Knight manager Adam O'Brien says Newcastle's 48-4 thrashing astatine the hands of Melbourne is connected him aft the nine failed to grip their relocation to the Sunshine Coast this week.
Newcastle ne'er looked successful the contention contiguous aft allowing the Storm to transverse implicit for 5 unanswered tries during the archetypal half.
After entering the lucifer without Mitchell Pearce and Daniel Saifiti, Newcastle's luck didn't get overmuch amended erstwhile David Klemmer and Kalyn Ponga some failed to instrumentality to the tract successful the 2nd fractional aft suffering abstracted caput knocks.
O'Brien said his side's misfortunes against Melbourne were arsenic a effect of not handling the NRL's impermanent relocation, successful which all non-Queensland teams were forced to caput north amid the ongoing COVID-19 clusters impacting Victoria and New South Wales.
"It was a pugnacious week and we took that into the contest," O'Brien told reporters aft the match.
"We haven't handled the week similar we should person and that lays with me.
"I deliberation we trained airy and we started that mode tonight."
The Knights manager said the club's determination to flip their grooming days owed to the unit brought connected by the determination up to Queensland, was a large contributor to tonight's dense defeat.
"With the arrangements to question up the Sunshine Coast, we flipped our grooming days," O'Brien added.
"When we usually person a time off, we trained.
"So whenever you bash thing different, you fraught with danger, hence having immoderate consciousness with Mitchell Pearce - his hamstring aft the training.
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"We had a mates of things spell against america during the week successful presumption of Daniel Saifiti, helium didn't get up for the crippled and Mitchell didn't get up for the game.
"We didn't grip a mates of things successful the crippled arsenic well, evidently with Kalyn Ponga and David Klemmer not participating successful overmuch of the contest.
"It's a reflection of the week.
"It starts with maine and I request to get america into a bushed and a regular present that we're up determination successful camp, and get our training."
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