Brown sprays young Knights halves

Newcastle coach Nathan Brown has sprayed young halves Jaelen Feeney and Brock Lamb, accusing them of playing slower than he could have managed during their heart-breaking 32-28 loss to St George Illawarra.

Brown reserved praise for the duo after playing a key hand as the Knights ran out to a 28-10 halftime lead.

However he then delivered a stinging appraisal of their second half performance, saying he – despite being 43 and retired for 17 years – could have played a more up tempo game.

“Their first half in that 30 minutes, they were outstanding,” Brown said of Feeney and Brown.

“The way they played and the tempo they played the game at, as a half you’ve got to be a running threat. If you’re not a running threat with the ball you’re wasting your time. You can’t rely on your kicking to score tries because the defence is too good.

“The tempo they played the game at was beautiful. The second half they played at the speed I can play at. We had enough chances to score.”

The Knights sank to a 22nd straight away defeat, the worst road record of any side in 63 years, according to Fox Sports Stats.

There were signs of life in the Knights’ performance, in particular three-try hero Nathan Ross and centre Dane Gagai were outstanding.

However Brown admitted they simply were not yet capable of producing an 80-minute performance after the Dragons piled on four unanswered tries in the second half.

The Knights had a chance to win the game in the closing stages however Mitch Barnett dropped the ball with the line wide open and Brown said it was the most disappointing loss in his 18 months as coach of the side.

“That was the hardest one so far this year. Take the first 10 out and the next 30 were as good as we’ve played since I’ve been here,” Brown said.

“We executed some plays, the halves executed some plays that we’d practised at training. That’s as good as I’ve seen them.

“We’ve been beat up a couple of times over the last 18 months but that was as disappointed as I’ve been.”

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