NRL round 8: New Zealand Warriors 26 d. Newcastle Knights 12

Things have gone from bad to worse for Knights coach Adam O’Brien, with his team unable to fire across the ditch and hovering perilously close to last on the ladder.

The Knights had no answers for the Warriors across the ditch, falling to their fifth-straight loss early in the season.

The game started with sin bins for Marata Niukore and Leo Thompsons within the first 10 minutes, but the Warriors were the only ones who capitalised with a try to Adam Pompey in the 9th minute.

The Bunker had a busy night with several tries taken off them before the Warriors scored twice towards the end of the first half to take a 16-nil lead into the sheds.

Things went from bad to worse after Leo Thompson's sin-binning. Picture: NRL Photos

Newcastle sparked back to life briefly with a try to James Schiller, but it was the last they saw of the scoreboard as the Warriors recomposed themselves. Luke Metcalf’s intercept in the 56th minute led to a try to hooker Wayde Egan and the Knights were never putting on enough attacking prowess to overcome the deficit.

Pompey crossed for his second in the 73rd minute before a consolation try to Knights forward Brodie Jones to end the game.

Vibes are sky high among Warriors fans. Picture: NRL Photos

Knights coach Adam O’Brien is still confident the season can be saved.

“We’ve just got to stick it out, keep working away. Working hard during the week, I thought there were some moments there where we worked our way back into it,” he said.

“We could’ve quite easily tossed it in but we didn’t. Things will turn for it, we’ve just got to stick at it.

“We’re down on confidence, no doubt. But it’s not going to turn for us, we have to make it happen. It was hard this week, we played on Sunday and left on Monday to get over (to New Zealand).”

Originally published as NRL round 8: New Zealand Warriors 26 d. Newcastle Knights 12