nib Newcastle Knights centre Pete Mata’utia had praise for his teammates in their one-point loss to the Cronulla Sharks on Saturday but felt his game needed improvement.
“Personally I think I let the team down with a silly missed tackle and I’ll definitely do my best to have a better game for the team this week,” explained Mata’utia.
The 26-year-old believes as a team they also need to work on increased possession.
“Two weeks in a row we’ve only had 30 per cent of the ball and against any team you’re not going to give yourself a chance of winning a game,” maintained Mata’utia.
“Hopefully we can just keep defending like we did last week and even out possession of the ball, which will give us a better chance of winning.”
Mata’utia will be mindful of an intimidating forward pack boasted by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs this week.
“They are always big, they have been one of the best teams in the past ten years but we have faced some pretty big forward packs in the past month,” said Mata’utia.
“Our forwards are very mobile and they’ll definitely give them a big go this week.
“We would like to hold the ball and move their middles around and the quicker blokes like Gags (Dane Gagai) and Rossdog (Nathan Ross) to get in the middle and do their thing.”
The Knights take on the Bulldogs at McDonald Jones Stadium this Friday. Kick-off is at 6pm.
