Barry Toohey's Newcastle Knights' 2020 season review Part 2: The negatives

But if final impressions are lasting and anything to go by, there will still be a sour taste in the mouths of many Newcastle fans about how the 2020 season finished up.

Read Part 1: The best moments from the Newcastle Knights in 2020

The debacle on the Gold Coast in the final round followed by the capitulation to Souths in the elimination semifinal after such a whirlwind start at ANZ Stadium were performances reminiscent of the bad old Knights of 2019.

Yep, there were a host of positives last season but the negatives and how to rectify them will be O'Brien's big pre-season focus before a ball is kicked in 2021.

In the second of our three-part Knights' season review series [we'll look at the future next Saturday], here is our Top 8 negatives for 2020.

It's hard to remember a more disastrous season like it. From the moment new hooking recruit Jayden Brailey and pack enforcer Mitch Barnett suffered serious injuries during the round 2 win over the Wests Tigers, there was little respite from the carnage.

By that stage, Bradman Best had already been in for surgery, the first of his three operations for the year, and the injury curse seem to strike almost weekly from that point on.

Barnett returned after a three month recovery helped by the COVID break but Brailey's loss for the season was a real killer blow.

His wasn't the only season-ender. His replacements in the number 9 jersey, Andrew McCullough and Connor Watson were also long term victims while veteran replacement playmaker Blake Green lasted less than three full games before his season was over as well.

Winger Edrick Lee lost a big chunk of the season with another broken arm, Daniel Saifiti missed a number of games with a knee problem as did Sione Mata'utia with ankle issues while Tim Glasby's career was ended after just seven games by repeated concussions.

If you thought it couldn't get any worse than Newcastle's Round 23 46-4 hammering from the Wests Tigers with a finals berth on the line in 2019, try the indefensible loss to the Titans in the final round on the Gold Coast last season for size.

The Knights had it all to play for. After COVID left their fans out in the cold and unable to attend games for much of the season, here was a chance to reward them with a home semifinal against South Sydney. All they had to do was knock over a Titans side who were out of the play-offs race.

It would have been the club's first home final in 14 years.

Inexplicably, the Knights failed to show up and the Titans ran riot with the embarrassing 36-6 final scoreline a fair assessment of the attitude of the two teams on the day.

Is there anything worse than getting your hopes up big time before having them ruthlessly crushed in the blink of an eye.

That was the experience for Knights fans in the elimination semifinal against South Sydney.

The Knights played like millionaires for the first 15 minutes to storm out to a 14-0 lead but finished like paupers as they buckled under an avalanche of Rabbitohs' tries to go down 46-20.

After such a long wait for finals footy, it doesn't come much more deflating than the final 65 minutes at ANZ Stadium.

Aside from the Canberra Raiders and the Warriors, no side had a tougher week-to-week travel schedule than the Knights after COVID disrupted the season.

There is little doubt two straight same-day, six hour-round bus trips to Campbelltown in rounds 3 and 4, followed by two Central Coast matches and a same-day trip to Townsville were mentally and physically taxing and played a part in the side's run of injuries and tired-looking finish to the season.

That's where a side's mental toughness comes in and while the Knights have improved in that regard under O'Brien, they are still not where they need to be to consistently challenge the heavyweights.

The Knights won six of their eight games on their home ground and may have finished higher if they had played all 12 there.

There was a reason Adam O'Brien spent his first off-season in charge of the Knights almost solely focused on defensive resilence.

The mentally fragile state of many of his players, evidenced by what happened at the back-end of 2019, virtually demanded it. But it came at a cost and that cost was the side's attack. There is no question it suffered because of the defensive emphasis.

The Knights won plenty of games off the back of the foundation laid up front by their big men and the brilliance of Ponga, Best and co.

Overall though, their attack only spluttered along in fits and starts without any real threatening consistency. It needs work.

It wasn't through any lack of effort on his part but there is no question the overall form of skipper Mitchell Pearce last season wasn't up to the usual high standards he sets himself.

He copped plenty of criticism, some warranted, some not, as a result. The fact he lost Brailey after two games and was forced to partner with four other dummy halves over the course of the season as well as a handful of five-eighths, didn't make his task any easier.

Pearce will know better than anyone his kicking game fell short in a number of games but it was his need to be involved in just about every play that must change and Blake Green's presence when he returns from injury will ensure that.

Pearce is a great competitor and still the key if the Knights are to seriously challenge the heavyweights in the next couple of years.

It's what set the great sides apart from the rest. It's no surprise the two most consistent teams in the premiership, Penrith and Melbourne, featured in the decider.

The difference between the Storm's best and their worst is minimal. With the Knights, there's a gulf.

How do you put 20 unanswered points on South Sydney and beat them away from home one week but lose to the bottom-placed Bulldogs at home the next. Or get embarrassingly thumped by the Warriors 36-6 in Tamworth and a week later, thrash fellow semifinalists Cronulla 38-10.

Frustration all round.

Bradman Best played only half the season and the in-experience of the Knights centres was telling in the big games. A fully fit and threatening Tautau Moga would have been a huge asset for O'Brien's side but unfortunately, his four knee reconstructions left him a shadow of his best in just the four games he played.

What fans on Twitter didn't like about the Knights' season in 2020.

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Last game against the Titans. Everything was on the line to host a home semi and the boys just didn't show up.

@shadyscott

Lack of work ethic and consistency. Coach summed it up - entitled.

@HullKiwi

Not having a settled halves combination and losing Brailey in Round 2.

@Gebbs84

The failure to convert in games we "should" win was the hardest to deal with.

@DasBlyth

One of our biggest issues was our attacking game plans.

@AlexWil22177684

Attitude and consistency. Lost to four bottom eight teams.

@puntfiend

Injuries galore. They were not kind to us one bit.

@KaneS1994

Consistency. Going from 30 point losses one week to 20 point wins the next.

@Robert_Crosby95

Our fans. The criticism and near abuse by some, in particular of Kurt Mann and Kalyn Ponga, this year was atrocious.

@NewyKnightsFan

Round 11. Played last-placed Bulldogs at home. Lost two hookers for the season, lost attitude in defence and lost the game.

@JackFord54

The injury to Jayden Brailey. Massive loss to the team and a big factor in Mitchell Pearce's declining form.

@Duggo141270

Big negative was the way the team fell away in the final 3/4 of the year.

@vella_jay

Regardless of injuries, the team that lined up in first finals match in 7 years was strong. After leading 14-0, they blew a golden opportunity.

@mjburkill

Two words for the negatives - mitchell pearce.

@buttsy_85

The last 70 minutes of the semifinal.

@brock2508

The way our defence fell away towards the end of the season compared to the start.

@Nobbys_Wizz

The injury run for mine. Something changed in the boys big time, understandably so.

@BecPrestwidge

Never knowing which team was going to turn up.

@ms_meh

We found out what we could do nonetheless we could not do what we found out.

@DunstanSteve