Luke Yates believes the nib Newcastle Knights handed the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs the win last week, with crucial mistakes being their downfall.
“I think we definitely lost the game… we gave it to them through our silly errors,” Yates told Knights TV.
“I feel like we’re competing pretty hard but all of us have to clean up our errors and penalties and we’ll go a long way.
“We want to put the Bulldogs game to bed, it’s a new week and focus getting the one this week.”
The young forward, who got 27 minutes off the bench last week, understands this Friday’s clash against the Sydney Roosters will be another tough task.
“They have got a lot of good players, a lot of quality players and a fairly big squad,” Yates said, who has been listed on the extended bench for Friday’s match.
“We have just got to try and defend the outside backs and grind them out.
“Our defence last week was not up to standard for what we want to do this year and where we want to get to go so this week we’ll be kicking to the corners and completing our sets.
“They have got Mitchell Pearce who is a really good kicker, got to look out for him.
“If we can get some good kick pressure on him we can help Brendan (Elliot) out the back.”
Yates looks forward to another home game in front of the red and blue supporters.
“We definitely get pumped up by the home crowd,” said Yates.
“It is a lot better than trekking down to Sydney or wherever we go to.
“We need to take advantage of a home game and hopefully we can get a win.”
Footy action is again at McDonald Jones Stadium; gates open at 3.30 before NYC kick-off at 3.45pm and NRL at 6pm.