‘It's ridiculous': Newcastle coach erupts over NRL stitch up
Knights coach Adam O'Brien has launched a stinging tirade at the NRL over the draw after he was forced to rest skipper Kalyn Ponga from his side's 20-6 loss to the Dragons.
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The Knights are 14th on the ladder, but O'Brien refused to use his captain for what would have been three games over an eight day period, including next week and Origin I.
'He was doing everything he could and I took the decision away from him because it is the right thing to do,' O'Brien said.
'I know Val (Holmes) backed up, but he is a centre and Kalyn had a pretty rough 10 days up there while he was trying to get that ankle right and it is the type of injury that takes a few days to settle down.
'Two days is not enough. He is disappointed and angry with me but we have got to protect him.
'Look in this battle we lost to the scheduling and the draw. Someone has got to play Friday okay we get that.
'But then they hit us next Thursday as well. Hit us again, so it would have been three games in eight days.
'That's not looking after our players, so I had to look after him.'
O'Brien confirmed Ponga's ankle injury won't stop him playing next week, but took aim at the draw for not looking after player welfare.
'He will play Thursday,' O'Brien said.
'I always knew that once the draw came out we would cop the Friday after Origin, but it would have been good if someone said, give them the Saturday or the Sunday the following week.
'But whoever does the draws either hasn't lived it or doesn't care, so I don't know which one it is.
'You have got teams like Canberra who haven't had a bye yet and then you have got teams who haven't left home in seven games in a row. Like it's ridiculous.
'But the draw didn't have anything to do with the way we played tonight.'
O'Brien felt discipline cost his side of competing with a bigger and more experienced Dragons side in his eyes.
'We had much more discipline last week,' O'Brien said.
'We made it really hard on ourselves in the first half. When you come here and you are giving away some experience and certainly size, you can't afford to triple whammy that by giving them easy possession.
'We certainly were our own worst enemy with nine penalties at half time. We just can't afford to do it.'
The Dragons, meanwhile, have momentarily shot back into the top eight.
The 18-0 half-time score would've felt like a recurring nightmare for O'Brien, having now been held scoreless in the opening 40 minutes seven times in just 12 games this year.
Following a stack of poor defensive efforts in the opening half, you couldn't blame O'Brien for blowing up after his side gave up a 70m line break to debutant and two-time Olympian Nathan Lawson in the first minute of the second stanza.
While the break wouldn't bare points, the burst just sucked the energy straight from the red-and-blue outfit.
The Red V did a number on last week's star duo in Fletcher Sharpe and Dylan Lucas, the pair hardly sighted in attack as their halves Tyson Gamble and Jack Cogger tried steering the ship.
A penalty goal midway through the second stanza stretched the lead to 20 points, and put the final nail in any chance that Newcastle had of clawing their way back into the contest.
A flick pass from a drifting Leo Thompson found Kai Pearce-Paul for his second NRL try, finally getting the Knights onto the score board with under 15 minutes left on the clock.
The Englishman's four-pointer would signal the third time this season that Newcastle have scored their first points of the game in the final 12 minutes of play, and the seventh time they've scored 12 or less points in a game.
Rookie winger Fletcher Hunt was denied his maiden first-grade try after bobbling the ball into Tyrell Sloan, however the mullet-clad youngster's efforts didn't stop all game.
It leaves Newcastle to face Manly next Thursday night, as the Sea Eagles desperately cling on to the bottom of the top eight, and the Knights linger on just two wins from their last ten outings.
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