Buhrer positive Knights have turned corner

Sep 3, 2017 - 5:33 PM Newcastle have enough wooden spoons to fill a culinary set, but captain Jamie Buhrer insists it doesn't feel as though the Knights have finished last this NRL season.

The Knights ended another miserable campaign with a spirited 26-18 loss to Cronulla where they showed glimpses of the improvement made under Nathan Brown this year.

Twice they could have folded against the defending premiers on Sunday but Brown's men displayed the fighting qualities that netted them three wins late in the season.

"You saw periods in that game which showed how far we've come, but also showed that there's a period where the younger guys have got to grow again," Brown said.

The defeat meant the Knights ended the year at the bottom of the ladder - two wins behind the 15th-placed Wests Tigers.

But Buhrer was adamant that if the regular season extended into October, the cellar-dwellers would have dragged themselves up a rung or two.

"It's a different feeling getting the wooden spoon, you wouldn't expect there to be too much optimism I suppose," Buhrer said.

"But from my standpoint, and a lot of the other boys, to see where the club's gone from November last year when I got here to where we sit now, I can say with confidence that if we had another five, six games left in the season, I don't think we'd get the wooden spoon.

"That's the upward trajectory I feel the club's going in."

Buhrer said the Knights may have ended with the spoon, but there was gold around the corner.

"It is a wooden spoon; we're not going to beat around the bush with that. But it certainly doesn't feel that way," he said.

"There's excitement building for next year that comes with the experience that all the young boys are getting. Some of the players that have now got 50 games, they've also taken a step.

"And it's quite well documented we've got some great recruits coming in. It's time to have a rest, but I'm not the only one that's itching for November 1 and the new year to roll around."

Brown pointed to the season-high 20,535 crowd that turned up for their annual old boys' day as proof the fanbase had also begun to believe.

"I think the Knights do old boys day better than anyone," he said.

"But to get over 20,000 people when you're playing for your third consecutive spoon, playing a side which nobody gave us a chance of beating, to turn up like they did was unbelievable.

"That's why the club's got big scope to become a powerful club because you have got a fanbase that'll turn up under those circumstances and with Wests (Group), you have a powerful organisation."

Source: AAP