The Knights may be languishing in second-last position on the ladder after 13 rounds but coach Wayne Bennett has urged his side to keep fighting, because eventually their run of bad luck will change.
Speaking after Sunday's heartbreaking 23-20 loss to the Wests Tigers at Hunter Stadium, Bennett encouraged his side to stay positive despite their disappointing season to date.
Bennett knows the pressure is mounting, but from experience he also knows his side can't afford to get their heads down.
"Well it’s not that our effort is not there," Bennett told the post-match press conference.
"Everyone can see they are all out there putting in a fair bit of effort into it.
"So we’ve just got to keep turning up and doing the best we can and see what happens."
Bennett, meanwhile, admitted Kurt Gidley getting sent to sin-bin for a professional foul on Tigers' skipper Robbie Farah in the 65th minute changed the game.
"Yeah, I think they picked up nine points after that," he laments.
"It was still pretty close at that stage, but we were doing a lot of good things and building some good pressure.
"We certainly had the field position for long periods of time."
For his part, Gidley is adamant he didn't deliberately run into Farah and was merely just trying to get back onside to prevent the Tigers from scoring.
"I was just trying to get back as quickly as possible from my point of view," Gidley maintains.
"I knew the 40-20 was happening and they were obviously chasing back.
"I was trying to gather our troops to try and get back there as quick as possible, but he (the referee) didn’t see that way."
Newcastle face the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium in Sydney next Saturday night from 7.30pm.
