Knights coach Adam O'Brien expects to have six players back on deck ahead of Friday's Magic Round clash with the Bulldogs, but he is yet to decide if he will retain young halves Phoenix Crossland and Tex Hoy.
The first-time duo, the most inexperienced set of halves any NRL club has used this year, held their own as a makeshift combination in the Knights' 36-16 loss to the Cowboys on Saturday.
Replacing Jake Clifford and Adam Clune, Hoy and Crossland helped spark the Knights to a 16-12 lead at halftime, but the Cowboys outgunned their visitors in the second-half, scoring four unanswered tries to hand last-placed Newcastle their seventh consecutive defeat.
With fullback Kalyn Ponga also more involved, the Knights showed positive signs in an improved display in the first 40 minutes, but their second-half was reminiscent of their dismal outings against the Storm and Eels the two weeks prior.
O'Brien rued "ill-discipline" and costly errors post-game after his players failed to fire following the break.
"There was a tonne of effort going into parts of our game, but we've got to get smarter," he said.
"Last week we were kicking out off the kick-off, this week we're not finding touch off penalties. There's no doubt some experience coming back next week will help, but we still need to hold individuals accountable.
"You can't afford ill-discipline. I think we had three or four play-one errors, and we had four last-play tries.
"You can't do that.
"Regardless of whether you've played 10 games or 50 games ... you keep your feet moving on the last play."
The Knights weren't helped by the loss of Tyson Frizell (sick) before the game in Townsville and Jack Johns (broken arm) and Edrick Lee (concussion) midway through the second half.
O'Brien expects to have a bunch of players back on deck this week, including back-rower Mitch Barnett who returns from suspension, but the coach was coy on whether he would bring halves Clune and Clifford straight back into the side.
"I need to see what options we have," he said. "I need to have a look at Adam and see if his knee has settled.
"We will look at our personnel. We've got a few more concerns tonight ... but I'm confident we get six guys back ... and a couple more [next week], so we get eight back in the next two weeks."
The loss left Newcastle at the bottom of the NRL ladder and with a two-and-seven record after nine rounds.
O'Brien did not name the six players he expects to have at his disposal, but apart from Mitch Barnett they likely include Tyson Frizell, Brodie Jones, Sauaso Sue, Adam Clune and Jake Clifford.
Jack Johns will miss an extended period with his broken arm, while Edrick Lee will need to pass concussion tests in order to be able to feature against the Bulldogs.
"It doesn't look good for Jack and Edrick was a category-one HIA [head-injury assessment]," O'Brien said.
The Knights players that returned from injury against the Cowboys brought an energy in the first half the side had lacked in recent weeks.
"There's so many areas that I'm really proud of, and proud of some individuals like Dom Young, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Mat Croker - I thought they were outstanding," O'Brien said.
"They haven't played for a long time those guys.
"We've rushed them back in, so they haven't had a heap of training either to go out there and do what they did ... but we hold ourselves in higher standards and we need to be better."
Young scored Newcastle's first try finishing off a well executed set-play that started with Kalyn Ponga feeding a scrum, before Chris Randall scooped up the ball from the back of the pack and put it right through the hands of Ponga and Hoy to the winger.
Ponga, who was more involved at first and second receiver, set-up Jacob Saifiti for the Knights' second with a neatly placed grubber that bounced perfectly off the right goal post for the prop.
Hooker Chris Randall scored his side's third after latching onto a Tex Hoy offload and darting through a gap in the Cowboys' defensive line from close range.
Hoy had gone on a scanter and attracked defenders.
Newcastle's first-half effort would have given O'Brien some hope his side were on track for their first win since round two, but the in-form Cowboys proved too good in the second stanza playing with greater desire and creating more opportunities.
Knights prop David Klemmer led the way up front with a standout performance that came as part of a better showing from Newcastle's forwards. He made 181 metres from 17 runs and was the only player not to miss a tackle. The Saifiti brothers each made over 100 metres.
The Cowboys targeted Newcastle's youthful flanks and scored four of their six tries from out wide.
"We've got some experience in our middle, [but] we're really inexperienced on our edges," O'Brien said.
"We've got some young guys out there that are hanging on for dear life and that's where they found some joy, on our edges."
Asked if he had considered putting Ponga in the havles, O'Brien said he wasn't willing to sap the energy of his marquee player by playing him in the front line.
"I thought he got his hands on [the ball] like a six. We took the 50 or 60 tackles away that he would have to make if we put him at six," he said.
"It was a really inexperienced spine there with him. I thought he was dangerous every time he got the ball.
