Brisbane Broncos followers have taken to brandishing pitchforks and nooses, amid outrage that their once-mighty team have lost six consecutive games.

Six games.

Hey, try 19 losses in a row, and three consecutive wooden spoons. Then you might have just cause to start throwing tantrums.

Except the Novocastrian faithful never did. Not really.

Obviously nobody enjoyed the dark days between 2015 and 2017, when the Knights became only the fifth team in rugby league history to finish rock bottom in three consecutive seasons.

But at no point do I remember the fans, or the Newcastle media, turning on their NRL team with the same rabid fury that appears to have become the collective default position up north.

I don't recall them booing the players off at half-time, as was the case at Suncorp Stadium two weeks ago when Brisbane trailed Gold Coast 22-0.

Nathan Brown did not wear a constantly haunted look and appear concerned that every post-match press conference might be his last.

And no former Knights legends were lining up to lay the slipper into their hapless contemporaries.

My memory of that time is that Novocastrians accepted the situation, disappointing as it was, and understood implicitly there was going to be no quick fix.

The process of the Knights sliding to their lowest ebb had been a long and gradual one, accelerated by Nathan Tinkler's failed takeover, which left the club insolvent and under the interim ownership of the NRL.

That Novocastrians were realistic enough to deal with it rationally was perhaps because, since their 1988 foundation season, the Knights had battled and scrapped for every bit of success that came their way.

There were no superstars among Allan McMahon's inaugural pioneers, yet their underdog mentality and never-say-die commitment resonated with the community.

It took Newcastle five years to build a team capable of playing in the NSWRL finals, and a decade to win their first premiership.

In their formative years, in particular, winning games was considered a bonus. As long as the Knights were competitive and kept their opposition honest, the fans generally headed home content.

Compare that with the Broncos, who entered the competition in the same season as Newcastle.

With a team featuring an array of Test and Origin stars, including champions Wally Lewis, Allan Langer and Gene Miles, they thrashed premiers Manly 44-10 in their first-ever game and added another five successive wins before suffering their first defeat.

Somehow Brisbane missed the finals in their debut season, but by 1993 they were back-to-back champions. By 2000, they had added another three titles, if you include Super League in 1997. In the past 28 years, they have missed the finals only twice. All that surely leads to a very different mindset among fans, compared to their counterparts in Newcastle.

Brisbane supporters are so accustomed to success they expect it, and perhaps even take it for granted.

And now, after six consecutive defeats and with their team in danger of slipping to last on the ladder if they lose to Canterbury on Saturday, they not only want answers, but someone to blame.

The obvious scapegoats are coach Anthony Seibold and the club's management.

Seibold had the thankless task of replacing six-time premiership winner Wayne Bennett, who many Queenslanders regard with reverence.

Bennett was more than willing last week to wash his hands of the mess at his former club, insisting: "I did not coach or have a run-down football team at the Broncos."

But Brisbane's main problem - top-dollar players providing little value for money - is covered in Bennett's fingerprints. It wasn't Seibold who signed or retained Anthony Milford, Darius Boyd or Jack Bird.

The consensus of opinion seems to be that the Broncos are the richest club in the NRL, who attract crowd numbers and corporate support their rivals can only envy, and that should guarantee they are an on-field juggernaut as well.

But whatever advantages they enjoy in terms of finances and training facilities have long since been stymied by the salary cap.

Moreover, sporting success is invariably cyclical. Just consider Manchester United and Arsenal, who for more than a decade dominated the English Premier League, only to now find themselves struggling for relevance.

How much longer the Broncos' downward spiral continues is anyone's guess.

But I can't help looking at them and wondering what Knights fans would be saying if this was their team.

I'd imagine they would be optimistic that there are "plenty of tomorrows" - to borrow a line from Allan McMahon - in the likes of Payne Haas, Xavier Coates, Tevita Pangai Jnr, Kotoni Staggs and David Fifita, if he re-signs. The recent doom and gloom seems to be overshadowing a potentially bright future.