KNIGHTS legend Andrew Johns has fired a stinging broadside at the players he helps coach after Newcastle's 40-28 loss to South Sydney on Friday night.
Speaking on Channel Nine's Sunday Footy Show, Johns, who last week extended his deal as a Knights coaching consultant into next season, said there was "no excuse" for the defeat at McDonald Jones Stadium, which he rated as "close to" Newcastle's worst performance this season.
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"The ruck defence was really poor," he said "Souths were just rolling the ruck, and then it meant the edge defence was really, really poor. I'd have to say, I think this would be close to their worst performance of the year, considering the players Souths had out.
"[Damien] Cook, Cam Murray, [Jai] Arrow, Alex Johnston, Campbell Graham. [Lachlan] Ilias went off in the first tackle of the game.
"There is no excuse.
"They just leaked points and I've got to say it was just a real soft underbelly to some of the aspects to the game.
"It was just really disappointing to watch that one."
The Knights led 16-6 after 25 minutes and appeared on track for a second successive victory on home turf, only for the game to turn dramatically when Souths regained possession after a Latrell Mitchell goal-line drop out.
Souths ran in three converted tries in the next eight minutes to lead 24-16 at half-time. Johns said Newcastle "fell in a heap" at a point in the game when they appeared to be dominating.
He said if the Knights, who have won only five of 16 games, are to have any hope of turning their season around: "It's got to come from the players."
"The amount of coaching they're getting, they're getting a lot of great coaching behind the scenes," he said. "But it's got to come from within. It's got to be the players. In particular, the leaders. The leaders within the group have got to grab them and say: 'Righto, this is what we're doing, let's get on with it'."
Knights head coach Adam O'Brien was also at a loss to explain Newcastle's performance, which followed a 38-12 win against Gold Coast just seven days earlier.
"I thought defensively we weren't there," O'Brien said.
"They poured through our middle ... I've been really happy the last few weeks with our contact and line speed, but it was non-existent in the first half."
O'Brien agreed that the Mitchell drop-out was a defining moment in the game.
"We had an opportunity where we had our foot on their throat a little bit," he said.
"We didn't get the ball back from the drop-out. That's OK.
"But we had to be better at handling that.
"We compounded it with a penalty, and they went down the other end.
"We had to be better at handling the penalty.
"That's where we're at.
"We had to be better at being able to fight our way through adversity. And some of that takes experience and personnel, too."
