KNIGHTS chief executive Steve Burraston has given coach Rick Stone and the team a pass mark for what he considered was a successful year after they were written off as wooden-spoon favourites during a crisis-riddled pre-season.
Newcastle's 2010 campaign wound up with a 34-4 loss to the Storm in Melbourne on Sunday, after their faint play-off hopes were extinguished eight days earlier when beaten 26-18 by minor premiers and title favourites St George Illawarra at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
In a closely contested season in which 10 points covered the second-placed and 12th-placed teams, Newcastle finished 11th on 24 points.
That was three wins and six points less than last year, when they were seventh after the preliminary rounds and were eliminated by the Bulldogs in the first week of the finals.
But after the drug-related departure of forwards Chris Houston and Danny Wicks before this season kicked off, and the often extended injury absences of key players including captain Kurt Gidley, international forwards Steve Simpson and Evarn Tuimavave and former NSW winger James McManus, Burraston said there was no shame in the Knights falling two wins short of the top eight.
Burraston said that in the past six weeks in particular, the Knights had played as consistently as some teams who will be playing in the finals from next weekend. In that period, Newcastle beat eighth-placed Manly, plus the Sharks and the Bulldogs.
The Knights were beaten by the Dragons and Warriors, who finished first and fifth respectively, and the Storm ran last in unique circumstances.
Melbourne won 14 games - as many as last year when they went on to win the grand final - and would have finished fifth this year but were disqualified on April 22 due to sustained and systematic salary-cap breaches.
"Most people tipped us to run last after what happened, because clubs don't normally respond very well from that, but we've responded in a very positive manner," Burraston said.
"Whilst we may not be playing September football, certainly the last couple of months, we've proven that we're a side that could have been.
"We're going to always look back and lament those games that got away earlier in the season, but when you think about getting Evarn back, and putting [Dragons and Queensland forward] Neville Costigan in that pack, there's a lot to look forward to next season."
Simpson played just eight games before a chronic knee injury forced his retirement, and the Knights won just one of their first five games while Gidley sat on the sidelines nursing a pre-season knee injury.
McManus managed just seven games in between foot and knee injuries, Tuimavave was a consistent impact player before suffering a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in round 10, and playmaker Ben Rogers played nine games between two suspensions and several injuries.
Burraston pointed out the Knights finished ahead of Parramatta and Canterbury, who were popular picks to make the finals. The Eels, beaten grand finalists last year, were pre-season favourites to win the premiership.
He believed Coal and Allied's decision two weeks ago to extend their naming-rights sponsorship for another year, and the imminent announcements of Tooheys and X-Blades to replace beer and apparel suppliers Bluetongue and KooGa, proved the Knights were still a strong brand in the Hunter community.
"Certainly, people know that we've got a good bunch of guys here, we have got the right policies and procedures in place, and without those we wouldn't have sponsors and we wouldn't have a club," he said.
"Yes, we were in a bad place 12 months ago, and no question it shook us up, and I think it's one of the reasons when you look at our season that it's probably been a successful one for us."
Stone will conduct his usual post-season review in the next few weeks but, speaking shortly after the loss to the Storm on Sunday, reflected on losses at home to Melbourne, Penrith and Gold Coast from winning positions as having a critical bearing on Newcastle missing the finals.
"We dropped probably two, three, even four games at home that possibly we could have won, and that makes a big difference in the context of the competition," Stone said.
Five-eighth Jarrod Mullen, who captained the team against the Storm in his 100th NRL game, said the Knights were too inconsistent to seriously challenge for a finals berth. "Up and down, and probably a reflection on all the boys' form," he said.
"We started pretty slow, and obviously missing Gids in the first four or five weeks wasn't easy, but when he came back in we started playing some pretty good footy."
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