It has been revealed under-pressure Knights coach Adam O’Brien will receive a full $2 million payout if he’s sacked.
Newcastle have played finals in four of the past five seasons but their attack has capitulated this season, averaging just 10 points per game.
It’s the club’s worst attacking start to a season after six games since 1993 and the fifth-worst of all clubs in the NRL era.
The NRL’s second-worst teams in attack, Rabbitohs and Eels, are managing 16.7 points per game.
Alarmingly, the 2-4 Knights are also last in completions (71.5 per cent) and errors per game (13)
“Newcastle’s attack has just been awful. They’ve just nosedived, it’s a nightmare,” Braith Anasta said on NRL 360 on Wednesday night.
“Those stats are putrid, to only manage to score 60 points in six games and if you actually break it down and go back to Round 2 against the Dolphins, they scored 28 of those points in that fixture,” James Hooper responded.
“So when you factor that in, in a backline that has not only Kalyn Ponga but Bradman Best, Dane Gagai, Fletcher Sharpe… it is surprising.
“If you actually look at the raw numbers, they’re struggling to hold the ball. It’s been basic mistakes that has really been biting them on the arse.”
Fellow journalist Michael Carayannis believes Newcastle’s lack of “go forward” in the middle of the field and no established halfback is restricting their attacking weapons in Ponga and Sharpe.
“The fundamental errors, things that they can control are really biting them on the foot,” he said.
“If you look at their season, they just have got a settled No. 7 and when you’re chopping and changing your half each week you’re not going to get that continuity.”
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