nib Newcastle Knights’ five-eighth Will Pearsall admits Reserve Grade put in a good effort in their first match on home soil against the Wyong Roos on Saturday, but more improvement is needed.
The red and blue were unable to get their first win of the season, with the Roos showing a physical dominance to win 26-18 at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Pearsall believes their effort was a lot better than round one, but there were still plenty of missed chances against Wyong.
“There was a couple of tries, one was called forward and another one dropping the ball over the line, that’s two tries that probably would have won us the game,” explained Pearsall.
“It was the little things, a couple of penalties in their half and some soft tries.
“The Wyong Roos were a tough side, they’re always in finals footy and will always give you a good run.”
The 22-year-old maintains the Reserve Grade side need to keep working hard.
“We haven’t won that many games in the last 12 months, so we need to change the mindset of just competing and we need to go out there to win,” Pearsall said.
“We’re a good enough side and have had enough opportunities to win the game, we need to capitalise on that.”
Specifically, Pearsall would like to see more work on the Knights’ attacking game.
“The flow of attack is not quite there, although our defence was pretty good this week,” he said.
Footy is back at McDonald Jones Stadium this Saturday for Round 3, gates open at 12 noon with Reserve Grade kicking off at 2.10pm.
