‘Worst win in history’: Knights hold off Bulldogs keep NRL finals dream alive

The Knights managed to hold off the Bulldogs on Saturday evening to keep their dream of consecutive finals appearances alive.

The Knights’ win moves them two wins clear in seventh place. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Newcastle has one foot in the finals, but they’ll only be making up the numbers in September if they don’t find a way to fix their issues in attack.

The Knights scrapped their way to an ugly 22-16 win over the Bulldogs to move four points clear of the seventh-placed Sharks, but the top teams won’t fear them after one of the most uninspiring matches of the year.

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“I don’t know if we need breathing space,” Adam O’Brien said of his side’s ladder position.

“We need to get better and we need to add layers to our game, and in particular our attack.

“We’ve got some work to do, no doubt. But we’ve got the guys in the room that I believe in.”

The fact the first three tries of the evening all came from kicks tells you plenty about how clunky both teams were with the ball, and even the kicking game was awful with plenty of grubbers cannoning into legs.

The Knights have plenty of attacking weapons but they seem to be lacking any bullets at the moment. Bradman Best never gets enough ball, Kalyn Ponga hasn’t been overly threatening lately and a number of plays broke down due to players running the wrong line on Saturday.

“With KP, it’s got to be more than generating ruck speed and giving him the ball,” O’Brien said.

“We’ve got to give it to him in the right moments, and it’s the same with Bradman and most of our guys.”

They were flat for 55 minutes, but at least they showed some encouraging signs with back-to-back tries to Best and Jake Clifford when they straightened things up on the back of David Klemmer who ran for a game-high 210 metres.

Teams who score in the last minute of play to get within a converted try but don’t knock back the shot at goal should be stripped competition points. Beyond stupid. #NRLBulldogsKnights

— Scott Bailey (@ScottBaileyAAP) August 21, 2021

Worst win in @NRLKnights history.#NRL#NRLBulldogsKnights

— Brett Keeble (@BrettKeeble) August 21, 2021

This match is very much living down to expectations. #nrl#NRLBulldogsKnights

— Ed Jackson (@edjacko) August 21, 2021

The Knights have all but locked up a finals spot (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Only way is up

Saturday’s result means the Bulldogs will finish the season with the dreaded wooden spoon, with Trent Barrett’s side managing just two wins so far in 2021.

Things should improve next year with a number of quality signings set to join the club, but even they may not be enough to make a massive difference.

Trent Barrett faces a tough off-season as he plots their recovery, and the biggest question he must answer is how he plans on using Kyle Flanagan.

The young halfback’s confidence is down because he has been in and out of the team so many times this season, and it showed on Saturday with another quiet performance.

He offered little in attack and turned the ball over from the second-half restart when he failed to trap the ball, but he’s not the only problem at the Bulldogs who only came to life in the final few minutes.

Loan player Ryan James barged over from close range, before Jayden Okunbor set up a thrilling final 30 seconds when he flew through the air to spectacularly ground a kick that looked too heavy off the boot.

“I was really happy for Jayden. He came up with a really good try,” Barrett said.

“I think that’ll be good for his confidence.”

The Bulldogs haven’t tasted victory in over two months. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Disobedient Dogs

Barrett has voiced his frustrations over officiating a number of times this season, most recently last week when he questioned penalties against Sione Katoa and Ryan James.

But he needs to worry about his team’s ill-discipline, which was exposed again on Saturday night.

There were high tackles, late shots and ruck infringements, with Corey Waddell placed on report twice in the first half, including for an ugly tackle on Ponga when he tried to rip his headgear off.

In his first game back from suspension, Luke Thompson was also placed on report with five minutes remaining for a crusher tackle. Any charge could end his season early.

Things are hard enough for the Bulldogs, but they’re making life impossible with needless penalties every week.

“The Thompson was unlucky,” Barrett said, conceding discipline may be an issue for his team.

“We do work really hard on popping the head out and making sure we don’t put that tackler in a vulnerable position, but a lot of players can get their head back in there and get a penalty so we have to be aware of that.

“We want to get that out of our game. I’d hate to see Luke Thompson go again for something like that because he does work really hard on it.”