Tyson Frizell admits the Knights are 15th on the ladder for a reason

The Knights returned from bye week to find themselves above only two teams on the competition ladder, St George Illawarra and Wests Tigers, and trailing the top eight by three points.

After three successive defeats, the most recent being a 43-12 trouncing by Parramatta, a loss to the Titans could leave the Knights five points adrift of the eight and playing catch-up for their remaining 14 fixtures.

Yet of the nine games they have played this year, the loss to the Eels was the only one in which Newcastle weren't in the contest until the dying minutes.

Frizell, however, acknowledged that there are no competition points awarded for competing hard - only for winning.

"It's probably where we should be sitting," Frizell said.

"We haven't won games. We've been putting in performances, but we need to be winning at the end of the day.

"It was a tough loss to swallow [against Parramatta], but it's done, it's happened, and we're looking to put in a good performance this week."

Teammate Daniel Saifiti reflected on the "pats on the back" Newcastle received earlier in the season, especially when they lost to two-time premiers Penrith after a Nathan Cleary field goal in golden point last month.

"All that good work we'd done in the previous eight weeks, it sort of comes undone," Saifiti said.

"We had to earn the trust back of the fans after our bad year last year, and it all gets undone with one bad game.

"But our mindset is we can change that with a really good game this weekend. We're looking forward to that."

Frizell agreed the Knights could not afford to fall any further off the pace.

"There's a bit of a jam there towards eighth spot, and we want to be winning every game," Frizell said.

"We definitely don't want to be leaving our run towards the back end of the year.

"We want to be winning games and that's what we'll be doing this week. We're preparing to win."

After the Titans, Newcastle face Cronulla (away) and Manly (home) before their next bye, in a three-week stretch that could make or break their finals hopes.

"We've had a look at this next block and we've got three solid games and the bye after that," Saifiti said.

"We definitely want to put a few wins together to get up that points table, for sure."

Newcastle have won their past four games at home against Gold Coast, but the Titans will arrive full of confidence after back-to-back victories against Manly and Parramatta.

"I know how good they are," Saifiti said. "They're a lot different this year. Obviously David Fifita is playing a lot better footy. He's playing real good and their forward pack is real strong.

"And Kieran Foran, that older head, is steering them around the park. They're a tough footy team and it's going to be a tough one this week, but we'll be up for it."

Saititi and Frizell said defensive improvement would be the main focus for the Knights this week after their flimsy display against the Eels.

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