At what point do the powers-that-be start asking themselves if Nathan Brown is the right man for the job?

Earlier in the season, after a five-game losing streak between rounds two and six, speculation was mounting about Brown's future as Knights coach.

Some media commentators were even predicting that he was as good as gone.

Wests, however, held their nerve, and rightfully so.

As I wrote at the time: "Punting a coach should always be a last resort, and if Newcastle were to do so now, they might as well erect a flashing neon sign that reads: 'This club is still a basket case'."

When Newcastle emerged from their rut to win six successive games, including consecutive triumphs against the Roosters and South Sydney, Wests must have felt reassured that everything was heading in the right direction.

The Knights were hovering around fourth or fifth on the points table and a first finals appearance since 2013 seemed a fait accompli.

Two months down the track, however, Newcastle have inexplicably lost form, self-belief and momentum and find themselves requiring a minor miracle to feature in the play-offs.

After a six-game losing streak, they will need to win all their remaining fixtures, against North Queensland (home), Wests Tigers (away), Gold Coast (home) and Penrith (away) to have any hope of featuring at the business end of proceedings.

Even four victories might not be enough, should other results fall unkindly.

Regardless of the do-or-die pressure, there is still a chance the Knights can salvage credibility from the last month of their season.

The injury that has forced Cowboys juggernaut Jason Taumalolo to join suspended Josh McGuire on the sidelines might be the lucky break Newcastle need.

Taumalolo is perhaps the most potent running forward in the NRL, and when in the mood he can beat teams almost single-handedly. The absence of Taumalolo and McGuire further weakens a North Queensland side who, like Newcastle, have lost seven of their past eight games.

The Knights won't get a better opportunity to stop their slide than this afternoon.

A win would lift them level with (but ahead of on for-and-against stats) Wests Tigers, who they face next weekend at Campbelltown.

The Tigers, conveniently, will be without veteran hooker Robbie Farah, who is nursing a broken leg.

After the Tigers comes a home game - Old Boys' day - against the last-placed Titans.

On paper, it's a draw that any club in the finals race would envy. The only question is whether the Knights have enough energy left to capitalise.

If they play to their potential, Newcastle would appear capable of winning their next three games to set up a final-round blockbuster at Penrith.

If that's how it pans out, then regardless of the result against the Panthers, most would agree the season has been an improvement on last year. Anything less and fans will be left with a sense of expectation unfulfilled, given that before a ball was kicked, a top-eight berth was widely considered a realistic aspiration.

Should this season fizzle out in anti-climactic fashion, the Wests Group will be left pondering a quandary.

Brown has now been at the helm for almost four years. Unprecedented faith and patience has been invested in his ability to rebuild the club from the ground up.

But at what point do his employers cast a critical eye over results, and ponder how far away is the success Novocastrians crave?

Judging by social media feedback, the natives are already growing restless.

Yet sacking a coach is often the soft option. The tricky bit is what comes next.

If Wests were to show Brown the door, do they have a viable alternative in mind?

In all likelihood, they would need to replace him with either a former NRL coach who has been discarded by his previous club(s), or take a gamble on a rookie with no head-coaching experience.

Either way, there is no guarantee such a move would have the desired effect. As Wayne Bennett's tenure at the Knights proved, there is no such thing as a sure bet.

Another option is to simply keep backing Brown in the hope that, like Ricky Stuart at Canberra and Brad Arthur at Parramatta, such stability will eventually deliver dividends.

Successful sporting franchises around the world do not always have long-term coaches, but dysfunctional outfits invariably churn through their head men, searching for a quick fix.

Sometimes it's a fine line.

It seems hard to believe, with the benefit of hindsight, that after three disappointing seasons, Sir Alex Ferguson was on the verge of being sacked by Manchester United.

It was only an FA Cup title in 1990 that saved his career, and launched arguably the greatest dynasty English soccer has ever known.

The bottom line is that at some point all coaches are judged by their results.

If the Wests Group aren't at least slightly concerned about the scoreboard, then they must be the only ones in town.