The Newcastle Knights buckled under the pressure of the Parramatta Eels’ outstanding performance on Friday night, suffering a 31-point loss, their largest of the season.
It ends a string of good performances by the Knights, which included a win against the Warriors, a draw against the Sea Eagles and two tight losses against the Panthers and the Cowboys over the past four weeks.
At the forefront of the criticism is star five-eighth Kalyn Ponga after a dismal performance in his second game since returning from a concussion.
“(It’s) my second game back. It’s definitely a learning experience, I’m not going to let that performance eat me up, I’m going to look at it, learn from it,” Ponga said in the post-match press conference.
“I’ve just moved to six, it’s a journey, it’s an experience and I want to be better. But I’ve got to own my performance and I wasn’t good enough.”
Ponga’s defence has been the main point of contention regarding his move to five-eighth.
Playing most of his football as a fullback, Ponga has never been required to defend in the front-line which raised questions over his ability to do so when it was announced he would play at five-eighth.
Friday night’s match was the first time his defensive positioning was a point of attack for the opposition side.
Ponga faltered, missing eight tackles whilst only completing 13 for the night.
The most evident showing of his poor positioning came in the lead-up to Clint Gutherson’s try.
Parramatta halfback Mitchell Moses caught Ponga out of position and managed beat him for pace before setting up Gutherson for the four-pointer.
Despite the poor showing against the Eels, the bye comes at the right time for Ponga, who is ready to get to work over the next fortnight in preparation for the Knights next game against the Gold Coast Titans in Round 11.
“I’m probably going to work in the break,” Ponga added.
“I want to be better than what I was tonight.”