Presser Points: AOB reacts to the final fixture

The nib Newcastle Knights were defeated by the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

In the last fixture of the season and on our Old Boys Day, the side fought hard against the Sharks, who proved too skilful in the second half. 

Head Coach Adam O'Brien spoke after the game on the final round, Old Boys Day and looking ahead to the future. 

ON THE LAST GAME

"Every week we turn up here and we want to put on a good performance," O'Brien said.

"We understand the importance of our Old Boys, they're really supportive and don't get stuck into us.

"We were hopeful of giving them a game that they could be proud of and I reckon we won't lose any of their support on the back of that one," O'Brien said. 

CROSSLAND UPDATE

"I think we've already come to an agreement to keep him...He [Phoenix] played the game with a seatbelt on and it probably stood out in the second half with the tackles but for a young bloke, it just shows what he means to the club.

For him to say all week 'I'll be right just let me play, I wanna play, we don't have any personnel', I'm so proud of him, he's a really good kid, an outstanding clubman," O'Brien said.

ON PERFORMANCE

"The first ten minutes wasn't pretty viewing, I thought we gave ourselves such a good chance to go in at 12-all...then to come out with the wind behind us," O'Brien said.

 We were really really hopeful of a strong second-half performance, it just got off on the worst possible note with the kick-off and then we sort of chased our tail a little bit and a couple of long-range tries, but I can't fault the effort," O'Brien said.

"There were parts where I was standing up in the box applauding, that everyone would be proud of and then there were moments you'd love to have again, we will come back bigger and better. We will work hard over the summer and we'll come back here and be bigger and better next year.

"A lot of those (moments) come with experience, the resetting of the scrum is an experience thing right through to what we challenge in the Captain's Challenge."

ON DEPARTING PLAYERS

"He's [Edrick Lee] outstanding...it's not only what he does during the game, but it's also what he does all week. He's such a popular member of the playing group, you never see Eddie down he just walks through that front door with a big smile on his face. In my worst moods, I still managed to smile when Eddie walks in," O'Brien said. 

ON DOM YOUNG

"Unbelievable [Young], I think I spoke about it a couple of times when he first came out. He was a young school kid really and he moved out of home all the way to Australia so the first summer was a real shock to him," O'Brien said. 

"He's second summer he did a complete 180, it's like his twin came out, he's just handled everything so much better. He's been arguably our best performer in the backs all year. He's been consistent, he had that injury and we missed him terribly."

ON THE SEASON

"We're not happy with where we ended up. There are so many different parts to the season...it's hard to speak about it now we'd be here for hours but it's something we'll discuss in the next few weeks," O'Brien said.

"I have a fairly good idea of what our summer's going to look like compared to our last one.

"We have to get better this summer and that's already started. The boys who didn't play today ran hills so pre-season has started."

ON NEXT SEASON

"We really appreciate all our members, our sponsors, our supporters that sit on that hill rain, hail on shine. We don't like letting them down but it's certainly something that we will need to drive us over the summer...We're not going to run away from the fight, we're going to fix it," O'Brien said.

"We're all invested, there are some good people in the organisation, we've got great support from our owners in the Wests Group, the facilities, everything is there we've just got to make a couple of key decisions, the right decisions around some personnel and get our summer right, get our pre-season right and work our way out of it. Results will take pressure away.

"November 2 is the first group to come in and I just want to get that day right and then the middle of the year will take care of itself."