Newcastle Knights coach Adam O’Brien apologised to the supporters that packed in to the McDonlad Jones stadium to witness their side hammered 36-2 by the Parramatta Eels.
The Knights are keen to make the top eight but finals appear to be a long way off following the latest performance and O’Brien has apologised.
Eels dominated
Newcastle went in to the game boosted by the news star fullback Kalyn Ponga has penned a new five-year contract but it did not make a difference as the Eels dominated.
The Eels ran in six tries with the Knights offering nothing in return and O’Brien had a clear message to the fans that turned up expecting better.
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"Sorry," O'Brien said. "To the 25,000 (who turned up), to put in that performance. There's not much to be proud of at the moment.”
Ponga also told the media that he was embarrassed by the performance and O’Brien says they need to go away and pick themselves up before bouncing back.
Poor Knights defence
Newcastle have players missing but O’Brien was not willing to use that as an excuse.
"(The defence) was not acceptable. Not at this level," O'Brien added. “It's got nothing to do with personnel or injuries. It's just not acceptable at this level and we know that.
"It's not the sort of performance we want to put in defensively anywhere, let alone here at home with 25,000 people watching up. It was easily the hardest (losses) we have to take for a while. We have to dig deep and get ourselves out of it."
