Newcastle Knights hit sad new low with huge loss to Melbourne Storm
The Newcastle Knights are sitting on the bottom of the ladder for the first time since they “won” three wooden spoons in a row in the mid 2010s.
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The Newcastle Knights have snatched wooden spoon favouritism from the Bulldogs by capitulating at the hands of the Melbourne Storm.
Sunday’s 50-2 loss was the biggest of Adam O’Brien’s coaching tenure and capped off a stunning fall from grace for the Novocastrians.
The Knights sat atop the ladder after two rounds but are now on the bottom for the first time since the bad old days of the mid 2010s, when they “won” the wooden spoon three years straight.
Newcastle has now conceded a combined total of 119 points across its last three home games and has scored just 10.
“There’s no doubt we’re lacking confidence,” O’Brien said.
“The only answer is to stick together and fight our way out. We’ll come out the other side.”
On the other end of the spectrum, the Storm have well and truly hit their stride in 2022 and their fans can just about book Grand Final tickets.
They’ve taken their game from brilliant to terrifying in the past fortnight and only the Penrith Panthers appear capable of bringing the bloodshed to an end.
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Bouncing back from last week’s loss to the Eels was always going to be a tough ask for the Knights, especially after Melbourne flexed its muscles with a 70-10 Anzac Day win. Losing Kurt Mann and Dane Gagai in the days before the game didn’t help either.
But the Knights didn’t even fire a shot at the Storm, instead aiming at their own feet and pulling the trigger for just about all 80 minutes.
Knights five-eighth Jake Clifford put the kick-off out on the full and then gave his first kick in play the same treatment. The Knights conceded three penalties to hand the Storm quite literally 100 per cent of the ball for the first 10 minutes.
The Storm did not need to lay a tackle until the 12th minute and by that time, the Knights had made 52 and were two tries down. It was only 10 points, but the Knights were visibly shaken and never regained their composure.
Perhaps most dire was the first play of the second half. Down 26-2 at the break, the Knights needed to be first to score but once again handed Melbourne a free pass into enemy territory.
Three Knights players, including Kalyn Ponga, watched Ryan Papenhuyzen’s kick-off bounce four times past the dead-ball line, forcing the Knights to kick the ball back to Melbourne. The lack of football literacy was quite simply unbelievable.
When they did finally have the ball in position, the Knights ran the footy and crossed their fingers that they’d be able to get offloads away. After 60 minutes, they’d made only four kicks in play.
Good sides make bad sides pay for their mistakes but the Melbourne Storm is more than just a good side.
“The way we completed (sets) and still played footy, that’s the reason the score was what it was,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said.
Harry Grant was a menace through the middle and in his first game against his old club, Storm recruit Josh King ran for 212 metres.
For the second-week straight, Xavier Coates gave the opposition edge nightmares, running in his seventh try in two games.
The Knights will be having nightmares about more than just Coates though.
The Raiders are due to get Elliot Whitehead and Jamal Fogarty back in the coming weeks and months and if the Bulldogs can build on the momentum they showed against the Roosters, it could get very, very lonely at the bottom for the Knights.
Take the two?
Rugby league is full of surprises butthe Knights’ decision to kick for penalty goal 26-0 down was among the most baffling calls of the season.
The Novocastrians earned a penalty in the final seconds of the first half and were 45 metres from the Storm’s line.
It should’ve been an opportunity to roll the dice with nothing to lose but Newcastle instead put two points on the board to make the deficit 24 rather than 26.
The kick was made to look even more pointless when the Knights bled another try within two minutes of the restart.
At full-time, Ponga admitted going for penalty goal was the wrong call.
“We probably should have had a set. I didn’t really think. That’s on me,” he said.
Jake Clifford, who kicked the two points, had a day to forget and was pulled off after 53 minutes. He only returned when Phoenix Crossland went off for a HIA.
Injury woes
Kurt Mann and Dane Gagai joined the Knights’ busy casualty ward this week, while Sauaso Sue and Phoenix Crossland both went off for HIAs on Sunday.
He managed to play out the game, but halfback Adam Clune is also struggling with a knee complaint.
“We’re lacking some personnel, clearly,” O’Brien said.
“We need to just keep playing and there’s no consequence to poor (individual) performance because you can’t drop guys because I can’t fill the 24-man team sheet. I’m nearly making names up.
“We don’t want people’s sympathy. We’ll get together and we’ll fight.”
Originally published as Newcastle Knights hit sad new low with huge loss to Melbourne Storm
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