‘Didn’t look like scoring’: Parker blasts ’pedestrian’ Knights as Cronk calls for tough Milford call

The Newcastle Knights horror season is limping to a merciful end but NRL great Cooper Cronk doesn’t want the club to miss an opportunity.

Adam O'Brien and Jayden Brailey.

Corey Parker has blasted Knights coach Adam O’Brien’s assertion that the Knights showed improvement with their resilience in a 28-10 loss to the Broncos.

O’Brien said his side showed improvement in their “resilience”, but lacked the “polish” to ice their opportunities, but Parker wasn’t having any of it.

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“I don’t want to sound like I am hosing the Knights but the words coming out of that press conference from Adam O’Brien for mine and also Jayden Brailey, I mean they were awful,” Parker said.

“They were awful. They had 81 per cent completion rate for the game. They had 36 completed sets to the Broncos 26 and the Broncos weren’t great.

“They had 77 tackles inside 50. 32 inside 20 and they came up with two tries.

“They had everything they needed. They had more ball, more possession and were just unable to do it.

“They didn’t even look like scoring.”

“So where are the points?” Yvonne Sampson asked.

“It is a really good question because it is so pedestrian,” Parker said.

“They are obviously down on confidence, but to hear there was some resilience and there was improvements I didn’t see it.

“Maybe I am coming across too harsh, but from what I saw this evening, the Broncos were 18-0 at halftime and they weren’t great.

Adam O'Brien and Jayden Brailey.

“The Broncos have got a lot of improving to do, but for Newcastle Knights they are in all sorts.”

Cooper Cronk agreed with parker and called on the Knights to make a tough call on Anthony Milford to start planning for next year without him.

“Adam O’Brien said they needed more polish attacking the try line and that is right, but there is really a lot of nuances,” Cronk said.

“If a winger puts the ball down in the corner, there is a lot of work that goes on in the inside that needs to be centimetre perfect.

“The halves need to go to the line and almost get hit to the ground. The forwards need to be at exactly the right place at exactly the right time.

“You could watch all those good ball sets and see that players are out of whack and not in the right position.

“The thing about the polish is Milford is one of their better players. When he gets it right his ball playing is really elite, but it is just inconsistent over a long period of time.

“The question mark is to get more polish and set for summer and next year, is Milford the right one considering he is going to the Dolphins?

“I know he is one of their better players so it is a bit crazy to think this, but maybe they need to get some reps into Phoenix Crossland or some other guys who are going to be part of the summer to fast track their improvement to be right for next year.”

Cooper Cronk has called for Newcastle to move on from Anthony Milford. Photo: NRL Imagery

Parker also slammed the Knights’ horror defence which was blown apart by a Broncos side that was nowhere near their best.

“That’s on the offence side of things, but defensively their edge defence,” Parker said.

“Dane Gagai tonight wasn’t sure if he was Arthur or Martha. He was coming up. He was staying back.

“Bradman Best on the other side was doing the same thing and the Broncos didn’t throw a lot at them and were able to come up with some points.

“There is huge concerns at Newcastle.”

Originally published as ‘Didn’t look like scoring’: Parker blasts ’pedestrian’ Knights as Cronk calls for tough Milford call