THE Newcastle Knights look set to double down on their no-frills game plan as they strive to bounce back from Friday night's 32-2 reality check against Canterbury.
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While it was a concern that Newcastle leaked six tries on their home turf in torrential rain, the real worry for coach Adam O'Brien was an attacking performance that he described as "lacklustre".
It left the Knights second-last in terms of tries (33) and points (202) scored this season, ahead of only Wests Tigers, who have played one fewer game.
It is a far cry from last season, when Newcastle posted the most tries (114) during the NRL regular season.
But as they prepare for daunting back-to-back away games against competition leaders Melbourne and three-time premiers Penrith, the Knights are showing no signs of panic, pointing to their four consecutive wins before being ambushed by the Bulldogs.
"We've just got to stick to the process, but just do it better," Newcastle lock Adam Elliott said.
"Certainly in our attack, we have a lot of things that we can improve on ... I think it's just about sticking to our process, sticking to the way we play, but just doing it better."
Elliott said Monday's video review identified that getting "a lot more numbers around the footy" would be a priority this week.
"We've got a style of football that we're playing at the moment that's a really tough, grinding brand," Elliott said.
"Obviously with a couple of key players out, we've gone back to kicking in the corners and really trying to grind teams down.
"On the weekend, I think we got that right with one side of our game, but not with our attack.
"We were too one-out. If we improve our supports, our push around the ball, we'll see some moments open up for us, and hopefully that leads to points.
"But I think the last thing we need to do is focus on scoring a certain amount of tries, or a certain amount of points.
"It's actually about staying in the game, in that moment. You never know when something is going to come in the NRL."
Senior forward Tyson Frizell admitted Newcastle's hand had largely been forced by injuries that have sidelined three of their most potent attackers, skipper Kalyn Ponga, centre Bradman Best and five-eighth Tyson Gamble.
"Take away last week, that's the style we've been playing without those guys in key positions," Frizell said.
"You could say they're kind of the X-factor that we have in our side.
"With what we've got, we've got to make do and get after it.
"We don't really care how we get two points, as long as we get it."
Frizell said the Knights were determined to prove that last week's performance was a one-off.
"We were all probably on different pages at certain times in that match, and just weren't really connected," Frizell said.
"Our attack side of stuff, that wasn't us. We tossed up some poor footy and we're trying to fix that this week."
Much of the post-match commentary focused on Newcastle's halves, Jackson Hastings and Jack Cogger, who club legend Andrew Johns said were too similar in playing style and "don't complement each other".
Elliott and Frizell argued that it would be unfair to single anyone out after what was a disappointing all-round effort.
"It's collective thing," Elliott said.
"We saw that in our review today. From the forward pack to the OBs [outside backs], there's some onus on the halves, there's some onus on everyone.
"We all saw areas of the game we can improve in ... none of us really clicked. None of us played well."
Meanwhile, the Knights expect to name prop Daniel Saifiti in their squad to face Melbourne at AAMI Park on Sunday, despite suffering a medial-ligament strain against the Bulldogs.
Whether Saifiti plays remains to be seen.
