No.1 jersey, which shifted Dane Gagai into the centres.
Votano had the tough task of fielding a barrage of bombs from Scott Drinkwater, Jake Clifford and Tom Dearden in an NRL baptism of fire.
The Knights coach was asked about the rising star’s first NRL appearance, where he made four errors, and explained that tonight’s display was influenced by other factors.
“It’s a hard game, we were clearly on the back foot all night, so it was a hard game to be too exact on with his performance,” he said.
“There’ll be some bits there that he will be really happy with an excited, but now is probably not the time. We need to have a look at the whole team performance.”
Gagai was quizzed on whether the conditions in Townsville played a part in his side’s ugly completion rate, delivering a clear response.
“I thought the conditions were outstanding. It wasn’t too windy, (it was) dry,” Gagai said.
“No excuses for our completion rate in the first half… I don’t think we lack the ability to create opportunities. Just a bit of detail and a few fundamental things on the back of it.
“I think we bombed what four tries and sometimes when you find yourself in these positions, you kind of get a bit caught up.”
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So for now, O’Brien explained it’s all about the Knights finishing the season on a high.
“It’s what we spoke about in there, we lack some confidence. We lack, no so much belief, I think you find when you’re having a season like we are having,” he said.
“You get to a point in the middle of the week where you train yourself into some confidence then when things go amiss and you bomb a couple of tries, it’s just our confidence and belief is eroding.
“It wasn’t that long ago, similar personnel were out and we played against some top four teams and pushed them to golden point.
“Went right down to the wire against the Roosters, that’s not that far away.
“But in our last two performances, we want to win so badly that we want to skip to that and everything is looking so difficult.”
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