DAVID KLEMMER: It's on all of us at the Newcastle Knights to set high standards if we want to improve

When you're not travelling too well, everything you do is under the microscope.

Outside of what happened with Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann, my young teammates Bradman Best and Enari Tuala have been disciplined for being late to the team bus.

They've copped their punishment and fronted us.

Unfortunately, that's what happens when you're trying to set the standards high.

Our new director of football Peter Parr has come in and raised the bar, which is what we need as a footy club.

I'm sure it's not ideal the first couple of weeks he has had, but leading into next year we've got to take a good look at ourselves and how we can get better as a club.

This year has been a pretty good script of what not to do.

Moving forward, we can look back on it and say we don't want to be like that, and check our progress.

'Parry' is obviously going to be on top of us now and he is the right man for the job.

He has been around the game for a long time. He has seen a lot and knows how good footy clubs work.

I'm not suggesting ours isn't, but for us to get to those standards he knows work, we've got to listen to him.

With the media spotlight that's been on us in recent weeks, people can handle that in different ways.

For me, I tend to just go to ground. Put the blinds down and stay at home.

Sometimes when you go out to do the shopping, when you've had a season like ours, people want to know why. When you're hearing it every single day, it can get tiring.

Some players do read all the news, especially the young blokes that have social media. That can take a toll, particularly if you're reading something about yourself.

As a senior player, I guess I just try and advise them to stay away from it, focus on themselves and their footy.

Don't listen to anyone outside of this club.

But it's also pretty important to have some outlets away from the workplace

Having kids, I'm always at junior sport, either watching or lending a hand with coaching. That's where I like to spend my spare time, or going fishing. That's how I take my mind off it all.

A lot of the boys are into their online gaming, a few of them are doing courses in business and real estate.

It can all help.

But again, we haven't helped ourselves and ultimately when you're winning, a lot of this attention goes away. And that's one thing we can try and do on Sunday.

Playing the Raiders will be a challenge, but we're more than capable. We almost beat them a month or so ago.

It's also a big day for the club with the NRLW starting.

We're the curtain-raiser for the women, they play at 6pm. They've been going really hard the last few weeks getting ready for the season. I can't wait to see how they go!

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