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Bennett: We lacked intensity in patches
Sunday 5 May 2013 4:56 PM
Hunter Ports Newcastle Knights head coach Wayne Bennett says the Knights should not have allowed themselves to be in a position to lose to the Cronulla Sharks at Hunter Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Jeff Robsons field goal in golden-point extra-time gave the Sharks a 21-20 victory while also handing the Knights their first home loss of the season.
Bennett said the Knights only had themselves to blame for the loss, with periodic lapses in concentration and effort costing them the match.
The first 20 minutes we were OK, but other than that our last 10 minutes before the full time hooter was our next best stage, Bennett said.
The rest of the match there was just a lot of ordinary stuff from us. Not a lot of intensity and not a lot of effort.
I dont think the game should have been in that (golden-point) situation, as good as Cronulla played in the second half.
They had 100 per cent ball completion, I dont think they dropped the ball.
Knights forward Chris Houston echoed his coachs sentiments saying the loss was a tough one to take.
The way we were playing there in the second half, they came out a bit harder than we did, Houston said.
Its always a bad way to lose a game in golden point
We have players that can swing the momentum a bit, but we just need to do it collectively.
Someone will do it for a set and then someone else will try in the next set, but we all just need to get on the same page and try to win back a bit of momentum at stages.
The Knights jumped out to an 8-0 lead early in the contest, but the Sharks levelled the scores when they were awarded a controversial try in the 27th minute, despite Wade Graham appearing to have knocked the ball on in the lead-up.
While Bennett admitted he didnt think the try should have been awarded, he also clarified that he didnt believe it the decision was the reason his side lost the game.
We thought hed knocked the ball forward, Bennett said.
They can ring me up and apologise tomorrow if they want, but thats not going to mean anything to us.
It had an impact, but the biggest impact on the game was our own performances.
You hope something like that will go with you, but it went against us. I dont think theres much doubt at all that there was a touch on that ball.
The Knights only injury concern from the match was Jarrod Mullen, who left the field midway through the second half with a bruised knee.
Mullo went off injured with about 15 to go.
