Tough Knights back-rower Mitch Barnett says the team is guilty of being mentally soft and individuals need to work out how badly they want to play finals footy in the wake of another costly second-half collapse at Lottoland on Saturday.
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For the second time in a fortnight, Newcastle caved in under pressure in the back end of a game, this time falling to Manly 30-6 after trailing just 8-6 at half-time.
While the capitulation wasn't as devastating as it was against the Sydney Roosters, the result was every bit as damaging. After challenging for a top-four spot a month ago, the side is now sitting 11th after their fifth straight defeat, two points out of the top eight.
Barnett, who along with prop David Klemmer and hooker Connor Watson were the Knights' best, said the side's inability to deal with adversity was the biggest factor in their form slump.
"We are not reacting to our bad patches of play," he said. "We just cracked under the pressure out there and didn't handle a bit of fatigue and let them in for some soft tries. At half-time, I thought we had bombed a couple of tries but we were right in the contest and there was confidence there and we started the second half that way.
"But we were the team to break first and then we dropped our bundle and didn't respond well to the [Joel Thompson] try and it just blew out. That was the most disappointing part, not being able to hang tough and give ourselves a chance."
Barnett believes it comes down to the individual player and how badly he wants to play finals footy.
"As an individual, you have to work out how bad you want it," he said. "It's do or die for us now, we have to win and we can't keep saying we'll do this and that - we have to go out and win.
"It starts with each player's preparation and working out what mentally drives you, especially during the tough periods of games when things aren't going well."
.Asked if the side was mental soft when the blowtorch is applied, Barnett said: "Let's be honest, if we were mentally tough, it would not have blown out like that and if the boys don't believe that, they need to have a good look at themselves. We have proven we can do it, so that's not the issue. Like I said, individually we all have to find what it is that gets us through those tough periods that we are not handling at the moment."
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Barnett admitted the prospect of not playing finals footy again should be a huge motivating factor for the games ahead.
"Quite a few of us have been here at the club through some tough times and what's hurting the most is we were a couple of close performances away from being in the top four and we have let it slip and that's on us as players," he said.
"I want to play semi-final footy more than anything and I'm not the only one, so it's a matter of sticking together and digging ourselves out of it.
"We just need a win but we have to have a good look at our attitude and come up with a lot more than we dished up out there today."