Knights v Souths: Newcastle Knights fall short as South Sydney dominate the second half in a 36-18 win at McDonald Jones Stadium

During that 60 second period early in the second half, the Knights winger committed the cardinal sin of dropping the ball over the try-line as he tried to better his position in-goal.

He’d been delivered the try on a platter with a superb cut-out pass from fullback Kalyn Ponga. But as he pushed to bring the ball closer to the posts, he had it knocked out by Souths backrower Angus Crichton.

Maybe it was because Sio was goal-kicking and the Knights hadn’t landed one. But instead of at least drawing level with the Rabbitohs at 16-16 with a kick to come, the four pointer and potential lead went begging.

Then, in the space of a set of six, Souths marched down field and as so often happens after a big let-off, Adam Reynolds bombed to the corner and the Bunnies scored through centre Dane Gagai with Sio unable to defuse the pin-point kick.

Instead of 16-all or even 18-16 to the Knights, the 12 point turnaround left the home side in a big hole at 22-12 and they never recovered..

But to lump the normally dependable Sio with the blame for the 36-18 defeat would be an injustice.

For the Knights, there remains a sizable gap between their best and worst performances.

While Souths were near perfect with the footy, completing at 94 percent and making just two errors, the Knights came up with mistakes at crucial times.

But defensively is where the improvement must come if the side is to become a genuine finals contender. They missed 28 tackles and several of those came in the opening five minutes when Souths effortlessly jumped out to a 12-0 advantage.

The second of the two tries they scored was by Bunnies halfback Cody Walker, who courageously played against the Knights despite losing his mother to a heart attack on Wednesday night.

Coach Nathan Brown had no doubts where the game was lost.

“A lot of people will probably focus on Kenny’s drop there which you can’t afford to do at this level obviously but at the end of the day, we still got the game wrong at the start,” Brown said.

“If we had got the game right at the start and Kenny does what he does, it doesn’t have the same impact.”

Brown was mainly critical of his middle forwards with Herman Ese’ese one who was guilty of lacking urgency when he failed to get off his line when Walker strolled through.

The Knights’ goal-kicking and kicking game will also need to be addressed with Adam Reynolds kicking the home side off the park .

Ponga was again the shining light in a beaten side.

Souths coach Anthony Seibold called him a “freak” and Brown said he is just “too good’.

In a side often on the back foot during the game, Ponga still managed to be one of the most dangerous attacking threats on the field.

He wasn’t the only good performer for the Knights.

Apart from a spilled pass when a try was on for winger Shaun Kenny-Dowall in the first half, centre Sione Mata’utia had his best game of the season and did a great job on opposite Greg Inglis, as did Nathan Ross on Dane Gagai.

Edge backrowers Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Mitch Barnett also stood out, Connor Watson was a threat with the footy while Kenny-Dowall scored a double and had several strong carries.

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