Watson didn't hold back in his appraisal of the Knights' dismal 28-26 defeat, backing coach Nathan Brown's call to make changes to the squad "before it is too late".

"From a footy point of view, it should be life or death for us out there but at the moment it's not so something has to give," Watson told the Newcastle Herald. "It's getting to the point now where the season is on the line and people aren't taking defence seriously enough."

With six rounds remaining, the Knights have slipped to ninth on the NRL ladder following their fourth straight loss with the Brisbane Broncos leap-frogging them on Saturday off the back of their big win over the Titans.

With crucial away matches against in-form top eight sides Manly and Parramatta in the next fortnight, a huge shift in attitude is going to be needed to prevent the season going into free-fall.

Watson, who must surely have earned a starting spot at either hooker or five-eighth for Saturday's clash against Manly after coming off the bench against the Sydney Roosters and Tigers, says the Knights' form slump is hard to explain given the side's capabilities and own standards.

"We are capable of so much but we aren't reaching where we should be because of discipline and errors and we've just lost our resolve," he said. "Like I said, we're just not taking our defence seriously enough at the moment and it's killing us.

"We are just looking for an easy way out and that's why teams are scoring so many tries against us.

"You know 26 points should be enough to win any game and at the start of the year when everyone was on the same page working for each other defensively, it would have been enough to win those games we lost.

"Everyone needs to find a reason to keep turning up because at the moment, the way we are playing, it looks like we've lost it."

There was nothing wrong with the Knights start against the Tigers with tries to centre Jesse Ramien and fullback Kalyn Ponga in the opening six minutes propelling the side to an early 12-0 lead.

At the time, it was the Tigers who looked extremely vulnerable in defence.

The Knights could have led 18-6 at the 30 minute mark had middle forward Tim Glasby not knocked on over the line but the alarm bells were ringing for Knights fans during the second 20 minutes of the first half and in particular the closing 10 minutes when the Tigers posted two tries for an 18-12 lead.

"I just think we got to 12 points too easy and we lost our edge and just let them roll down the field," Watson said.

"Once again like we did against the Dogs, we were in that position and instead of putting our foot down and finishing them off, we just dropped off defensively and let them back in the game and then our discipline and errors cost us again."

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The drop off in intensity saw coach Brown deliver an almighty spray to his side at halftime.

"Yeah, he wasn't happy and deservedly so. We need a rocket to shake things up a bit," Watson said. "It's really frustrating and disappointing because we know what we as players are capable of and we are not dishing that up. There needs to be a few changes. We just need to start turning up for each other in defence for the full 80."

Prop Jacob Saifiti was outstanding in NSW Cup on Saturday and is a certain inclusion while the experience of Aidan Guerra could also be called on. Prop Josh King, who may also have been promoted, is highly unlikely to be available after being knocked out cold in the first hit-up of the Cup match. He recovered but was later taken to hospital as a precaution.