NYC Newcastle Knights coach Todd Lowrie maintains a list of errors contributed to a heavy loss against the Sydney Roosters on Friday, and their slide to ninth position on the ladder.
“There were a number of mistakes in the second half and the first half wasn’t great either,” Lowrie said.
“That match was disappointing and it’s been two weeks in a row that we’ve let the score blow out.
“We haven’t been good so there’s a few lessons to be learnt over the last two weeks.”
The Under 20s coach believes his team are putting themselves under too much pressure.
“We are not doing the simple things well which is what we have done well for most of the year,” admitted Lowrie.
“It is so disappointing because the simple things like getting through your sets and not giving penalties away, we’re really letting ourselves down.
“Those areas at the moment are showing on the score board.”
The last couple of weeks have seen a few positional changes to the side including Jack Johns shifting back to the halves, Brodie Jones and SG Ball’s Matt Croker starting in the forward pack as well as Under 18s Ofa Manuofetoa playing on the wing on Friday.
“We have had a few changes but that’s footy and you do have a fair few changes here and there,” maintained Lowrie.
“We have got to be good enough to deal with that and the people that we bring in are more than capable of playing their role in the team.
“The guys that have been brought into the team have actually gone quite well including Viko (Puliuvea) who got through a fair few minutes and Ofa was really strong in his first game for the Under 20s, he was one of our best and was really good.
“Will Finau probably got through more minutes than he usually does since coming up from SG Ball so the guys we brought in certainly contributed what they needed to.”
Going without a win for the last three games, Lowrie knows the importance of getting back to the winner’s circle as NYC delve into the back end of the season.
“We need to, it’s an old cliché, start doing the simple things well and get back on track, simple as that,” added Lowrie.
“They are not difficult things we need to fix but we need to fix them quickly.”
Next up, the young Knights take on the Dragons in game one of three at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
