Signs of life amid another wooden spoon season for the Newcastle Knights

A THIRD wooden spoon is heading to the Hunter — but there were signs of life in another tough season for the Knights.

Newcastle Knights NRL 2016 RUGBY LEAGUE

A THIRD wooden spoon is heading to the Hunter — but there were signs of life in another tough season for the Knights.

With the regular season wrapped up for 2017, we take a look back at what went wrong for the eight teams that missed the finals. Read on for the Newcastle Knights’ end-of-season review.

WARRIORS: NZ flounders again

TIGERS: Surviving the season from hell

Where they finished?

16th (last)

What went wrong?

When you finish last, plenty. But certainly one of Newcastle’s major failings was in recruitment. Put simply, the Knights were the worst team on paper in 2017 and so it proved on the field. Certainly club hierarchy couldn’t have foreseen the dramas that outed senior players Jarrod Mullen and Rory Kostjasyn.

Nor Trent Hodkinson’s worrying form slump.

But you also can’t send kids out to play week in, week out in the NRL and expect success. As a result the Knights struggled for consistency — and wins.

Newcastle Knights NRL 2016 RUGBY LEAGUE

What went right?

Certainly no doubting the grit of this mob who went a long way to resembling that Black Knight of Monty Python fame. Yes, arms were severed. Then legs. But still they bravely goaded on rivals -- ‘tis nothing but a scratch’ — to come at them again.

They pnly won five games but three of them came after Round 20. Also, plenty of young players showed promise, among them playmaker Brock Lamb, lock Mitch Barnett and the Saifiti twins.

The Knights never gave up despite the odds against them.

Stat that sums up the season

Points against: 648. You can’t concede almost 30 points a game and expect to win anything but wooden spoons.

It’s a shambles!

Attack, defence, recruitment, all of it. Apart from conceding more points than any other side, Newcastle also earned the least amount of run metres as their relatively young forward pack struggled against bigger, more experienced rivals.

The side’s attack also battled given, despite playing largely mistake-free footy, they lacked the genuine class of rival NRL rosters.

Highlight of the season

Anything the Ross Dog did out on his flank. Apart from becoming a genuine NRL cult figure, Knights winger Nathan Ross also defined the grit and never-say-die attitude of this team. Elsewhere, Dane Gagai also did enough to be in contention for the Dally M centre gong while beating Parramatta as part of a three-game winning run was also a massive effort.

Lowlight of the season

Again, plenty. But certainly what really hurt the Knights was their inability to play for 80 minutes.

Despite leading a dozen games at half time, a lack of experience and big game talent saw them win less than half of them.

Newcastle let far too many winnable games slip through their fingers.

Big name recruits

Kalyn Ponga, Aidan Guerra, Tautau Moga, Connor Watson, Herman Ese’ese

Big name losses

Dane Gagai

What will happen next year?

Best case scenario

The Knights large batch of young guns finally find that consistency, and skill level, required of NRL first graders. Undoubtedly, North Queensland recruit Kalyn Ponga will be a huge asset and has all the attributes of a genuine superstar. But will it be enough? Who knows.

Worst case scenario

Given the Knights tried, and failed, to land a host of other big name, it seems their roster will be improved, but still well short of the premiership powerhouses. And worst case scenario? Little changes and they win another wooden spoon.

Coach safety rating

5/10. While Nathan Brown has being given far more leeway than previous Knights coaches, it’s hard to believe the pressure won’t mount significantly should results fail to change in 2018.