The nib Newcastle Knights earned their third win of the season over the Warriors at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday night.
They played a Warriors outfit, who sat second on the ladder coming into the game and staged a comeback in the second half, however the Knights fought back to earn their second consecutive win on home turf.
Head Coach Adam O'Brien and forward Tyson Frizell spoke after the game on the victory, key moments and next week's challenge.
ON THE WIN
"It's good to back up performances at home, that was really important for us...not just to get the win but to do that in front of the home supporters," O'Brien said.
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"I wasn't completely satisfied with the second half. I thought our start was great and that's what we talked about a lot during the week. We didn't start the second half well so I'm happy, but not content.
"I thought Shaun Johnson in particular, came at us really hard in the second half, he was playing some good footy...I think at one stage they had 92% completions to our 60% possession. I thought we just had to hang tight, we defended our try line in consecutive sets, we came up with an error at the back and then they got the two tries off the scrum.
"There was no panic behind the line, it was instructional talk and quite calm and I'm really proud of the fact that they managed to wrestle back the momentum."
ON FRIZELL CHASING KOSI
"It was lucky Lachie chased back and slowed them down and we re-gathered after that...after conceding that line break, we re-gathered that line and held them out that next set which is pleasing," Frizell said.
"It was a moment where Lachie and I took the opportunity to save a try, anyone in our position would've done that too. It wasn't just that play, there was plenty of moments in the game that we turned up for one another.
"We're trying to build something in this team.
"We knew as soon as we got a couple of sets back to back, we could fight our way back. We completed three in a row before we got our next try."
"That's the good thing about our leaders, it's not so much 'tell me, it's show me' and that's what he's doing. It was a massive play," O'Brien said.
ON CROSSLAND
"A couple of years ago we played against Manly, (he did) a very similar job, kicked us into good positions," O'Brien said.
"It's a credit to Phoenix, he's come through the system here at the Knights and he's preferred position in the juniors was in the halves, but I've thrown him in at 13, 9 and wherever we've needed to put him, but he never whinges he just gets on with it, he's a good kid."
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ON YOUNG & MARZHEW
"I thought him and Greg were great, they got tested under the high ball in that wind in the first half. I thought they were exceptional," O'Brien said.
"That's what we needed him (Young) to work on, I know it was a shock for everyone that he was dropped, but to his credit he went and worked on those parts of his game.
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"Greg was the same. Greg got rewarded with a try at the back-end of the game but it was the carry off the try line that we're celebrating.
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ON BRAILEY'S INJURY
"They're talking meniscus, obviously they'll go through scans...it's yet to be confirmed," O'Brien said.
ON PONGA'S RETURN
"We've made a road map, there's everything from footy contacts to the type of tackles that we think that he'll experience...there's a lot of thought that's going into it but rather me handing it over to everyone we're just going to go about it over the next few weeks and then we'll work out whether he's right to go," O'Brien said.
ON NEXT WEEK
"I think having Tyson Gamble come back will allow Phoenix and Kurt to rotate through that 9 spot, it'll take two of them to cover 'Brails' in the middle," O'Brien said.
"There's confidence in amongst the group and I think that's a really good indicator of it.
"There's no doubt, there is a good team [Panthers] coming next week and we'll have to be on our game."
