Adam O'Brien implored Knights fans to stick solid after their seventh loss of the year with help on its way in the form of several key players to return from injuries.
Following a disappointing loss to the Wests Tigers in Magic Round, coach O'Brien took positives from a depleted Newcastle's 36-20 defeat to the Cowboys at QCB Stadium on Thursday night.
With Kalyn Ponga, Bradman Best, Hymel Hunt, Edrick Lee and Mitchell Pearce sidelined, the Knights fielded a raw backline that included Kurt Mann at fullback and debutant centre Simi Sasagi.
Given they trailed 16-0 after 17 minutes, O'Brien was heartened by the way his troops stayed in the fight as North Queensland copped two sin-bins, scoring four straight tries to lead 20-16 after 46 minutes.
"I thought it was a better performance, definitely," O'Brien said.
"The result is not what we want, we're not where we want to be, but we're working extremely hard and I'm confident we'll come out the other side.
Sasagi with a pass that Matt Gidley would stand and applaud
"There's some experience on the way. Five starters weren't there and some young guys got some tough lessons.
"There'd be lucky to be 50 games in our whole backline, you take Greeny [Blake Green] out of it ... Is it an excuse? Yeah, it is, but it's reality too.
"We'll get better ... I know some people don't want to wait for that but some young guys are on their journey and we do have some experience coming back."
He pointed to a taxing travel schedule, with a match in Wagga Wagga followed by consecutive matches in Queensland, as another potential factor in Newcastle's flat performances of late.
Tuala glides through the defence
O'Brien hopes to have star fullback Ponga and strike centre Best at his disposal against the Sea Eagles next round.
He believes the club "will be better" in the long-term for their youngsters having been through a challenging time.
"Everyone just needs to take a breath, including me," O'Brien said.
"That was probably my lesson for the week ... They're trying their backsides off and sometimes a little bit too hard. But all they're doing is getting kicked in the guts and they don't need me doing it as well.
"We just need to take a breath ... I'd ask for our supporters to stick with us and for those that are impatient and don't want to stick with us, that's fine, I understand."
