The edge forward's career started with three-straight wooden spoons, part of the Knights sides that ran last through 2015-17.

In that period, the Knights lost an NRL-era record 19 games in a row and spent most of their time at the bottom of the ladder.

Now, the Knights are again the competition's cellar-dwellers after suffering six consecutive defeats and losing their past two games by a combined score of 89-4.

But Fitzgibbon insists the Knights are not headed for a fourth wooden spoon in eight years and can still make the finals this season.

"The side we have now compared to 2016 and 17, it's chalk and cheese," the 28-year-old said.

"The disappointing thing is, at the moment we have the personnel there, but unfortunately for whatever reason [we're not performing], and there is no quick fix.

"Obviously we're just down on confidence and the injury list that we've had, it has been tough on us.

"But we're not running away from the fight, we're here to dig deep and we'll come out the other side.

"Internally, as players and everyone at the club, it's still a realistic goal of ours to play finals footy this year. We're looking to still do that."

The Knights left on Thursday afternoon for Townsville, where they will attempt to end their six-game losing streak with a win over North Queensland on Saturday.

Fitzgibbon, who declared yesterday he was "in" to face the third-placed Cowboys after missing the past six games, said his teammates were reeling from their past two performances.

"Everyone is hurting," the South Newcastle junior said.

"It's not a fun time for any of the staff or the players, but also the town and the community. They expect us to be not only competitive each week, but winning footy games and unfortunately we're not at the moment.

"It is tough on us players but we've been here before and we'll get through it.

"We're not shying away from the fight, we're going to run towards it. It will turn, we've just got to keep training hard and playing harder."

The Knights are spending the next week-and-a-half in Queensland, making use of back-to-back games north of the border.

The side will shift to the Sunshine Coast before their Magic Round game against the Bulldogs in Brisbane next Friday.

"I think it will be good for the group to get out of Newcastle for a bit, focus on ourselves and try and turn the season around," Knights prop Daniel Saifiti said.

"Go up there and get our confidence back as a group."

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