Did the Knights read too much of their own press throughout the preseason?

Most of the headlines and preseason predictions read as though the Knights were specials for the Top 8. There were even musings of a potential top-four berth if everything went right.

As it turns out, very little is going right and a reappearance in the bottom four is more likely.

The Knights have blown a gift of an opening draw winning just one of their first five games despite four being played in Newcastle. They're recognised as one of the worst attacking teams in the NRL, and Kalyn Ponga's shift back to fullback hasn't helped.

Sitting in a hot seat of his own, Nathan Brown is deflecting attention away from the under-performing Mitchell Pearce. This new-look forward pack has only managed to lift the Knights from 16th in all run metres in 2018 to 13th so far in 2019. A third of their home games are already ticked off, and they've only won 16% of their away games since the beginning of 2016.

It's not all doom and gloom for the Knights, though.

While their attack is undeniably substandard, they have made strides defensively. Although, even their improved defence comes with concessions.

Nothing Knights attack

There's no beating around the bush here: the Knights are a terrible attacking team.

Clucky, one-dimensional, predictable, and too dependant on the brilliance of one player has seen the Knights produce some of the worst attacking numbers in the NRL throughout the opening five rounds.

Ponga is one of the best attacking players in the game right now.

He has the speed, strength and step while capable of throwing the right ball at the end of it all.

Using his speed to get around the first defender, just the threat of what he can do with his feet leaves James Maloney flatfooted. The trigger effect of Maloney staying in leaves Edrick Lee open on the wing, and Ponga finds him with a perfect pass.

The 21-year old can already do it all, but that might be the problem.

Too reliant on him in attack, there have been times that Newcastle's system has broken down and ended with a pass to Ponga in the hope he can create something out of nothing.

The Stats Insider Data shows 27.3% of Newcastle's play-the-balls are coming from players on Ponga's favoured left side of the field compared to 22.9% on the right. With an average across the NRL of 24% on both sides of the ball, the Knights and their tendency to go left is clear.

So, how do they start to fix it all?

While positioning themselves to use Ponga should always be at the forefront of Newcastle's game, they've got a dangerous attacking weapon on the right side going largely unused.

Believe it or not, the Knights signed Jesse Ramien from the Sharks over the summer.

Winner of Cronulla's Rookie of the Year award, Ramien finished 2018 with 12 tries, three try assists and nine line breaks while averaging 110.8 running metres per game. He did all of that on 13.5 touches per game in a stacked Sharks team full of attacking weapons.

Now at the Knights and one of the best options they have in attack, he's behind in every category.

With just 12.5 touches per game, Ramien has only scored the one try and it was a solo effort from 40-metres out.

He's without a try assist, that line break to score is also his only one of the season, and he's running for just 97.5 metres per game.

The Knights are always going to favour the left side of the field, but they need to send more of the ball Ramien's way during good ball sets. Only 19% of Newcastle's tackles inside the 20-metre line are coming from players on the right side of the field. The 23% on the left side is the fourth-highest percentage of all 16 teams.

It may sound strange, but taking the ball out of Ponga's hands is where the Knights can start to improve in attack. Right now, they're one-dimensional and predictable.

In their defence...

The Knights have improved defensively to start 2019.

That's something.

Although, they are the worst defensive team in the modern era and did finish 2018 conceding 607 points for the worst points differential in the competition. They laid claim to the worst points differential in 2017 and 2016 too.

While the Knights have only conceded 80 points through five games compared to 124 points at this time last year, it's not all lolly pops and rainbows on the defensive end.

There are still some frailties that the better teams in the competition will expose.

The Stats Insider Data shows that 38% of the tries Newcastle have conceded this year have come through the middle. Being so far above the NRL-average of 21% after signing the players to prop up that part of the field is a worry.

A big money signing in 2018, Herman Ese'ese has already been dropped to reserve grade twice to work on his defence. Meanwhile, their marquee signing and the player expected to fix Newcastle's problems in the middle was embarrassed last week.

Behind the line and with acres of space between himself and his inside man, David Klemmer could only watch as Addin Founa-Blake strolled over.

There is something in this Knights defence at the moment. They'll take some confidence out of the way they've defended so far this season. However, they're yet to play any of the elite attacking teams in the competition. The likes of the Roosters, Storm, Rabbitohs and an in-form Broncos - if they ever get there - will ask a lot more questions of the edge defence that leaked so many points in 2018.

It's a work in progress, but the Knights are on the right track on the defensive end.

If the Knights are to dig themselves out of this hole and begin building towards what now look like unachievable expectations, they're going to have to take the points home from the Gold Coast this week. 

The Titans are a side equally as desperate and in poor form so the Knights aren't going to get many better opportunities in the coming weeks to play themselves into form. The Stats Insider Data shows that 52% of the tries the Titans have conceded have come through their left edge defence.

What better way to get Ramien involved in the attack than against the worst left side defence in the NRL?

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