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The Newcastle Knights were on the wrong end of a big scoreline at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night, and at the post-match press conference the disappointment was plain to see in skipper Kurt Gidley and coach Rick Stone.

"I am shell shocked... pretty embarressed to be honest. It is a fair time to apologise to our fans," Stone said.

While the red and blues were always going to find it hard against the reigning premiers without Jarrod Mullen and Akuila Uate, as well as losing James McManus and Danny Levi during the match to injury, Stone refused to make any excuses for the performance.

"They can put any team under pressure and they've got the strike power to score some points, and we saw that today," Stone added.

"We were a bit banged up, but we can't use that as an excuse."

Gidley meanwhile was disappointed for the fans that made the trip to ANZ Stadium.

"There was a group of fans in the corner and to be honest it was hard to look over at them after the game," he said.

"Because if I'm a supporter I'm thinking, what have they dished up today.

"It's hard to look them in the eye and thank them for their support when we turned up like that for the first half."

Despite the negatives, Stone did have big praise for young fullback Jake Mamo.

"I want to give Jake Mamo a wrap," he said.

"He's played a couple of games at fullback and I thought he was really brave tonight.

"He tried to help his team as much as he could, he was everywhere and he took a bit of a beating, but he kept coming back for more.

"We've got some hopes for this kid to be a fullback in the future, and he took significant steps forwards tonight."

In injury news, James McManus was taken to hospital for observation following a concussion while Danny Levi was also unable to return after coming off injured midway through the second half.

Next up, the Knights take on the Dragons on Sunday at WIN Jubilee.