Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien insists his side can still make the NRL finals as they head into battle against Penrith in a daunting challenge against the reigning premiers.
The Knights are only three points outside the top eight and are near enough if good enough, but must improve their poor record of losing close games if they’re to bridge that gap.
They have lost four games by four points or less and have also played a draw, the most recent of those results last weekend’s 18-16 defeat to the Sydney Roosters where they controlled large portions of the game.
O’Brien said his team wouldn’t shy away from facing the Panthers, believing an upset win could springboard them into the finals mix.
“We have looked at the season … we can get ourselves on a roll, still we're well within reach of playing finals,” he said.
“No one is talking like we can't, ultimately those (close games), we need to turn a few of those into wins.
“And how we do that is just making sure that we have an 80-minute performance, last week's first half wasn't acceptable. Our second half was great.
“The numbers that we threw up in the second half are outstanding, had you had that across the whole game, some of those (close) games would be in the bag as wins.”
O’Brien confirmed second-rower Tyson Frizell will back-up after NSW State of Origin duty, joining power winger Greg Marzhew and prop Daniel Saifiti in a huge trio of inclusions from the side that faced the Roosters.
Marzhew returns from a club-imposed suspension for missing a team bus, the coach admitting he’d felt a degree of regret regarding the winger’s absence as his side butchered chances on the opposition line.
But O’Brien stood by the decision, noting Enari Tuala and Bradman Best had received the same sanction for the same misdemeanour last year.
“Certainly Greg last week would've been handy in hindsight, I'd like to think he might have grabbed a couple, we left enough tries out there,” O’Brien said.
“In the short term I do (feel regret), but it's the right thing long-term for the club and we needed to make it.
“We stayed consistent to a standard that we'd set last year and if we're gonna get the club to where it needs to be then it starts with making consistent decisions around that stuff.
"He was great, he understood it, he actually said he respected the group because there was no hypocrisy or whatever given that Enari and Bradman served that sentence.
“He was great and he trained well against us last week, but there's certainly a spring in his step this week.”
