nib Newcastle Knights NRL Head Coach, Adam O'Brien, spoke to the media after our first victory of the season against Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.
The Knights produced a spirited performance overcoming significant injuries and setbacks during the win over the Tigers.
Lachlan Fitzgibbon also played his 100th NRL game while Tyson Gamble made an impactful Club debut in the red and blue.
The Coach spoke about the team's performance, provided an update on Kalyn Ponga and Jayden Brailey and looked forward to Round 3 at home.
AOB and Frizell on Tigers win, team resolve and KP and Brailey update
ON THE PERFORMANCE
"What was going through my head in the first fifteen minutes is that we lost the 6 and the 9. That was starting to concern me, I knew we weren't going to be unbelievable defensively but it really hurts your rotation, we had to get some big minutes out of the Saifiti's and those boys today," O'Brien said.
"You lose two guys then there's your interchange gone straight away without rotating your middles.
"There's been a lot of tough Knights teams back in the day but just on what they did I'm really proud of them.
"There was some stuff in our DNA that was prepping us to do that, not as much as what we had to contend (with) tonight though.
"What we just spoke about in the sheds is that; last year it would've got to hard for us. We've just proven in the last few weeks...that things aren't always going to go as planned for us but it doesn't mean that we can't turn it up.
"It's a really good example that we can come out the other side of it."
Match Highlights: Wests Tigers v Knights
"Last week we didn't get the ultimate prize at the end of it but there was some stuff there that I thought, we've got to hang on to it."
ON KP's KNOCK
"I looked at his tackle selection and he got off the line quite hard...I think it caught him by surprise. I've seen him make that tackle over the summer so I'm not too concerned about that.
"We'll just follow the protocols, he had the summer off, he had 8 games off last year and some extended breaks. We'll just follow the guidelines. He obviously won't play, we've got a 5 day turnaround to patch that up. He won't be a part of that [Round 3] and neither will Brails.
ON HASTINGS PERFORMANCE
"He's always up for big training sessions, he's a footy head so he prepares really well.
"I felt this week although it's a different narrative to a normal game having played here at the Tigers last year, I thought he didn't miss a beat in his preparation and I thought for Tyson Gamble to make his Club debut, those spine players really managed essentially 60 minutes of the game for us.
Gamble on debut win and resilience
ON ROUND 3
"We're going to look at the week like we did tonight. We're going to face some hurdles. We're going to face some hurdles picking the team. We'll get on with it. We deserve to put that sort of performance at home and that's what we're looking forward to."
