DAVID KLEMMER: Why being boring is the way to beat the Bunnies

We didn't give ourselves any chance at all against Parramatta last Sunday and the disappointing part was they weren't travelling all that well in the first half until we started presenting opportunity after opportunity to them on a platter.

A side like the Eels who love to attack but can be impatient - we let them feel good about themselves by giving them so much possession and like all good sides, they took advantage.

South Sydney are a similar side in that if you present them with opportunities, they will eat that up because they are such a good side on the front foot with plenty of attacking strike.

But turn it into a boring arm wrestle and all of a sudden, they are not feeling quite so good about themselves and they can be vulnerable. The key for us on Saturday against the Bunnies will be to make it as boring a game as possible.

We have to strip it all back, keep it as simple as possible, play for field position and try and turn the pressure blow-torch on them. To do that, we are going to have to be disciplined and not make any errors and stick all our tackles.

We need to be boring and patient. Because we have started so badly in a lot of games this season, it's become almost like we are too anxious to get off to a good start. We want to win the game straight away without any real thought to putting the opposition under sustained pressure and fatiguing them so we can grind out a win.

It becomes all about the now so we'll try for the extravagant play or the big pass that's not really on, hoping to generate a good result.

All that does though is put pressure on ourselves and it's something we need to get better at. It's hard to take any positives out of a 40-4 scoreline but I was really happy for Mat Croker to get his NRL debut and for Jack Johns to play his first top grade game at the Knights.

While the result for both of them won't be memorable, I'm betting the whole experience of playing on Old Boy's Day and getting to run out through the Old Boys' tunnel will be something they never forget.

The same goes for Jake Clifford. What a feeling to play your first game for your new club in front of 23,000 fans including many of the legends of this club.

I thought Jake showed some really good signs for us given he only had a couple of sessions with the boys to learn everyone's name for starters and then work out the plays and the calls. I could see Mitchell Pearce's eyes light up just watching Jake's towering kicking game.

For me, the two weeks off has been frustrating but a positive is it will freshen me up and I'll be raring to go when I get back next week.

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