Let's get it together: Smith urges Knights to generate winning run
25/05/2008
NEWCASTLE Knights coach Brian Smith believes it would be premature to label Saturday's home clash with the Warriors as "must-win" but admits his team need to start stringing victories together if they hope to feature in the play-offs.
The Knights were ninth on the competition ladder after yesterday's results, two points adrift of five teams: Manly, Brisbane, Penrith, Wests Tigers and eighth-placed Cronulla, who play the Bulldogs (14th) at ANZ Stadium tonight.
But the points table is deceptive, because Newcastle have already received their two byes for the season and, of the teams above them, only the Panthers have also received their four complimentary points.
The rest of the top eight have received only one bye thus far and have racked up at least six wins apiece two more than Newcastle, who have four wins and five losses from their first nine games.
As a comparison, the Knights were better placed at the corresponding stage of last season, having won five of their first nine fixtures.
With 15 games remaining in their regular season, there is no cause for the Knights to panic yet.
But a loss to the Warriors, who were lapped 38-12 by the Roosters in Auckland yesterday, are 13th on the table and have not won away from home this season, would be a setback Newcastle can scarcely afford.
"It's obvious what we've got to do as far as the competition ladder is concerned," Smith said yesterday.
"And not just this game we need to get a number of wins together, and at some stage during the rest of the season we have to win some consecutives.
"I think everybody knows that in our last game [a 38-26 loss to the Tigers] we lost that defensive rhythm and hardness that we developed, and we're all keen to get it back as quickly as we can."
Nonetheless, Smith said it was too early to pinpoint the Warriors clash as a crucial juncture in Newcastle's season.
"I don't see it as crossroads, but it would be very good if we could win it," Smith said. "There's a lot of games left in the season, but at some stage we need get a run of games together when we play well and hopefully rack up some wins."
Smith is expected to show faith in his troops after successive losses to Melbourne and the Tigers, although the likes of Mitchell Sargent, Junior Sau, Michael Young, Mark Taufua, Aku Uate and Luke MacDougall have been pushing their selection claims in the NSW Cup.
"I can't see us making too many extensive changes to our team," Smith said. "We've done pretty well so far . . . at the same time it's good to know that we've got some depth and guys putting up their hand, because we'll need them at some point."
One change that will be forced on the coach is finding a replacement for enforcer Ben Cross, who broke his thumb on his Origin debut last week and will be sidelined for four weeks.
Smith was undecided whether Sargent, Newcastle's most experienced prop, would be included in the front-row rotation for the first time all season.
"Mitch has been knocking on the door a bit to be included in the squad, but we did some talking about it last week and went through what our strengths and weakness were in that area," he said.
"We haven't really arrived at anything yet. We'll sit down and work it out on Monday and name the team on Tuesday."
Another dilemma Smith faces is whether to retain Danny Wicks as starting prop after his disappointing game against the Tigers or restore him as an impact player on the bench.
"It's a bit ironic, because the first two games he [Wicks] started against Gold Coast and Melbourne were the best we've started all year," Smith said.
"I wouldn't say that individually he dominated, but certainly as a team they've been our best two starts. But he wasn't so good in our last game, either at the start or generally, so he's back in the mix with the rest of them."
The Knights had the bye over the weekend and were given a three-day break from training.
"They've had Friday, Saturday, Sunday off and back to work on Monday," Smith said.
"It's a long, hard road from here on in. We've got plans for later in the season when we can give them little breaks to keep them as fresh as possible."
