Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien only had one word to say to the 25,169 fans who turned up for Sunday’s game – “sorry”.
The Knights were walked all over by Parramatta at Hunter Stadium, losing 39-2 in what was easily their most dismal performance of the season so far.
It’s now five losses on the trot for the proud club, after winning the opening two games of the season.
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In commentary for Fox League, league legend and renowned hardnut Steve Roach blasted the Newcastle defensive efforts on the goal-line.
“Didn’t get off their line, legs tackle… that’s ordinary,” Roach said after the first Eels try.
“You’ve got to try and hit them around the ball there, drive into them. If you go low on a big man like that they will just fall over the line.”
Andrew Voss said; “that’s embarrassing for Newcastle to concede a try like that”.
Later in the game, the commentators again took Newcastle to task when Isaiah Papali’i carried four defenders over the line to score.
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“That’s disgraceful defence there,” Roach said, while Voss called it “embarrassing”.
Fronting up to the media post-game, a dejected O’Brien was asked what he wanted to say to the loyal fans who paid to watch their team.
“Sorry,” he responded.
“(We had) 25,000 (fans in the crowd) – to put in that performance… there’s not much to be proud of at the moment.
“We’re in a bit of a rut at the moment, we’ve got to stick together really tight and fight our way hard out of this.”
O’Brien was asked specifically about his team’s defence.
“I don’t want to give you a headline, so I’ll choose my words really carefully… not acceptable. Not at this level,” he said.
“It’s not acceptable at this level and we know that. That’s not the sort of performance we want to put in defensively anywhere, let alone here at home with 25,000 watching us.”
It gets no easier for the Knights, who host Melbourne next Sunday.
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