They may have staged a thrilling comeback to defeat the Titans on Sunday but Knights coach Nathan Brown concedes major improvement is still needed from his side if they are to challenge the NRL's top teams on a regular basis.
Newcastle scored three unanswered tries in the final 25 minutes to record the 30-24 victory on Saturday, but the mentor said the result could have easily gone either way.
"Our good appears good enough, but our not so good is a bit too far away," Brown said.
"(We need) just a bit more game awareness from some of the guys; obviously we started the second half with a good defensive set, a very good attacking set, great kick and then young Cory Denniss tackles him in the air.
"Those things just kill you. So we don't make it hard enough for the opposition regularly enough and the good sides make the game hard for the opposition."
Meaney impresses Brown
However, Brown was happy with the team's fighting spirit, led by the experience of Mitchell Pearce and a completion rate that was again above 80 per cent.
"It was great, with 'Junior' there controlling the play and kicking the ball, and the players around him doing a reasonable job we appear like we have a team that is developing," the Knights' coach said.
"When our defence mattered the most in the last 20 minutes, we came up really, really well.
"But we still have those periods where it's not one try (conceded) but two tries."
The win may have been scrappy but it moves the Knights to within six points of the top eight and a mathematical chance of playing in the finals, but Pearce said the team wasn't looking too far ahead just yet.
"Obviously it (the ladder) is something that you pay attention to, as the whole idea of rugby league is to win games," Pearce said.
"It's something that we have spoken about, more in the bigger picture by just talking one week at a time and setting the week up.
"Everything we attack the game with has a winning attitude, and as senior players we try to drive that into the rest of the group and results will take care of themselves.
"Already it is starting to show; we've got two wins in the last two weeks."
