Newcastle Knights NSW Cup coach Rick Stone has never been one to let a loss get him down for too long.
So when his side leaks 50 points and gets out played in a top of the table clash against Wentworthville on Sunday, Stone refuses to walk away thinking his team's premiership aspirations are in tatters.
Instead, he'll use the disappointing result as motivation to work even harder.
"No we won't be thinking our campaign is over, not by any stretch," Stone stresses.
"The effort was good and I can’t knock the effort.
"It was hard with a few players out in the forwards and we probably didn’t go about it the way we needed to.
"Collectively we didn’t work together defensively, so we’ve got to learn a little bit before we play Penrith on Sunday.
"Our attack is going not too bad and we are scoring plenty of points, but at different stages we’ve leaked points big.
"That’s been a bit embarrassing to be honest.
"You can’t expect to be a decent side and be giving up 50 points consistently."
The Knights struggled against a big Magpies outfit minus a number of key players, while they also suffered two injuries before the match and in the opening 10 minutes.
Fullback Nathan Ross strained his hamstring in the warm-up, while back-rower Jeremy Siulepa dislocated his thumb in the opening exchanges and didn't return.
Stone says the loss of Ross and Siulepa didn't help his side's chances, especially against a strong Wentworthville side.
"It knocked us around a little bit mentally I reckon," he concedes.
"I think Ross aggravated his hammy a little bit during the warm-up, which is not ideal.
"We started without him and Matty Minto went back to fullback.
"We also had a few injuries with Jeremy coming off with a dislocated thumb and didn’t take part for the rest of the game.
"Our 18th man Dylan Hartin had played a full game for Lakes United in the local competition the night before.
"I thought I’d take him down just in case something happened and he ended playing a few minutes."
While his side struggled to compete against Wentworthville minus a few key players, Stone was pleased with their effort under difficult circumstances.
The Knights were down 20-0 after 20 minutes, but fought hard to fight their way back into the contest.
Stone was rapt with this resolve from his charges.
"We got back to 22-16 at halftime and we put a bit of pressure on them and scored a few tries," he says.
"But then we probably started the second half like we started the first.
"Then we challenged again and scored a few tries and got within 10 points, but they scored a few late tries."
Newcastle will look to get their season back on track when they host the Penrith Panthers at Cessnock Sports Ground on Saturday from 5.30pm.
NSW Cup summary
Knights 32 (T: Matt Minto, Chad Redman 2, Josh Mantellato 2, Chanel Mata'utia G: Josh Mantellato 4/6)
Wentworthville 50 (T: J Hunt 2, V Toutai, A Pewhairangi, F Goodall, L Kelly, P Terepo, M Allgood, L Ma'afu G: L Kelly 7/9)
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