Newcastle Knights captain, Kurt Gidley says his team is looking to emulate the defensive football that secured the win over the Parramatta Eels when the Knights face the Cronulla Sharks on Sunday afternoon at Remondis Stadium.
“Jarrod Hayne is probably one of the form players of the competition at the moment and we did well on him, all but one kick chase," Gidley said at a press conference at Knights HQ on Monday.
“Defensively one of the proudest thing to come out of that game was we worked hard and were pretty strong defensively on our line at different times.
“We certainly need to keep that up for the rest of the year.
“We’ve been inconsistent throughout games which has been our down point for the whole year.
“We’ve played some really good footy at different times, but for 80 minutes we haven’t really nailed it.
“The Parra game was great defensively and we defended most of that game pretty well.
"That was a positive thing to come out of it."
The Knights have gained momentum after two consecutive wins and will come into the game refreshed and ready to build on the team's positive efforts after the bye in Round 17.
“This time of year it was good to have few days off to have a break from training and playing and let the body just settle down and heal a bit easier,” he said.
“We did gain a little bit of momentum, confidence and have had a bit of belief back these past couple of weeks."
However, Gidley is not underestimating Cronulla after the team’s 30-28 upset over the 2013 NRL premiers, the Sydney Roosters on the weekend.
“The Sharks in a similar position to us,” Gidley said.
“They’ve been under a lot of pressure and turmoil over the past couple of weeks so they’re trying to fight and scratch as hard as we are."
Meanwhile the skipper has enjoyed the switch to the halves in recent weeks.
“I’ve been enjoying just being able to get my hands on the ball a little bit more and being able to run and sit behind the forwards and be able to motivate them," he said.
“I think that’s a big part of my game, to just talk and help guys out where I can."
