For 65 minutes against South Sydney last weekend, rookie coach Adam O'Brien must have been delighted with the performance of his team.

They started confidently, appearing sharp in attack and resolute in defence from the early exchanges.

After the opening 13 minutes, they had two tries on the board and by half-time were well in control, leading 14-0.

When Bradman Best scored eight minutes after the interval, and then Kalyn Ponga added a penalty goal four minutes later, it was 20-0 and Newcastle looked in the perfect position to ram home their advantage.

But for whatever reason, they took their foot off the throttle, perhaps assuming the game was under control.

Then South Sydney forward Mark Nicholls scored in the 65^th minute, and within the space of seven minutes, the Knights were clinging, inexplicably, to a 20-18 lead.

The panic that unfolded took the gloss off a much-deserved win.

"For the last 10 minutes, we were thinking: 'We'll just hold on here'," back-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon recalled.

"And that's probably not the mentality to have against a good attacking team, like Souths are.

"They almost pulled our pants down. It could have been disastrous."

As stressful as the final minutes were, both for the men in red and blue and their coach in the grandstand, the bottom line was they held on to collect the two points.

O'Brien was no doubt disappointed about how the game finished, but he'll take a lot more solace out of playing well for 65 minutes and winning than Souths coach Wayne Bennett will take from playing well for 15 minutes and losing.

Nonetheless, it was a reminder of where the Knights are at and where they need to get to.

If you had said before a ball was kicked that Newcastle would have been outright fourth, despite a tough draw, at the halfway point in their season, I'm sure most fans would have jumped at that.

But perhaps the most exciting aspect for supporters is that the Knights, as they showed against Souths, are still a work in progress and some way off realising their potential.

Looking back over their 10 games this season, I would say on only two or three occasions have they delivered 80-minute performances, in the wins against the Warriors (20-0), Canberra (34-18) and Brisbane (27-6).

They've had some gritty defensive displays, in particular in the golden-point draw with Penrith, and the 14-12 win against Manly, as well as a handful of games in which their attack has been a tad clunky.

Overall, they have been hot and cold, partly because of injuries, but also because they are still evolving under O'Brien's coaching.

How good they can be, and how far they can go in this competition, is an unknown quantity.

That's the wildcard up their sleeve in the countdown to the finals.

I was intrigued by what Phil Gould had to say on 100 Per Cent Footy this week, when he declared Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm had reminded everyone during their recent golden-point thriller that they were capable of playing at a level above every other team in the NRL.

That might be the case, but it's hard to imagine they can play much better than they did that night.

Likewise, Parramatta are humming along at a consistently excellent level. Can they raise a notch when it comes to the play-offs?

The two teams who appear to me to have the most scope for rapid progress are the Knights and Penrith.

We know how good the Roosters and Melbourne are because they have proven it time and again.

It's hard to imagine Parramatta won't be one of the last four teams still standing.

But Newcastle and Penrith? Your guess is as good as mine.

If the Knights are to feature in the finals for the first time since 2013, and do some damage when they get there, then they will need to make incremental improvements over the next 10 weeks.

If they can lift their game one or two per cent each week, then by the time the finals kick off they will be between 10 and 20 per cent more efficient.

That has to start on Sunday against the last-placed Bulldogs at McDonald Jones Stadium.

This time last year, Newcastle suffered a demoralising loss to Canterbury, who at the time were also languishing at the foot of the ladder.

Before they knew it, the Knights were in a downward spiral, and a six-game losing streak cruelled any hopes they had been entertaining of featuring in the post-season. They can't afford to make the same mistake again.

Good teams use games against also-rans to hone their killer instinct, by dominating with and without the ball.

They don't allow complacency to undermine their ruthless psyche.

Once that becomes an ingrained mindset, a team can go into any game against any opponent confident of success.

I don't think the Knights are too far off. It's just a matter of finding those 15 extra minutes.