Coach Wayne Bennett refuses to panic as Knights slump to fourth-straight loss

NEWCASTLE coach Wayne Bennett has pledged not to hit the panic button as he faces the prospect of missing finals for the first time in 21 years.

NEWCASTLE coach Wayne Bennett has pledged not to hit the panic button as he faces the grim prospect of missing the finals for the first time in 21 years.

The heat is building on Bennett after his struggling Knights yesterday slumped to their fourth consecutive defeat with a 50-24 thumping at the hands of the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.

Bennett has not failed to steer a team to the finals since the Broncos' class of 1991 and he faces an onerous task with the Knights, who will finish the round floundering in 13th with a 4-8 win-loss record.

Bennett's employer, billionaire Newcastle owner Nathan Tinkler, is not a man accustomed to losing, but if the premiership-winning coach is riven with worry, he's not showing it.

"I'm not second-guessing myself, that's what experience gives you," Bennett said as he reflected on Newcastle's latest topsy-turvy performance.

"I have coached for 26 years in the NRL, if I don't know what works ... my challenge is to get them to buy into what works.

"They (Knights players) have to experience what I know and what I know works. That's their problem, they can't hold it together for 80 minutes, but it's a learned thing.

"We have a choice. I made a choice when I came here. I don't want them to finish eighth or ninth, we're not interested in that. We are driving towards being a top team and setting up a system that will make them a top club for a long time. If we have some pain now, we'll take the pain until we get it right.

"Look at the Broncos, they have produced it here for 25 years and the Storm produce the same thing week after week.

"We want the same thing."

The Knights weren't a complete rabble yesterday. Barring a disastrous 24-0 opening, Bennett's side showed tremendous courage to fight back to 24-26, only to run out of gas in the crucial final quarter.

Despite the heavy loss, Darius Boyd may have turned the corner yesterday. The besieged Newcastle fullback was back to his potent best, setting up Danny Buderus' second try with a 40m burst. He almost had a try himself in the 50th minute, only to lose the ball over the line.

"It was great to see him playing today like he did," Bennett said of Boyd.

"He's been struggling a bit, but Darius got into the game.

"It was his best game of the season for us and that helped everybody else."

Former Broncos coach Bennett said rebuilding the Knights was a different proposition to the task that faced him at the Dragons, whom he steered to the 2010 title.

"St George ... were a team that felt should have won premierships and it's a completely different environment in Newcastle," he said.