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Competition - NRL Premiership Round. Round - Round 24. Teams - Newcastle Knights v Gold Coast Titans. Date - 20th of August 2016. Venue - Hunter Stadium, Broadmeadow, NSW. Photographer - Paul Barkley.

Newcastle Knights coach Nathan Brown and centre Dane Gagai spoke to the media following Saturday's defeat at Hunter Stadium.

A slow start from the Knights meant an uphill battle on the scoreboard against the Titans who scored first points. 

"Today after 20 minutes we competed really hard," Brown said. 

"The start to the game was really poor which allowed them to score a couple of very soft tries.

"When we introduced the two Saifiti boys (Daniel and Jacob) they really swung the momentum to make to game a good contest.

"They were outstanding."

Brown also was pleased with the effort of the Knights' outside backs. 

"I thought both our centres and wingers had great contributions considering we spent a lot of the game down our own half," he said. 

"We made 100 more tackles because their halves really did control the game with their kicking game, there were a lot of repeat sets.

"We did compete well for the second two thirds of the game. 

"We have struggled this year with getting 13 plus people on the bus at the same time."

Dane Gagai agreed with Brown's assessment of the game and the team's lacking start. 

"It was a poor start for us, we let in a few easy tries," Gagai said.

When the Saifiti twins came on, they did a good job for us in the middle there and we were able to get into the game a bit and get a few kicks away.

"It was a better effort in the back end of the game, but that's not when games are won.

"We have to get better there."

The Knights return to Hunter Stadium next weekend, hosting the South Sydney Rabbitohs for Old Boys Day.