Captain Kurt Gidley is confident the Newcastle Knights will bounce back after Saturday night’s 13-0 loss against the St George Illawarra Dragons at Hunter Stadium.
“We are all disappointed and know we can play a whole lot better than that,” Gidley said following the match.
“We will bounce back for next week, that’s for sure.”
The Knights struggled in attack and failed to convert valuable chances against a tight Dragons outfit.
“They did defend well. We tried to go around them too much,” he said.
“The long passes and trying to play around teams in conditions like that doesn’t work.
“We didn’t build pressure with our last plays."
The Dragons got the best of the Knights midway through the first half when winger Eto Nebuli crossed over and later sealed the win with a late try to fullback Josh Dugan.
“Two lapses in concentration and there’s two tries,” Gidley added.
“They didn’t have too many lapses in concentration and their reads were good in defence.
“I guess that did frustrate us a bit.”
However, Gidley acknowledged pleasing areas in the Knights’ defensive effort, which he believes minimised the Dragons’ damage.
“We haven’t played outstanding footy, but we have hung tough in the first month and have defended really well,” he said.
“There’s still not a great deal of points against us tonight, which is good.
“I suppose it’s a game were there weren’t going to be great deal of points scored.”
The Knights face the Cronulla Sharks on Friday night in Round 6 at Remondis Stadium.
