There’s been no shortage of interest in our boys this week.
After a loss to the Titans on the Gold Coast, the nib Newcastle Knights attracted plenty of media attention and we’ve pulled together some of it in case you missed it.
Brown: Plenty of critics coming at me
All about attitude
Newcastle Knights hooker Danny Levi feels attitude is a big part to last week's loss against the Titans.
Levi told ABC Newcastle they need to start strong, start confident and get on the front foot from the starting whistle.
“It’s an attitude thing,” he told ABC presenter Jenny Marchant.
“Our starts to the game, we’re letting teams get three tries on us and it’s just a hard job to come back from.
“You can see in some spots how easily we can do it but it’s just the starts of our games that are letting us down.”
He mentioned it’s about individuals firing to consolidate as a team.
“Some time individuals are getting it right and other individuals aren’t,” Levi said.
Kalyn: I want to compete more
“We’ve all got to make sure we get our jobs done first before anything else.
“We are all given a job each week and as long as you’re getting your job done, the team is going to go well.
“At the moment we’re all not getting on that page.
“We’ve got a lot to work on, but we’ll be right.”
"When it goes against you, it all seems to go against you"
And drown out the negative comments to concentrate at the job at hand.
“We’re going to hear a lot of noise from outside the club, but we know what we need to do,” he added.
“We’ve all got each other’s backs and it’s a tight knit group.
“Everyone is going to say what they say, but we ignore it, we know what we need to do.”
Changing Ponga
Coach Nathan Brown doesn’t regret his decision to shift star Kalyn Ponga back to fullback.
There was plenty of criticism when Ponga was moved to no. 6.
Brown copped it but was reluctant to let the young Knight be subjected to all the pressure.
Pearce: He's been hard on us from the start
The Knights coach admits he underestimated the attention the switch received.
He told NRL 360 it was the right move for both Kalyn and the club.
“People said why did you change?” Brown said to hosts Ben Ikin and Paul Kent and guest Paul Crawley.
“It’s not that it wasn’t going to work out, it’s just that KP is a 20-year-old kid.
Casho's Holy Grail Walk: Fan's gruelling challenge for charity
“I didn’t like the fact, and I probably underestimated the attention and pressure on the kid and the club.”
“With all the different shows and social media, I kept reading his name for three or four months in the paper or coming off a show that he shouldn’t be playing in this spot.
Untold Stories: 2001 Grand Final Special
“I just felt as the coach, it’s my job not to allow the kid to be put in that situation, even though he was more than happy and wanted to stay at five-eighth.”
As a coach… it was a learning curve for Brown.
“I don’t regret it, it was probably a great learning curve for myself,” he said.
Comforting gesture which helped Griffin’s NRL career
“I’ve been coaching for a long time but in my time coaching, I’ve probably never had a kid of Kalyn’s talent at that young age.
“He’s a star in the making and I got a great lesson out of it more than anything.”
