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“We still have a lot of fight in us,” Newcastle Knight Nathan Ross declared on Monday following the side’s loss to the top-of the table Cronulla Sharks on Sunday afternoon. 

The Knights displayed resilience in the 36-4 loss after the injury of one of the side’s playmakers pushed the team’s game plan askew. 

“We are still upbeat,” Ross explained.

“We came up against a very good Cronulla outfit and they are coming first for a reason.

“This is their 15th game they have won on the trot.”

When five-eighth Jarrod Mullen succumbed to a hamstring injury minutes before half time, it threw a spanner in the works for the young side with a number of players forced to play out of their usual position.

“We lost Mullo (Jarrod Mullen) and it’s pretty hard to ask some of the young players to play out of position with limited NRL experience coming up against international and State of Origin players,” he said.

"Jarrod is a massive member of this team…he goes out there and he gives his all.

“We did as much as we could do, and fell short in the end.” 

While not the desired outcome of the match, Ross is confident the Knights will benefit from the learning experience and will be ready for their Round 21 match against the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale on Sunday.

“We have a tough task against Manly, but have time to pick ourselves up and get a win,” he said. 

“We are going to worry about what we are going to do as individuals and collectively in order to get our next win and just have to play to the game plan the coaches have given us.” 

Meanwhile, the lively outside back is steadfast on his own improvement.

“I’m always looking to improve and want to play week in, week out first grade," Ross said. 

“I want to make myself an asset to the Club and my teammates.

“I still have a lot I need to work on.

“I want to be a player that when they go out on the field they are like, 'yeah we know Rossy is going to do job for us and we trust him'.

“That’s my main goal, to get the trust of the team and the coaching staff.”

Ross scored the Knights only points in the 65th minute, his seventh try this season.

He relishes every second with the ball and craves to be in the middle of the action every game. 

“I think it’s about going looking for the ball,” he said. 

"I didn’t get the ball kicked to my edge as much this weekend so didn’t get my play one or two carries up, so will have to go travelling over the right side to look for some more."

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