Knights must improve or face Bulldogs thrashing, Hodkinson warns teammates

TRENT Hodkinson fears his young Newcastle side will be roadkill if they don’t get their defensive house in order when they meet Canterbury on Saturday.

TRENT Hodkinson knows better than most the type of carnage the Bulldogs forward pack is capable of inflicting.

He saw it regularly first hand for five seasons when he was at Belmore.

Which is why he fears his young Newcastle Knights side will be roadkill if they don’t get their defensive house in order when the sides meet at Hunter Stadium on Saturday.

The Dogs, who boast big boppers like Sam Kasiano, David Klemmer and James Graham, will be salivating at the thought of taking the unmanned Knights on up the middle after Manly’s demolition job at Brookvale Oval last Sunday.

Hodkinson has called on his teammates to make a rapid improvement.

“It was quite embarrassing, especially the first half,” Hodkinson said of the loss to the Eagles.

“It wasn’t up to standard and where we need to be. Defensively, we were quite poor. We weren’t controlling the ruck and they were making easy metres on us.”

Asked where a repeat performance would leave them against his former club, Hodkinson, who is sure to be targeted by his ex-teammates, didn’t pull any punches.

“We need to improve this week against the Dogs otherwise they will put 50 on us,” he said.

“The Bulldogs pack is such a big pack and they have been well-known for it as well and if we go out there like Manly than yeah, it’s going to be a long day of footy. We need to be a lot faster and more physical upfront early.”

Daniel Saifiti ocan’t find a way through the Sea Eagles.

Young prop Daniel Saifiti echoed his skipper’s fears.

“If our ruck defence is like that (of the Manly game), they are big boys and they go forward,” he said.

“If we don’t get in front of them and we tackle like we did on the weekend, they will make twice as many metres as Manly.

“There was no effort out there, no talk. We didn’t show any aggression. We have to show some intent if we are to even get close to these guys (Bulldogs).”

Knights coach Nathan Brown is cautiously hoping injured playmaker Jarrod Mullen will return from a hamstring strain that saw him miss the Manly game.

But it will hinge on how he comes through the club’s final two training sessions over the next couple of days.

Originally published as Knights must improve or face Bulldogs thrashing, Hodkinson warns teammates