nib Newcastle Knights coach Nathan Brown said confidence is rising after last Sunday’s win but the team can’t rest on their laurels.
“There has been a fair bit of good training by the guys, we haven’t always got it right but we’ve certainly been improving and after a win we’d be hopeful that our confidence is feeling a little better,” Brown explained.
“We came up with some good plays at the right time and nullified a few of Canberra’s moves.
“We got a win so we’re certainly happy but we still know we have a long way to go.”
After being defeated 40-0 by the Penrith Panthers in Round 4, Brown claims they’ll be hungry to get one back.
“The Penrith game was over after 25 minutes, probably the only occasion this year that has happened to us and we certainly were embarrassed that day,” said the Knights coach.
“We are playing at home and every game at home has been a pretty reasonable performance, where with a little bit better management or a bit better luck we could have won them all.
“Playing at home means a lot to all of the guys, there's a lot of local guys in the squad but the fact it is Penrith is probably added motivation, they certainly did embarrass us in our first meeting.”
The Knights coach admits it would be nice to get a win coming into the bye.
“I don’t think anyone likes to put in a bad performance coming into a bye, you don’t get another opportunity to play again for a fortnight,” Brown stated.
“Coming into a bye, we’d be expecting whatever team we put out there to put in a very committed performance.
“There is certainly a number of things you look at each week but we’d like to keep it as simple as we possibly can and have them execute it well.”
Last week, Brown backed Englishman Joe Wardle in the centres and has stuck with his choice for Sunday's match against the Panthers.
“Joe started his career in the centres and as his coach of Huddersfield in England, that’s where he played most of his footy,” said Brown.
“He is a bit similar to Sione (Mata’utia) who can play edge, back row or centre.
“Joe is happy anywhere... he just wants to be out there playing, his performance out there was good and we’d expect him to again do well this week.”
For the Round 11 squad update with coach Brown, CLICK HERE.
It's the last chance to see your Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium for six weeks, so join us at the game this Sunday with all three grades in action.
