The Knights’ season may be over, but coach Adam O’Brien was nothing but proud of his side’s efforts against the Cowboys, declaring: “We’ve turned the corner a fair bit in terms of our DNA.”
The Knights were the better team in the first half, going into the break with a 12-4 lead, but the Cowboys swung the momentum in the second half and booked their spot in the semi-finals with a 28-16 win.
O’Brien’s press conference was opened with a question about the second half and where it went wrong for his side.
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While he pinpointed a couple of areas that let the team down, he made sure to praise his troops.
“I thought the first 10-15 minutes (of the second half) we didn’t handle as well as we would’ve liked. They had a pretty fast start on us, we turned the footy over and then a seven tackle set so we put a fair bit of fatigue and pressure on ourselves,” he said.
“But I think to sum up… rather than sit here and go straight to what was wrong, other than the scoreboard it was a pretty bloody good performance so it’s a pretty sh***y way to start it.”
O’Brien conceded “it’s never nice losing a finals game” but there were a lot of positives that he can take out of the 2024 season — one of them being the resilience of the team.
“We were gritty and tough all year, there was plenty of things said about us, no one really gave us much of a chance and we managed to stick together, united and fought,” he said.
“I thought we did that tonight, I think the scoreboard is a reflection of the effort and fight that’s in this team.
“They’re good traits to have in a footy team, as men, as fathers, as husbands — all the things that these guys have got going on — they’re good values to have.
“If you’ve got resilience, grit and ability to fight through tough periods, whether it’s games or tough periods of your season — they’ve done that.
“So, I just feel like we’ve turned the corner a fair bit in terms of our DNA. Yeah, we want to be sitting here talking about a win but it’s not through lack of having a go.”
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The Knights didn’t have an easy ride to the finals. They sat 12th after Round 22 and looked highly unlikely to claw their way into the top eight.
But after winning four of their final five games of the regular season — and with some other results going their way — Newcastle snuck into the finals.
It was a somewhat similar story last season where they had a hot-and-cold start to the season before going on a 10-game winning streak to make a semi-final.
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O’Brien conceded “you don’t want to put yourself in a position where you have to win every game at the back end” of the season but believes injuries to Kalyn Ponga and Bradman Best throughout the year played a big part in how it played out.
“Some of it with us has been to do with we didn’t have him (Ponga) for 11 weeks and you saw what he did out there tonight. So there’s a few things that play a part in what happens in your season,” he said.
“Having him — and I know everyone says we rely on him a lot — but we had other guys like Bradman Best (out). We were missing a chunk of some high quality player at the start of the year so we had to manage our way through that.
“I think we had a pretty tough draw at the start too in terms of travel, it was a long time ago… but anyway we didn’t cave in, we kept fighting so we’re here tonight.”
Ponga missed just under three months with a Lisfranc injury but made up for lost time with a blistering last month of the season.
He was at his devastating best on Saturday night, finishing with two try assists, two linebreaks, two offloads, nine tackle busts and 171 running metres. His dazzling footwork also caused major headaches for the Cowboys’ defence.
There was, however, one moment that Ponga got it wrong. When scores were locked up 16-all the star fullback found space and could’ve set Dane Gagai up for a try had he executed his pass better.
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He asked in the press conference about the play whether “the ball was just a little too low” and answered: “That’s exactly what happened, yeah. Would’ve liked that moment back for sure.”
But overall it was a brilliant performance from Newcastle’s marquee man and O’Brien took the opportunity to praise him.
“He gets a lot of raps but he probably doesn’t get enough raps for how tough he is and how committed he is,” he said.
“There’s always an agenda written about the Knights or about him but the way he spoke to his teammates and how proud he was of our performance tonight and our season speaks volumes. He’s our captain for a reason and he leads by example out there.
“I know he’s athletic and fast and young children watch our game because of him but he’s so much more than that too as a human being and a player.”
It’s now back to the drawing board for the Knights, whose premiership drought now stretches to 23 years.
“We’re proud we’re in finals but we’re not content with that either,” O’Brien said.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’re in here talking pretty positive and I don’t think tonight’s the night to dive into searching for answers to why we got beat but we’re not content with just one week of finals.
“Each day is about trying to bring success to Newcastle, we’d love to win a premiership. It takes time and it takes a lot of effort. We’re on the path we’ve just got to stay on it.”
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